She didn’t answer, just turned and walked away from him, and he was so angry, he let her. Exhaling loudly, he walked back to where his friends still stood. Clearly they’d been watching him, but he doubted they’d heard anything.
“Around is a vague answer, don’t you think?” Branna said, watching him.
He grunted something.
“She was probably terrified, Rosebud. You asked her to have dinner with us, and Rose invited her to the party and you don’t even know her,” Jake said.
“But I was just being friendly.”
“I know that, but remember when you first came back to town? You weren’t big on connecting with people. Maybe Lani is the same.”
“Maybe you’re right. I sometimes forget the other me.”
“I haven’t.” Jake hugged her close.
“What’s the deal there?” Jake said as they walked back to the bar.
“Deal?” He couldn’t believe she’d thought he wanted sex as payment for a room. What the hell kind of people had that woman spent time with if that was her reaction to simple courtesy?
“How do you know her?”
He had to say something to Jake, so he settled on a partial version of the truth. “I met her in a bar in Brook. We talked for a few hours, and I didn’t know she was coming here until this morning.”
“Is she the woman whose heel you pulled out of the grate?”
Nothing was kept quiet for long in Lake Howling.
“The very one.”
“She seemed pretty nervous,” Jake added, “and not your usual type.”
“I’m not sure if that’s an insult or a compliment.” Noah walked behind the bar and retrieved a bottle of champagne. He needed to do something to keep busy; his insides were still boiling.
“Both.”
No one knew you quite like an old friend.
“You often go for women who want companionship and nothing more.”
“And you know this how?”
“I have my spies.”
“Get a life and butt out of mine.”
“Aww, now where is the fun in that?”
So he was grouchier than he used to be and didn’t want anything more than brief companionship from a woman. It seemed his friends were more insightful than he’d given them credit for.
“What’s her deal, anyway? I mean, she looks pretty timid, and those clothes are faded and worn. Is she down on her luck?”
Jake was leaning on the bar now, watching Noah work. A favorite pastime of many of his friends.
“You met her for about five minutes and you’ve decided she’s timid and her clothes suggest she’s down on her luck? Maybe she’s just not trying to impress people with the way she looks and is happy with who she is?” Noah didn’t believe his words for one minute, but he said them anyway. “I only had a drink in a bar with her because she was sitting on the stool beside me. “We didn’t slice open a vein and share confidences or anything.”
“I’m a doctor, we know shit. It’s called being insightful.”
“Insightful, my ass, and you don’t know shit.”
