“You’ve changed, my friend.”
I raise a brow. “Care to enlighten me,Cruz?”
“I get that you aren’t the old you—and you might never be, even if your memory returns—but in the past month, you’ve kind of renewed my faith in mankind. I was questioning it for a while there when almost every conversation with you was an argument. And then you went off the grid…” He tilts his head, studying me. “I told you once that I envied your relationship with Ava. Well, that envy has turned into pure unadulterated jealousy now.”
“Come again?”
“Admit it. After the accident, you didn’t know her from the girl next door. Yet here you are, living together in a new place, looking all smitten around each other like you’re sixteen again. It’s made me a true believer in soulmates, bro. And damn if I don’t want to find what you have.”
“You really believe in that soulmate shit?”
“I didn’t. I do now. How could I not, seeing the same two people fall in love twice?”
He looks at the time, gets up and goes to the cabinet containing the whiskey, and pours us each a shot.
I lift my glass. “May this shot be like your favorite ride… smooth and powerful.”
He looks a bit astonished that I remembered the toast.
I point to myself. “Not just a pretty face.”
He laughs and we down the shots. I set my empty glass on the roof of the Charger. “If we’re soulmates, how come we haven’t said those three little words yet?”
His eyebrows shoot up. “No? Really?”
“I may have alluded to it a few weeks ago. I think Icouldbe in love with her. But I’m not sure. It could just be the excitement of a new relationship.” I shrug. “And all the sex.”
“Dude.” He elbows me. “For Christ’s sake, say it.”
I huff in frustration. “Wouldn’t saying it this soon only make her think I was forcing it?”
He shrugs. “What the hell do I know about relationships? My dance card dried up and blew away a long time ago.”
I narrow my eyes, confused by his statement. “I’ve seen you out and about with women.”
“Yeah, well, a guy’s gotta scratch the itch every once in a while. But I have Christian to think about. And then there’s this bar you and Ava have set. It’s sky high, man. It’s a lot to live up to.”
I grab our two glasses and take them to the garage sink, rinsing them out. Then I wash the grease off my hands and grab my jacket. “Go get cleaned up,” I say. “We’re supposed to meet the guys at Donovan’s in thirty minutes.”
The guys.
It’s strange to think that in a matter of weeks, I have this whole new life. A wife. A house. A baby on the way, and now… guys.
And apparentlythe guysare an even wider circle of friends than I had before.
Before—or so I’ve been told—it was mostly Carter I’d hang out with, and mainly because of the car. And occasionally Jaxon Calloway. Now, my circle has expanded to include Carter’s two brothers, Lincoln and Dax, Regan’s husband, Lucas Montana, Ava’s assistant manager, and sometimes Jaxon’s brothers. I’ve even spent time with Hudson McQuaid, if only to pump him for information about the medical community in Calloway Creek.
Like most other people in this town, I don’t take sides. And whether or not I did before, I really don’t care if their name is Calloway, Montana, Cruz, or McQuaid.
Lincoln and Dax are at the usual table on the patio of Donovan’s Pub. The heaters are out as it can still get chilly at night in late April.
Dax lifts his chin as I approach, then waves his hand at the server to bring another shot.
“We’re celebrating Linc’s second anniversary with Tiffany.”
I give Lincoln a funny look. “Uh, shouldn’t you be celebrating it with Tiffany?”
A shot of tequila gets placed on the table in front of me.
