"Color me surprised that he's a caring, gentle lover." Jamie sniffed. "Until it's time to crack the headboard."
"Explain to me one more time why you're eating cookies in bed with us," Ruth said, "and not with the guy you obviously love very much?"
I exhaled a sad laugh. "Because that's never how it goes for us."
chapter forty
Audrey
Today's vocabulary word: embolden
"This place holds a deeplysignificant spot in my heart," Shay said over the 90s rock music bleeding into the parking lot. "The floors are sticky, the decor is not worth attempting to understand, and the drinks are inconsistent. But it's very special."
I glanced at the low-slung building withWoodchucker'sin lights across the front—butBilly'son the door. All part of the charm, I was sure.
Emme, clad in a short, sparkly veil, belted out a laugh. "Am I allowed to ask why it's special? Or will I figure it out when we're inside?"
This was the third and final spot on the bachelorette bar hop. We'd all piled into a small party bus after the welcome celebration wrapped and hit the town. Or as much as anyone could hit this small, coastal town where almost everything was closed by ten.
"You get to throw axes the night before your wedding," Shay said.
"Say less," Emme said.
"Not that I'm expecting anything bad to happen but I know for a fact that the boys could be here in less than twenty minutes if needed," Shay said.
"It sounds like there's a story in there somewhere," Grace said.
Shay beamed as she held the door open. "Oh, there is."
"It's fun that y'all decided to wear heels tonight even though you're both eleven feet tall," Jamie said, swinging a glance between me and Ruth. "I look like an American Girl doll next to you two."
"Yeah, it's such a tragedy that you're petite and adorable," Ruth said to her.
"You're adorable too." When Ruth only rolled her eyes, Jamie added, "Shut up and look at you! You'regorgeous. Like, when did the Hunters of Artemis pull up? Let's talk about that hair. I know the color's natural and I take offense to that because every time I ask my stylist for it, I come out looking like the burned bottom of a muffin. My god, those lips. Do you know how much people pay to get lips like yours? A lot. And this figure? Girl, please. Don't know if you've heard but strong is sexy as fuck."
Ruth waved her off. "You're just being nice."
"Jamie is not actually nice," I said. "She's kind, which is very different from nice. She doesn't bullshit and she won't say it if she doesn't mean it."
Nodding, Jamie added, "I know men who'd cry for the privilege of licking your toes."
"I—I don't think I want that," she said. "But thank you? I guess?"
"Anytime, babycakes." Jamie hooked her elbows with me and Ruth, following our group inside. "You're gorgeous too, my dancing queen."
"Thank you, sweetie." I patted her hand. "We should start making plans to buy tiny houses next to each other when we retire. Where should we go?"
"My bones need heat." She clutched her jean jacket to her chest and faked a shiver. "Bring me back to my true love, the sun."
"We could be like Janet and Rita." After we polished off the cookies, we'd talked about Jude's mom and the life she'd made for herself as she recovered. I was disappointed I wouldn't be going back there. "Accidentally high on X all the time, making mosaic art, and dating the neighbor dudes."
"It doesn't sound terrible," she said.
Ruth grabbed drinks for us—for whatever reason, bartenders always paid attention to her—and we settled around a high-top table near the axe-throwing lanes. Ruth's sisters Chloe and Amber had already started a round and appeared frighteningly good at it too.
When we glanced at Ruth in question, she said, "We grew up chopping wood. New Hampshire, you know? And they have a lot of unprocessed rage."
"Don't we all?" Jamie drawled as she fished a cherry out of her ginger ale.
