“Don’t you go blaming me.” A sweet voice cuts through the open field.
“What are you doing here, love?” Pierce jumps to his feet, finding his wife. She looks more laid-back than I’ve seen her lately. With her dark brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail, she’s wearing a jumper and joggers.
“Thought I’d come to see you lads play.” She walks over to me. “I see he’s still cheating.” Her laughter rings out bright.
“See! Even your wife thinks so!” I point a finger at him, before dropping a quick peck on Charlotte’s cheek. “Hi, Charlotte.”
“Et tu, Charlotte?” Pierce acts wounded, but his laughter gives him away.
“Oh, shove off, you. You know you were offside and Liam wasn’t paying attention. Who’s the new girl?” Charlotte drops down onto the bench next to me.
“We haven’t met her yet,” I tell her.
“Something about us being huge knobs and him not wanting her to meet us.”
Charlotte eyes her husband, then grabs his beer and takes a sip. “Can’t imagine why he’d say that.”
“Wow. There is no love lost tonight,” Pierce tells us. “I’m a perfect gentleman.”
“Sure you are.”
“Is that why you don’t have a girlfriend?” Pierce moves over to Charlotte, resting between her legs.
“Hey, you know my job takes up all my time right now.”
“Do we know anyone we could set him up with?” Charlotte asks Pierce, completely ignoring me.
“I can see if Ruby has any friends from school. No one at the foundation?”
Charlotte gives him a thoughtful look. “None that are single.”
“Perhaps your gran knows someone. Maybe an older woman is just what he needs,” Pierce snickers.
“Oy! You two done yet?” I shake my head, swallowing the last of my beer. “And here to think I get enough grief about my dating life from my mum.”
“Poor Simon.”
“What Pierce means,”—Charlotte smacks him on the shoulder—“is we just want to make sure you’re happy.”
“I am happy.”
“Are you though? You seem sad. Ever since Lily dumped you,” Charlotte points out.
“We mutually called things off.”
“Did you though?” Pierce asks.
“Since when did tonight become all about my love life?”
It’s been a long time since I’ve thought of Lily. We dated for a few weeks last year, but called it quits early on. The chemistry just wasn’t there.
It seems that all my friends are getting married or partnering off these days. It hasn’t bothered me one bit.
Until they point it out like this.
“How about we go back to talking about the plan for when we head to Dixon?” I don’t want any attention on me.
“I thought that was all planned out,” Charlotte replies. “Did anything new come up to change the plans?”
