A sting of disappointment washed over me last night when I realized I wouldn’t be able to smell Joe on these sheets. He was a blip: a beautiful, sexy, wonderful blip and my friends would get me through this limbo I’d fallen into. The memory of blue eyes, a sweet smile, and the best sex of my life would become more and more distant. The attraction between us had been palpable, but the timing was off, and I had nothing to offer him now. No matter how real our connection seemed, in real life, we lived three hours away from each other. Working out a plan on how to extract Trent from my lifeandmy apartment in the quickest and most painless way possible—if that way even existed—would take up most of my time upon my return.
But, I was supposed to be on vacation. I’d deal with Trent when I had to and not let him ruin one more second of my time while I was here.
“Anybody home?” Claire’s voice boomed through the open windows as she banged on the door.
I popped off the stool and headed for the door. The second I opened it, my best friends tackled me with a hug.
“We are so glad you’re here!” Claire gushed. Megan let go, but Claire still had me in a death grip. I sputtered a cough as I pushed back from her embrace.
“I’m glad I’m here, too. Kitchen cabinets are stocked, we all have our own bedrooms, and the backyard issick. This is an awesome house.” They set down their bags and beamed at me. Another one of Trent’s taunts echoed in my head as guilt poked at me. Iwaslucky to still have friends that wanted me around after neglecting them for all these months.
“Thank you for including me.” My voice cracked as I looked between them. “I know I’ve been sucked into work, but all of that is going to change. I promise to never take you for granted ever again. The single life is good for me, so far.” I hoped they’d miss my watery eyes. Epiphanies were taxing.
Clairepffted before lifting the handle of her suitcase. “Life without that asshole will be great, and we’re going to have a blast this week!” She kissed my cheek before heading upstairs.
“Now that whatever you had with Trent is over, Claire unburdened herself and told you her true feelings.” Megan squeezed my arm before lifting her own bag. “And I agree, life without that douche will be spectacular, and, tonight, we celebrate! Give us some time to freshen up, and we’ll head out.”
“You just drove for three hours, and you want to head out already? Don’t you want to relax tonight and go out tomorrow?”
“Hell, no! We’re going to celebrate being young and being alive this week. Thirties are the new twenties. Claire found this cool bar-restaurant on Yelp, not too far from where you were staying. The Beach Pub, I think it’s called? The food and the night life are supposed to be great. Come on, Cat. Let’s go out and live a little.”
Fuck.I was going to tell them about Joe, once I did the whole breakup information dump, but I wasn’t ready to talk about him yet. I missed him. There. I finally admitted it. I missed a man I hardly knew and already had regrets for pushing him away. I thought once my friends came, they’d provide me the distraction I needed, not lead me right back to him.
I trudged up the stairs and headed to my bedroom, pulling out the silky black off-the-shoulder blouse I’d bought months ago in hopes of a fancy date night that never happened. I pulled my ankle length skinny jeans up my legs and stepped into a pair of high heeled sandals. After I fixed my hair and makeup, I gazed at my reflection and rolled my eyes. I was dressing up for Joe, and that wasn’t right. I’d said goodbye—twice—but fate was once again putting me back into his path. Maybe staying home and faking an illness would be the noble thing to do, but Megan and Claire would never let that fly. Plus, despite pushing him away, I wanted to see him. And even though I acted as if I wanted him to move on and forget me, I took my appearance up a notch tonight so he’d remember. A disgusted groan erupted from my throat. I was ashamed of my actions and the mixed signals I sent to this nice man who’d done nothing but help me since I’d met him.
As I waited for my friends, I looked up The Beach Pub on my phone, feeling an odd surge of pride when I stumbled across an article.
Joe Hunter, 30, is the sole owner of The Beach Pub. Renovating the former Red Oak and introducing a brand-new menu, the establishment has quickly become a local seasonal favorite in the two years since its opening. Calling ahead for dinner reservations is recommended, especially in late July and August.
Maybe Joe wouldn’t notice me in the crowd. I could pretend and try to ignore all I wanted, but there would be no way I wouldn’t noticehim. This was going to be a long night.
When we were seated at a table after a fifteen-minute wait, I was relieved when a waitress I didn’t recognize sauntered up to the table.
“I’m Maureen. Are you getting food and drinks or just drinks?”
“Both,” all three of us answered at once. Maureen giggled at us before handing out menus.
“We have three kinds of sliders, and the macaroni and cheese bites are my favorite. There’s a sampler with all of that plus chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks to share. Usually works in a smaller group, but depends on how hungry you are.”
“How about a bottle of red for us to share? And all that stuff, too.” Megan glanced across the table as Claire and I nodded in agreement, ignoring the wave of sadness at having mozzarella sticks not specially made for me like the last time. I was so pathetic, I was getting on my own nerves.
“We can work all of it off on the beach. We’re close enough to go for a run in the morning.” Claire was the pain-in-the-ass fitness nut of all of us, but I’d been doing enough stress eating since Thursday to let her push me out the door at the ungodly hour she would awaken and drag me to run with her.
“So, tell me, Kit-Cat, what have you been doing since Thursday?” Megan’s brows shot up as Claire shifted in her seat, both awaiting my answer.
“Not much, really. I worked a little on Friday, sat by the pool, went to this food festival for a bit.” I shrugged, omitting the mind-melting sex I’d had with Joe on Thursday night and falling into Joe’s bed, tipsy off my ass, on Friday night.
Megan fell back in her chair, narrowing her eyes at me.
“She’s hiding something from us,” she whispered to Claire with her suspicious gaze still centered on me.
“She’s totally hiding something,” Claire agreed before Maureen came over with our wine and set the glasses in front of us.
I glared at the both of them while Maureen poured.
“Sheis sitting right here, guys.” I pursed my lips and tapped my finger against the side of my glass. “There is nothing to—” My mouth went dry when I spotted the man I’d hoped in vain I’d be able to avoid. Joe was behind the bar with Dominic, laughing and leaning over to whisper in a beautiful redhead’s ear. At least, I thought it was a redhead. The lighting was dim, but there was no mistaking Joe’s easy smile.God, he was beautiful.Instead of a T-shirt, he wore a button-down with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. I wasn’t sure if it was regret or jealousy nauseating me: regret at walking away from what could’ve been a great thing because of circumstance, jealousy for the lucky woman who basked in Joe’s attention and could allow herself to enjoy it.
I exhaled a long breath and brought my wineglass to my lips for a long pull. It was easy to gravitate toward Joe, and I was sure this woman was one of many in this town who vied for his attention, but it stung like a bitch to watch.
