My chair scraped loudly against the polished cement floor.“You did!”
She fell into my open arms, her face hidden in my neck, and I knew she was fighting back her tears.
“I knew you would,” I whispered, emotion thick in my throat.“I knew you would.”
Pulling back, she dabbed under her eyes with her ring fingers.“I didn’t.”
It was a testament to my restraint that I didn’t kiss her then.Her eyes shone with unshed tears and her cheeks were pink.Her eyes darted to her left, which was how I realized we had an audience the size of the bar.The world around us was like a mosquito buzzing around my ear, irritating and I couldn’t swat it away.This wasn’t my moment, anyway.
“Let’s celebrate.”I pulled the chair next to mine out for her.“What do you want to drink?My treat.”
“I’ll get the next one,” Nora offered.
But Hazel shook her head.
For a moment, anger spooled in my gut.It would be very hard to forgive her if she ruined this night for Alicia.
It washed away when Hazel said, “I’ll get it.”
It was by no means an absolution of Alicia’s and my past, or even an acceptance of what we might be.But it was good as hell of her to extend the gesture.
“Feels like I should offer too,” Brooks added, lifting his beer in a lazy cheers.
“Thank you all, so much.”Alicia beamed.
Shortly after, I returned to the table with the drinks.Nora and Alicia were recounting the evening.The card game had been forgotten as soon as Nora made her announcement, and phones were pulled out—instructions on how to use various phone brands hollered across the room as some of the technologically impaired struggled.
“Then cars started showing up,” Alicia said, excited energy coming off her in waves.
Apparently, when the matriarch of these families asked, or told, their children and grandchildren to show up and sign a petition, they did.
“It was the most powerful thing I’ve ever seen,” Alicia added.Under the table, she pressed her knee to my thigh.
The space between our two chairs had grown too far.I’d probably only be satisfied if she was in my lap.I could bear it; this couldn’t be worse than the past couple of weeks.At least I’d had an excuse to hug her.At least I had the press of her knee.At least I was close enough to smell her clove-scented shampoo.
“Lily even pulled up to sign.”Nora crossed one leg over the other and looked at Alicia.“What did she say to you?”
She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at the ceiling in thought.“Something like,the one that got away.It was the weirdest thing.I don’t even know her.”
I rubbed my hand across my jaw.“Remember the appointment I had before Furgie?”
She gasped.“That washer?Remi, that woman is dressed in red flags.”
Holding my hands out, I said, “I never.I didn’t even encourage her.”
“You didn’t even get to play any euchre?”Hazel asked, changing the subject which I appreciated.
“One hand,” Alicia and Nora said, practically in unison.
Alicia must have caught me smirking, because she rolled her eyes.
Hazel tilted her head toward Nora in false sympathy.“That bad, pumpkin?”
Staring down at the tabletop, Nora shook her head.“It’s violating every time.”
“It was as much a slaughter as you said it would be,” Alicia admitted.
I squeezed her knee under the table, letting my hand rest there longer than necessary.“There was nothing you could do.”
