I swished my glass around before tipping it back and draining the liquid inside. Holding up my glass, I turned to Briggs and said, “Great. Another water for me, please. On the rocks.”
He looked at my drink and nodded, amused. He looked at Margo. “How about you?”
She smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I’m not feeling very wild tonight.” She held up her half-empty glass of soda and shook it. “Diet Pepsi for me, but you don’t have to buy it.”
Briggs folded his arms across his chest before unfolding them again. “No problem. I’d love to. I’ll go grab those drinks and be right back.”
He must have given his friends a sign of some sort as he walked away, because that section of the room erupted in cheers that resembled some sort of duck mating call. He returned a minute later with our drinks.
To avoid him standing over us awkwardly, I pushed at the extra chair to my right with my foot. “Have a seat.”
Briggs smiled gratefully and sat, passing us our drinks. “Sorry about all that.”
“Are you guys just passing through?” Margo asked.
“We’re all here for the summer, building the new physical therapy building in town. That’s almost all of us. We’re just missing one more guy.”
So, theywereChase’s crew.
The two of them conversed lightly while I studied Briggs. The strange thing was…he seemed almost…oblivious to the guys behind me. There was a natural sweetness in his eyes as he flirted with my friend. My mama-bear heart began to settle. He might have come over here as a part of something, but that had taken a side seat once he sat down at this table. My shoot-'em-up vibe began to dissipate, and I broke off a piece of crust on my pizza.
“So, do you both live here?” he asked.
“I’m visiting for a few more days, but Tessa just moved back,” Margo said.
Briggs’s face fell. “Ah, dang. Maybe we’ll have to do something before you leave.” He watched her carefully as he cast his line, wondering if she was going to bite.
“Might be fun.”
He grinned before looking over at me, his arms folded casually on the table. “Tessa, huh? I know a few guys who might be interested in knowing that.”
“Your groupies in the back?” I asked, giving him my sweetest smile.
He had the good sense to look chagrined. “Yeah. Sorry. They’re annoying but mostly harmless. Fair warning: more of them might be over here before the night’s over.”
Two years ago, I would have been flattered by the attention. But now, I looked at that group of guys and felt nothing. Not that I thought they would be serious dating material, but I knew their type. They were the good ol’ boys. Rough, rowdy, and probably knew the cops in their town by name, but they had hearts of gold that bled red, white, and blue. Every town had them. Eugene was filled with them. In my other life, they would have been fun to flirt with. But now…I felt nothing. No pang. No jitters. No excitement. That had all been sucked out of me by Tyler.
I proceeded to sit awkwardly for another few minutes while the two potential lovebirds muddled through weak conversation points before Briggs finally ended my misery and asked her out. They exchanged numbers, and he stood up to leave.
“I’ll leave you ladies alone for now.”
I had to give him points for not overstaying his welcome. He glanced politely at me again before giving Margo his full smile. As she melted into her seat, even I had to admit it was a pretty great smile. Though, again…nothing. We were silent for ten seconds, both of us pretending to pick at our food while making sure he was out of earshot.
“I feel like I have pit stains. Do I have pit stains?” Margo’s eyes briefly flicked to Briggs’s table, and she must have felt safe enough to lift her arms for a split second.
I didn’t look her in the eye. “Looks great. Totally dry.”
“Liar.”
“It’s fine because he still asked for your number.”
“That’s never happened to me before.” She leaned back in her seat and took a deep breath, as though the entire exchange had exhausted her. “We’ll see if we actually go out on that date before I leave.”
“He’ll take you out. He couldn’t stop staring.”
“It sounds like you’ll be next. Maybe we can double.” She motioned toward the table, though I didn’t look at them again.
I gave her a noncommittal grunt. It was the best I could do with my conflicting emotions. It had been almost a year, and while I no longer wanted Tyler, I missedus. I missed our plans. I missed what could have been. I missed the little apartment in Boise we had rented—the one we chose after only two hours of searching because I told him I loved how the kitchen was set up. How much time had I spent daydreaming about baking cakes and pies and dinners for my new husband in that kitchen? It was all very 1950s in my head, but it felt perfect to me. Our plans. From what I understood, Tyler still had those plans. He just switched out the girl.
