Arush of bittersweet nostalgia swept over me, blending with a pang of sadness and something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Was it longing? Regret?
Her hair was different—those bouncy, iconic curls now straightened to perfection, skimming her jawline. I nearly gasped when I saw the freckles still dotting her face, though they were half-hidden beneath layers of makeup trying to conceal them.
Her eyes were clouded with a deep, almost below-the-surface sadness, but she met my gaze with her typical, defiant edge—a flicker of the fiery spirit I remembered shining through.?
Even hungover to the heavens, she was still a knockout.?
The girl I used to love was still in there, even if she was buried way down inside the stranger in front of me.
When I noticed her and Sutton cowering in a corner, I was transported back to the old days. Sutton and Maggie sitting at a small table together, working off a hangover and talking about boys, huge stacks of pancakes piled so high in front of them you could barely see their faces.?
I felt a twinge of guilt that she didn’t get to eat her meal.
The real giveaway that my Maggie was still in there? She flipped me off before stomping down the street in her dirty Chuck Taylors and my old hoodie—an outfit I’m pretty sure my momma didn’t approve of and definitely didn’t pick out.
For the first time in ten years, I felt my heartstrings tug, and the warmth of being near her wrapped around me like a blanket.
Even if she probably still wanted to murder me in my sleep.
“Charming, that one,” Ryan said, as I sulked back to the table, sliding into Maggie’s empty seat.
Sutton, still white as a sheet, offered up a small, knowing smile, probably working out exactly what had just unfolded in the middle of the street in her head.?
I finished off Magnolia’s Bloody Mary and signaled for the server to bring another round.?“How is she?” I finally asked Sutton.?
“She’s fine, Lee. Losing Cole was hard for her, but she got through it. We all were there for her.” Sutton twisted her napkin nervously before looking up at me. “You could have called, you know? It didn’t have to be to her, but you could have reached out to me or Charlie—especially Charlie. We were your best friends, and we needed you.”
Ryan, trying to hide his discomfort, shoveled some more of Sutton’s pancakes in his face, reaching over her to grab her cup of coffee.?
“I see you’ve brought home a stray,” she said, eyeing him suspiciously.?
“He’s a good friend. Be kind.” The server dropped our drinks off, and judging by Sutton’s body language, I’d said the wrong thing.?
“Kindness to good friends, right? Can you imagine how we would feel if you’d offered us that type of kindness instead of walking away? Or not reaching out to us when we needed you the most?” Slamming her napkin onto her plate, she shot me a weary, tired look. “You’ve known him for five minutes, but you’ve known us your whole life. How pathetic. But I can’t say I’m surprised. We’ve never been good enough for you. You can cover the rest since you’ve swooped in yet again and ruined everything.” She rose from the table and threw the twenty-dollar bill from Magnolia at me. “You and your damn brother always have to screw everything up. See you tonight.”?
Sutton made her dramatic exit, just like Maggie had. But I didn’t chase after her. I’d already been shot down by one of my best friends. I didn’t need to go two for two.
“Yeah, your friends seem great.” Ryan inhaled the rest of Sutton’s plate, only stopping to wash his breakfast down with one of the thirty-five beverages in front of him. I had to laugh—the girls hadn’t changed a bit. Big hangover, lots of options for rehydrating.
Although, the more I thought about it, they had changed. Sutton looked leaner, and I knew from Momma that, aside from being a chef for LaMonte’s,the biggest catering company in Savannah, she’d become a serious runner—even finishing the Boston Marathon two years in a row.?
Magnolia had changed the most, though. Not just physically, either. I expected to find a hollowed-out shell of a woman who had lost yet another important person in her life. Instead, I saw someone confident, strong, and put together—even if she was wildly hungover and sporting leggings covered in Jack-O-Lanterns.
I watched her walk out of the bathroom, that smile of hers highlighting the tiny dimple on her right cheek. It pulled me in, just like it used to, reminding me of all those times I kissed that exact spot.?
She was, and always would be, perfect. No matter what.
“I don’t think they’re my friends anymore,” I finally offered.?
“Well, as Nashville’s resident bad boy, I think you know how to do damage control better than anyone else,” Ryan said, turning his attention away from the carnage in front of him and onto his cell phone.?
I wasn’t exactly the resident bad boy, but when I’d arrived in Nashville and was scooped up by the label, they’d treated me to a bit of a makeover. They wanted me to stand out from the crowd of crooners who flocked to the city to get their big break in country music, which apparently meant being a playboy.
Maggie wasn’t the only one whose arm was twisted to change.?
The label had linked me up with Ryan, who had come to Nashville a few years before I did and had made quite the name for himself in the song-writing circuit. They’d hired me a personal trainer, a stylist, and had someone come in and chop off my darkening curls, giving me a sharper, clean look.?
And the cherry on top? They’d brought in social media influencer, Janelle Hunter, as my arm candy. Long, blonde hair and even longer legs coupled with her huge online following made us Nashville’s hottest romance.?
