“Hissyfit dip.” To her credit, Barb never missed a beat. She eased down the counter, eying the food options. “This looks great. David, are you going to say a blessing so we can eat?”
“I am.” With a grateful expression, David levered off the counter and reached for Lorraine’s hand. Head bent and eyes closed, Holly let the familiarity of his deep voice settle her. Having Andrea here, navigating this stung, but she had to getused to it. Scott planned to marry her after all. Scott, who’d sworn he’d never marry, never be anyone’s father.
Liar.
With the pregame show droning from the living room, they prepared plates and gathered around the L-shaped bar-height island to eat. Holly tried to relax, letting the conversation flow around her, tuning most of it out.
“. . . the display is here another couple of weeks.” Andrea touched Scott’s hand. “I hear it’s amazing. We should go.”
He made a noncommittal noise in his throat, sliding an uncomfortable glance in Holly’s direction, and she pulled her attention from wondering why the sausage concoction was named hissyfit dip. What had she missed?
“I saw the segment on those photographs on WALB.” Barb smiled at Holly across the island. “Holly, I immediately thought of you, that you’d love to see them.”
“They’re gorgeous in person.” Finally catching on to the topic, Holly scooped up salsa with a tortilla chip. “We went last night.”
“We?” David asked before Lorraine’s elbow made gentle contact with his ribs.
“Mmm, me and Colt.” She might as well jump in — she already had plans for the two of them and that meant melding her dating life with her friendships. Besides, Scott had brought his dating life here tonight, so why not?
Across the island, next to Andrea, Scott stilled, one of Lorraine’s ham-and-Swiss sliders halfway to his mouth. “Colt Calvert?”
She got the slight hush over the table — Andrea didn’t, that confused watchfulness tightening her pretty features. Holding Scott’s sharp blue gaze, Holly lifted her chin. “Yes.”
He dropped the slider on his plate, pressing his steepled fingers to his lips. Andrea glanced between the two of them, her mouth a tight line. Good for her, because Holly didn’t like his reaction anymore than Andrea did.
“Y’all have a good time?” Del’s quiet voice sliced through the silence, and Holly nodded, relaxing into a sigh and gracing him with a grateful smile for the acceptance.
“We did.” Feeling more natural, she lifted her sparkling water for a sip. “The lighting on those photo plates is stunning.”
“Bet you had a pool hall chili dog for supper.” A slight grin curved Del’s mouth.
“We did.” A quiet laugh released more of her tension. “How did you know?”
“Because they all learned that from Gene.” Barb’s shoulder moved against Del’s arm, so she probably was patting his leg.
“We hit the Burg for a cookie and coffee after the exhibit.” Nothing could induce her to talk about that conversation in between, crying on him about Scott. His reaction, though . . . the whole night had been amazing because he was an amazing person.
A pretty amazing man.
“Sounds wonderful.” Andrea’s lips stretched into a taut smile. She touched Scott’s wrist, and he finally shifted his attention from Holly’s face. “We definitely should go.”
“Yeah.” His Adam’s apple bobbed with a hard swallow, and he cleared his throat. “We should.”
Mackey twisted his wrist to check his watch. “Y’all, we have about fifteen minutes til kickoff.”
The reminder moved them in another conversational direction, UGA’s chances against Tennessee, if the game would be a nail biter or a shutout, and Holly released another relievedbreath, the crisis point behind her, even if she found Scott’s piercing gaze on her face every so often.
He needed to stop studying her. They weren’t anything any longer, if they’d ever been anything to start with.
They finished eating and carried out a group cleanup before moving to the large sectional in the living room as the game started. By the end of the first quarter, the action turned into a rout in Georgia’s favor. Lorraine caught Holly’s eye, and the three of them – Holly, Lorraine, and Barb – made their way into the kitchen.
Twisting the top off a fresh sparkling water, Holly pressed her lips together on a pinch of guilt and stepped to the wide archway. “Andrea, want to join us?”
“No.” At Scott’s side, but not quite under the curve of his arm along the back of the sofa, the older woman glanced up from her phone and waved a hand in dismissal. She’d been glued to the device since the game started. Her gaze drifted back to the screen. “Thank you.”
Relief, mixed with another tiny pang of guilt, coiled through Holly, and she turned to meet Barb’s smile and Lorraine’s chiding expression. She nudged Lorraine on her way to the farthest end of the island. “What?”
“You know what.”
