I forgot to tell her to skip the pickled salad, but before I can send it back, Jackie slides the bowl across the table and swaps it with her basket of French fries. Wordless, natural, like back when we’d sneak out for greasy burgers on the corner of my block.
Ethan clocks the exchange and looks pointedly at me, but doesn’t say anything, only shakes his head, smiling.
Let him think what he wants.
Jackie’s wings look too good to resist, so I snag one, grinning at her scowl.
“Just making sure it’s not poisoned. You can never be too careful.” It comes out before I realize.
The line of her jaw drops, her whole body tensing as it did at the engagement dinner. “Is this your go-to line nowadays?” The bitterness in her voice is hard to miss.
“No.” I cup her wrist, feeling like an asshole. “I’m sorry. That night at dinner…I did it on purpose.” The memory makes me cringe with embarrassment.
Her nails drum an impatient rhythm on the wooden table. “Why?”
Her perfume winds around me, pulling me closer. My confession is low. “To rile you. But I shouldn’t have. Some things are meant to stay ours.”
She worries those pretty lips and I can’t stop staring at them. For a second, time rewinds to the last kiss we shared. It was more of a brush. She was late for some brunch with her sorority friends. It was anI’ll see you laterkiss. Only the moment never came.
Had I known it was the end, I’d have held on longer.
The rest of the night, I refrain from saying anything else stupid and catch up with my friends while Jackie trades beer for bourbon, mostly ignoring me.
Perfectly trained for any social situation by her mom, Jackie immediately leans into conversation with Mell and Amber, Luke’s wife. I catch snippets.
“Childhood sweethearts?”
“That’s the official version.” Amber takes a swig of her beer and grimaces. “Our families don’t know he hated my guts, and I couldn’t stand him, for a long, long time.”
“So how did this happen?” Jackie laughs and points to Amber’s wedding ring.
“His meddling grampa, that’s what happened,” Mell chips in excitedly.
I tune back into conversation with Theo and Luke, conscious I’m being rude.
“I’m having some issues with my new mechanic. She’s a pain in my ass,” Theo replies with a scoff when I ask him about his garage.
“Why don’t you fire her?” I ask.
Luke snickers, “Yeah, Mr. Boss Man. Why don’t you send her packing?”
It’s obvious I’m missing something, and before I get to needle him, a popular country song kicks in and has all the girls hollering, hauling Jackie to the dance floor. She doesn’t hesitate, and I don’t know if it’s the glass of bourbon she wiped clean or an excuse to get away from me.
With Mell out of earshot, I turn to Ethan. “How are you adjusting?”
He’s always been the quiet one out of all of us. Star athlete, got a college scholarship, then got drafted straight to the NHL, until a shattered kneecap ended his career.
“Never liked living in the city,” he says. “I’m not missing much.” But he sure as hell misses the game.
At the bar, Rusty lines up three shots, nodding to a group of men leaning over a tall table in the back. The girls raise their glasses in their direction and down the drinks, slamming them against the bar.
“You worried about that?” I ask Ethan and Luke, nodding toward the group, a bunch of guys we went to high school with.
Luke’s grin is a bad sign, and I wish I hadn’t asked. “Weare not worried.” He pats his chest, looking adoringly at his wife. “YourfriendJackie is the single one. Free to do whatever and whoever she pleases.”
There must be something wrong with this ginger ale, because it tastes bitter when I take another gulp.
“Look at them,” Theo butts in. “So mature, being friends after things didn’t work out.”
