I opened the door to the restaurant, letting the smell of bacon, coffee, and decades of grease hit me in the face. For a fleeting moment, maybe this small pocket of the world did feel like home.?
Chapter seven
MAGNOLIA
“Ican smell the booze seeping out of our pores, and it’s making me sick,” Sutton grumbled, choking back a gag as we sat across from each other at Clary’s for brunch.
Our collective hangovers prevented us from dress shopping, and the most we could muster were satellite-dish sized pancakes and Bloody Marys from our favorite spot.?
“Will they ever learn? Will they ever stop taking advantage of free cheese and wine while their friends try to run an upscale business? Stay tuned to find out!” I said dramatically, sipping slowly on my cocktail.?
“Honestly, I think the best part was when you jumped on that horse Charlie made out of old bicycle parts and tried to ride it while yelling, ‘Hi-ho-silver!’at the top of your lungs. That was about the point where Dane started feeding you cheese and cutting your wine with water so you didn’t embarrass him anymore.”?She eyed my outfit—pumpkin-covered leggings paired with an old Savannah Academy hoodie that had once belonged to Lee—and burst out laughing. “What are you wearing?” she asked.
“Listen, I woke up in my bra and underwear with Pickle trying to get romantic, licking the cheese and cracker crumbs out of my cleavage. I just found the first clean things I could and put them on.” I took a sip of my coffee, letting the warm liquid pool in my empty stomach. “Any clue what happened to my boyfriend last night?”
Sutton almost spit out her drink. “Boyfriend? Oh, the strides we’ve made.”
I shrugged, a vague recollection of saying goodbye to Dane flitting through my mind before my brother walked me home. I remembered Dane’ssnarky, offhand comment about how much simpler things would be if I moved into his swanky Drayton Tower apartment. Beyond that, though, everything was fuzzy. Lord knows how I responded to him.
“Well, I’m sure he’s sorely disappointed you two didn’t get fully acquainted with each other last night.” Sutton winced, her eyes darting around the room nervously.?
The blurred lines of last night started to unfurl a bit, and I recalled Dane getting handsy in the back hallway of the wine shop and my insistence that someone take me home before things went too far. Had he gotten a little rough? Or angry? I couldn’t remember.?
I shook my head, trying to rattle any sense of recollection to the front of my mind. “I’m going to wash my hands and dry heave a bit over the toilet before the pancakes get here. When she drops them off, will you ask her to bring a gallon of water to the table?”?
In the bathroom, I took in the state of myself. Last night’s mascara was smudged, and my spotty foundation was letting the freckles I always tried to hide peek through. At least my new short haircut was still on point. Eunice had treated me to a keratin blowout the last time we hit the day spa, and now my once-wild curls fell effortlessly into a sleek, long bob. I gave myself a nod of encouragement and headed out of the restroom, ready to face the day.
Shaking my hands to air dry them in the small, stuffy hallway of Clary’s, I sauntered back to the table, taking my seat across from Sutton, whose back was against the wall of framed photos from the movieMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.?I couldn’t really be sure, but it looked like John Cusack was slightly judging my hangover.
“Hey, serious question,” Sutton started, bringing her cup of coffee to her face. I surveyed the table and our various beverages and let out a chuckle.?
“Is it why two girls who drank so much last night are so thirsty today? Good question.” I chose the glass of Diet Coke from the assortment of drinks, taking a long, eager sip. Sutton’s eyes grew as big as the pancakes in front of us, and she moved the coffee cup closer to her face, covering her mouth.?
“Nope. Not that. But yes, this is ridiculous. I was just wondering, um… remember that time you said that if you ever saw Lee again, you’d strangle him with the strings of his stupid guitar and shove his Grammy up his ass?”?
Still keeping my eyes on my best friend, who was now visibly sweating out the wine, I nodded. “That sounds an awful lot like something I would say, yes.”
“Well, now’s your chance.” Cringing behind her coffee cup, she let out a series of long, panicked laughs.?
“Good morning, ladies. Sutton, seriously, I would know you two in Times Square. Hiding behind a coffee cup isn’t going to help.”?
Lee Wilder himself was standing over our table, and I was caught with my mouth open like a grouper fish, unblinkingly staring at him with a huge bite of pancake dangling off my fork. Sutton howled.?
“I know a massive hangover when I see one,” he said, turning to the table behind us. “Mind if I borrow this chair?” The couple, some locals, were instantly starstruck and nodded, murmuring about how much they liked the latest single he’d written for Rhett Dawson.?
Sutton finally lowered her coffee while my mind emptied of all coherent thought. Lee watched me with amusement.?
“Um, hi,” he offered. A fourth chair made its way to our small table for two, and a tall, raven-haired gentleman took a seat next to Sutton, watching the awkward reunion unfold.?
“Which one’s Magnolia?” he asked, grabbing my fork and taking a bite of our breakfast. “Has to be the one that looks like a deer in headlights. That makes you Sutton, the chef. I’m Ryan, Lee’s writing partner.”?
Sutton watched Ryan with disgust, and I finally closed my mouth, swallowing my bite without chewing.?
“Magnolia, I…” Lee started, nervously biting his bottom lip, an uncharacteristic tick for someone known for his brazen confidence, especially around folks with vaginas and pulses.?
“You know what,” I practically screamed, shoving my chair away from the table and colliding with the table behind me, knocking over their plates and drinks, sending everyone into a shouting frenzy. “I just remembered I need to go get those flowers! The flowers, yes.”?
“Magnolia, you got the flowers yesterday,” Sutton, ever so subtle and not picking up on social cues due to her borderline still-drunken state, stared at me blankly.?
