“I didn’t quit on them. It just didn’t feel right to keep showing up for Sunday dinners.” I tapped my foot against the leg of the table on repeat. “Plus… no one said I should.”
“Well, let me extend an official invitation to every future Sunday dinner from here on out. But don’t let me pressure you. Maybe it’s not as much fun to hang out with just me and the fam.”
The bar was noisy, but I tuned it all out to pay attention to her.
“That’s not it at all, Rissy.” How could I tell her that those family meals had been a lifeline for me? A connection to something I didn’t have in my own life. “I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate for me to keep coming.”
A tiny smile landed on her lips. “You know you’re family, right?”
And that right there might be half the trouble. I hadn’t known if they’d still want me around.
I tapped her foot under the table. “I’ll come around if y’all really want me to.”
She laughed, “Don’t make me beg.”
A warm glow settled in my chest. It felt good to be wanted. “Are you still working at the Red Oak Market? I haven’t seen you there lately.”
For a few years straight, I’d turned Wednesday night into my grocery shopping night because I always knew I’d run into Marissa there.
Marissa worked at the grocery store part-time in addition to the fancy gig that came with her university degree. Or at least, Ithoughtshe still worked there. I’d gone in quite a few times on Wednesday nights lately hoping to run into her by accident, but I hadn’t seen her there in a long time.
For a while it was a weekly occurrence. We had a standing date in the canned food aisle. Every time I went in, we’d chat and catch up for a few minutes. But right after Matt left town, Marissa had disappeared. I’d gone in every other night of the week looking for her, but somehow I always missed whatever shift she was on.
“Oh, yeah. They switched me to mornings. I’ve missed seeing you there.”
Mornings.
“Yeah, me too. No wonder I stopped running into you.” I worked days, so I’d never considered going grocery shopping in the morning. But I would have if it meant I got to see her sweet ass.
Sitting here with Marissa felt right, like we were slipping straight back into the comfortable familiarity we’d always hadwith each other. And I was glad to see that she was no longer crying.
She gave me a tiny smile. “It’s good seeing you again, Sawyer.”
“Yeah.”
“I guess I probably look like a mess right now. I should slip into the bathroom and try to do something about my makeup. Is it all messed up?”
Damn. That was a trick question. Marissa was and always would be the most beautiful woman in the room, at least to me. But right now, even I could admit that she looked like a hot mess. At the same time, I remembered hearing that women didn’talwayswant to hear the truth.
After thinking about it for a second, I said, “Naw. You look gorgeous as always, girl. But your makeup might be a little smudged. You look like a Valentine’s raccoon.”
She gave me a beaming grin and swatted my arm.
“That’s what I love about you, Sawyer. You always tell it like it is.”
Without another word she stood up, slipping off to the bathroom.
I watched her ass swish away, while I told my dick to rein it in.
A few minutes later she came back out, looking more like herself.
Gone was the updo. And her smudged mascara. In their place was the fresh-faced girl I’d always known.
She plopped her sweet ass down across from me and said, “Why are you here, anyway, Sawyer? Don’t you have a hot date for Valentine’s Day?”
“Naw. I was just fixing a tap line for the guys, then heading home to my dog. I haven’t had much luck with the ladies lately.”
Marissa scoffed. “Youhaving trouble with the ladies? Why don’t I believe that?”
