Pity.
The band starts up and Dakota startles.
I yank my chin back to the front.
I finish my beer and go for another, looking out over the crowd while I wait. Thirty feet away from Dakota, I see Dixon’s blond hair. He’s leaning against a tree, looking out. When he meets my stare, he smirks.
“Sir?” The voice belongs to the girl at the line of taps.
By the time I order and pay, Dixon is gone. Hopefully he’s crawled into whatever hole he came from.
I sit back down and sneak a glance at Dakota. Her shoulders are lifted, and her chin tips up determinedly.
She looks like she’s about to throw me yet another life preserver.
One guess as to what I’ll do with it.
21
Dakota
Wes is drunk.
He’s not hammered in atake off all your clothes but your shirtand pass outway. But definitely in a way that he has no business operating a vehicle.
To be fair, I’m not sober either. After the awkwardness where Wes realized I’d chosen the back corner of the park on purpose, what else was there to do to fill the silence between us? Yeah, the band was playing and so it wasn’t actually quiet, but there was nothing but dead air between him and I. Multiple drinks it was.
Now the consequence of that choice is staring us right in the face. The concert is over and I don’t know what to do from here. I finish folding the blanket and tuck it under my arm.
“So…” Wes says, looking around at the people passing us.
I answer by tucking my top lip into my bottom lip and raising my eyebrows at him.
Wes digs into the pockets of his jeans and produces his keys. “Can I see you tomorrow?”
“We’d better.” I frown, watching his keys spin around the keyring on his finger. “Believable whirlwind romance and all.” I reach for his keys, but he pushes them back into his pocket. Even in his buzzed state, he is surprisingly agile.
My arms cross in front of my chest. “You cannot drive right now.”
“I’m aware.”
I hold my tongue until a group of four people passes us. “So you were going to… what? Walk around by yourself until you sobered up?”
“Sit in my truck, actually. Read the news on my phone.”
I make a disbelieving face. “I think you can still get a DUI for being behind the wheel, even if your car isn’t actually in motion.” I only know that because I looked it up on the internet after I got drunk with Waylon and was curious about the law in Arizona.
“Then I’ll walk around for a while,” Wes says.
Why is he acting like he can’t wait to be away from me? Was my choosing that spot in the park that bad? I thought I was being considerate.
I shrug like I don’t care. “Suit yourself. I’m going to get some pie.” I start to turn around but his voice stops me.
“Pie?”
“Yes, have you ever heard of it?”
He almost smiles. Considering it’s the most he’s smiled in the past two hours, I’ll take it. He walks beside me, his hands shoved in his pockets.
