A movement catches my eye behind the fake plant Mama had installed by the front doors.
I recognize the cameraman—Jon I think his name is—lurking. I’m sure Skip isn’t far behind.
I look over at Ben, and he sees the same thing. He grins and shakes his head.
“Mace, you doing all right?” he says in a low voice.
“Why is everyone asking me that these days?” I say.
Freedom leans over the bar. “Maybe because you’re acting like a scorpion’s caught in your bra.”
I stare over her head at Logan as Gigi leans in close to him and bats her eyelashes. He doesn’t react.
I wonder if, in private, he kisses her on the lips in that slow, unhurried way he always did with me. Like he had all the time in the world. Like nothing was more important than the feeling of his mouth on mine.
Logan glances up like he feels me looking. My cheeks burn, but I wave casually.
“You don’t need a man.” Free’s watching me closely.
“I know that. I would have just stayed married if I thought so, right?”
“Right. Except…” Free gazes over at Logan and then returns her serious expression to me. “It’s like I can see your lipstick still on his face.”
Riley has just turned away from kissing Wink, and she overhears. She laughs and high-fives Free. “So true, honey.”
Ben holds out his hand. A quarter sits in his open palm. “Y’all want to bet on Make Your Match? Will either couple actually go through with their wedding?”
Riley immediately grabs a quarter out of the tip jar and places it on the counter. “Count me in. No on Logan and Gigi.”
“I don’t bet,” Free says. “I don’t like gambling with money.”
“Good for you, honey,” I say to her. “Ben, seriously. Stop.”
“I’m betting against Logan and Gigi, too,” he says. “We’ll see if I’m right, huh?”
He and Riley laugh, and the two of them pocket their quarters.
“You seem upset,” Riley says to me with a knowing smile.
“Not true at all,” I say. “I don’t care. Because I have someone. Someone who’s not Logan. Who was never Logan.”
I reach for my phone and immediately text Jamie.
Come to The Cowherd tonight?
I’ve just put my phone away when Riley asks me to come with her tomorrow up to Austin for Wink’s spring training.
“I’ll try,” I tell her.
She giggles and grabs Wink’s ass, and he leans down and tongues her.
Oh, God. Couples are everywhere. I need a break. I look around for a potential exit, the one thing Daddy taught me—“always look for an escape door, darlin’, because no matter where you are and no matter how good things seem to be going, you never know when you’ll need to bolt.”
I finally locate George at the other end of The Cowherd, but before I can move to go offer to help him, Free comes behind the bar followed by Blake.
She says something to him about her term paper, followed by how nervous she is to start college. I’m barely paying attention to their conversation, but I perk up when he ruffles her hair affectionately and says, “You’ll do great, Free. You know you’re a genius.”
When my baby sister, who I’ve never heard to have a crush on anyone,blushesbright red, I send a hard look Blake’s way. He’s oblivious because he can’t take his gaze off of Freedom.
