“Birdie, you surprise me.” Those baby blues hold my gaze. “How about this weekend? We can hike over there and maybe back through the woods.” His eyes gently flick toward the bar, then back to me.
Oh, he didn’t mean right now, because I have plans. I resist the urge to smack my forehead as I nod. “I’d love that.” The rightness of those words clicks inside as we stare at each other, and something snaps into place that feels right.
I just hope it doesn’t break me.
CHAPTER 11
After our long,awkward pause, which mostly came from me because I was unsure of what to say or do after my revelation. I threw laundry in, changed, and took a very slow walk over to the bar.
Growing up, I wasn’t the popular girl. I was the quirky, awkward girl who more often than not said the weirdest things at all the wrong times. Of course that caught the eye of the quarterback, the man I refuse to name—aside from calling him a sperm donor.
I digress. I preferred sitting on the bleachers with a good book, and on occasion, a flask stolen from Gram, who often looked the other way. Look, sixteen-year-olds will experiment. Gram knew that and let me make my own mistakes.
Granted, one of those mistakes led to a teen pregnancy, but I don’t regret it.
The point is, she was my best friend. Then Eric.
I’ve never had…girlfriends. Even saying the word feels odd, wrong somehow. Not that I’ve never given thought to having girlfriends, just that I never really had the chance. Not as a kid, a teen, or an adult.
Perhaps that’s why I keep dragging my feet through the slush, my dress boots sliding and threatening to take me down. That would almost be easier than making friends.
Sorry, can’t make it. Fell on my bum in these shiny new shoes I’ve worn only a handful of times, and now I’m covered in slush.
They’d probably sit me in front of a fire. My shoes are cute though, so I’ve got that going for me.
I glance back at the B&B, the place that somehow became my safe haven, only to find Arlo standing on the porch in his flannel armor with his arms crossed. Am I so transparent that he knows I’m already trying to make up excuses as to how I can get out of this?
Yes, yes, I am.
With a huff, I trudge up the steps and push open the door to peals of laughter. I almost run right back out, but I push on because I am self-confident like that. I’m not.
The interior is not at all what I expected. I mean, it’s a small town, so a part of me fully expected a run-down bar with a cloud of smoke, but that isn’t what I find.
The first thing that hits me is the scent of fried food, making my stomach grumble with interest. The second is the beautiful wooden bar in front of me. It’s U-shaped with a floating wall behind it. Stools line the bar top, though there’s no one there.
On no, they sit at one of the tables that line the perimeter of the bar.
I find Bloom and two other women in a corner. Feeling eager for the first time in a long time, I force my head up and walk toward them, feigning confidence I’m sure as heck not feeling.
Bloom notices me, and her eyes light up. I’m pretty sure she didn’t think I’d show. I guess I really am that transparent. The other two stop chatting and glance at me.
One is obviously Autumn. She looks like the spitting image of Arlo, only in female form and a lot more feminine. She’s still tall, but with blonde hair arranged in a bun on the top of her head. What I don’t expect are the ripped jeans, tank top, and full sleeve tattoos. She takes me in from head to toe before she cocks her head to the side.
The other woman is a woman I could see myself befriending. Licking cheese off her fingers, she narrowly avoids getting the stray brown hair flying from her ponytail in her mouth. Stains cover her shirt and jeans while she sits with one bare foot propped on another chair, her flip-flops about five feet away. Wait, who wears flip-flops in the not autumn? She doesn’t even notice me as her tongue finds her margarita straw.
I’m so close to them when my heel finds a notch in the floor and I go flying.
Ah, grace, you failed trait.
I stop my still bruised chin from smacking against the floor as laughter surrounds me.
“That was the best ice breaker I’ve ever seen.” Thick black boots come into my field of vision just before I see a hand.
Groaning, I slap my palm into hers and let the woman I know is Arlo’s twin help me up. “My body aches.”
“I have a cure for that.” Autumn chuckles, leading me to a chair and gently pushing me into it.
“Tequila cures everything,” the woman who licked cheese off her fingers chimes in before holding out the very same hand covered in saliva for me to shake.
