He slid into a parking space and faced me. “Oh, yeah? What’d she do to make you pissed at her?”
“Nothing.” I sighed. “I’m pretty sure I fucked up.”
“You wanna fix it?”
“I think I kinda left it a little too long,” I admitted.
Dad smiled. “Bud, you two have been joined at the hip since you met. You weathered all that Madison drama and came out on the other side.”
I’m not sure wedidweather the Madison shit. I’d pulled my grades up, barely, but Tate had started to pull away from me, particularly after high school graduation, and I wasn’t entirely sure why. “Yeah.”
“I’d start by apologizin’ if you haven’t already.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Lecture over,” Dad said.
“Thanks.”
We climbed out of the truck and headed inside. Our local Fred Meyer was your one-stop shop for pretty much everything and my parents usually found one reason or another to come in practically every day.
“Divide and conquer?” I asked as Dad grabbed a cart.
“Yeah, you wanna go grab the cold shit your mom likes? Those daytime, nighttime packs. Meet you by the beer in ten?”
I nodded and made my way to the correct aisle, finding it somewhat picked through.
Shit. No packs.
I probably stood in front of the cold remedies for a good four minutes before deciding to grab one of everything on the shelf.
As I turned to leave the aisle, I saw a flash of red hair and knew instantly it had to be Tate. No one had her incredible locks, not to mention the fact, no one moved as quickly as she did... at all times.
* * *
Tate
Goddammit all to hell.
Of course I couldn’t avoid him forever. Fuck my life. I practically ran down the aisle two rows away from Flash, hoping to God he didn’t see me. Jesus, I was not prepared for him today.
“Hey, sweetheart,” a deep voice said.
I let out a squeak and raised my head, just as I was about to slam into one of my favorite humans. My dad’s friend (and Flash’s dad), Hatch, smiled at me from behind a shopping cart filled to the brim. Lordy, the man was in his sixties and still hot as hell.
Double shit.
“Oh! Hi, Hatch.” I glanced around, readying myself for a hasty retreat if Flash should show his face. “Um, how are you?”
“I’m good. You good?”
“Ah, sure, yes. I’m great. I’m just, um, in a hurr—”
“Tate.”
Flash’s deep voice settled over me like frosting melting on a warm cinnamon roll. I closed my eyes and tried not to swear out loud as I pasted on a smile and turned to face my nemesis. “Hi, Flash.”
“You’re here.”
