Stepping back to link her arm with Colt’s, she studied the plate Tick held – roasted pecans, pimiento cheese, a few crackers, tortilla rollups from the freezer section at Sam’s. Really? “We might have made a mistake by not eating leftovers at your mama’s.”
“It’s fine.” He covered her hand on his arm, his smile forced, skin a little pale around his mouth. Concern curled through her. This was harder for him than it was for her – she’d let Scott go and was simply finding her way to being healed.
His loss cut fresh every time he saw Tick.
She flashed a smile at her friends, tightening her hold on Colt’s arms. “We’re going to grab a plate. We’ll see you in a while.”
Hitting the table served as nothing more than giving Colt a break and the two of them some space. Wait, was that store-bought pimento cheese? Good Lord Almighty.
“I know it’s not the way you would have done it.” Colt added a scoop of toasted pecans to the clear plastic plate. Hire a caterer, but use cheap plates? Holly could hear Mona now. With a finger, he tipped her chin up so she met his serious gaze. “But they are going to make decisions together you and he wouldn’t have made.”
Bitterness crowded her throat, thick and pasty like that storemade cheese spread. “He and I never made any decisions together.”
Oh, she’d made plenty of decisions on her own — like roast beef sliders or rum punch or what shirt he should wear. But anything big or real? It had been Scott’s way, all the way down the line, and if she wanted to be part of his life, she accepted it.
Until he’d made the decision that Andrea would be his life, not her.
“You know, the way he looks at you, the way he looks at us together?” Colt plopped down a scoop of that godawful pimiento cheese and a few crackers. “You could have him back if you wanted to.”
She recoiled, a shiver of revulsion running down her spine. Give up what they had, return to life a month ago? “I don’twanthim back.”
“Then by God act like it.” The low growl was Gene Calvert to the core, and she blinked. That hard expression was Mr. Gene when he wasn’t playing, too. “Look, you tell me you were miserable with him, that you never had him the way you wanted.”
“I didn’t.”
“Hard to hold something new when you can’t let go of a bad habit.”
Hypocrite — although she had to admit he was making progress. And he was working actively to free himself from the mire of his emotions tied to his past. She rolled her eyes. “You read that in a self-help article on the Internet, didn’t you?”
“I did.” He placed a few sauced sausages next to the pimiento cheese. “Doesn’t make it not true. I’m working on it, hard.”
“Fine.” Even she heard the petty pout in her voice. She dumped a spoonful of ranch dip and some veggies to their food array, then stared at the plate, bracketed in his steady hands. She lifted her gaze to his. “This is what he wants, what he’s willing to settle for. I would never be happy like this, but I’m . . . what is wrong with me tonight?”
“Stuck in a loop.” He balanced the plastic plate with one hand and spun a finger in a circle. “We get comfortable there, so it’s hard to move forward.”
“Oh, my Lord.” She grabbed his arm, and he flinched, steadying their food. “Those words just came out of your mouth.”
“Be careful before we both end up wearing this.” He thumbed the tip of her nose. “Think you’re real cute, don’t you?”
She grabbed a pair of plastic cups filled with punch and gave him a saucy look over her shoulder. “I have you, don’t I?”
He stilled, staring down at her. His throat moved with a swallow. “Yeah, you have me.”
The moment stretched, chatter and generic jazz music falling away.
Her chest tight, she smiled. “Good. I’m glad.”
His features softened, and he gestured toward the yard. “Come on and let’s spend some time with my cousin who’s still the joy of your life.”
“You clearly have no idea what my relationship with Lamar is truly like.” Handing him a cup, she took their plate and sashayed the best she could in the worst-choice-of-her-life shoes. She probably looked like one of those white water birds, picking her way over the grass with exaggerated steps. “I think the word you were looking for was the biggestpainof my life. He’s so stubborn he’s stupid sometimes.”
His small noise might have been humor or agreement. Maybe both.
She spotted Tick and Caitlin at one of the tall standing tables —because no one would need to sit down and rest tired feet, Andrea— deep in conversation, one of those flirtatious arguments they had. She shook her head. They always had thatlook about them, like every little fuss ended in bed and they liked it that way.
Lamar probably picked fights for no reason so they could make up.
Sure enough, he cradled her face in both hands and lowered his head to kiss her, a full-on this-is-my-woman kiss. Anyone would think hehadn’tbeen forced through cotillion like the rest of them.
