Page 89 of Love, Lies, and Whiskey

“Not yet, you don’t.” Birdie popped to her feet. “Girl time! Let’s go dance!”

Sasha and Sully got up in a flurry of excitement.

“Juliette, stop ogling my brother and get your butt out of that chair.” Birdie took Juliette’s hand, tugging her up to her feet.

“Oh! I didn’t know you meant me,” she said.

“We can’t do girl talk in front of the guys,” Birdie said.

“Birdie,” Seeley warned.

Birdie rolled her eyes, tugging Juliette toward the dance floor with Sasha and Sully.

“Tell us everything,” Birdie said.

“What was it like for you out in California? It must have been so hard,” Sasha said.

“What’s it like being back after all this time?” Sully asked. “Does Lucas know about you and Doc?”

And so it began.

They danced as they talked, and while it started out sounding like an interrogation, it quickly morphed into something else. Something she hadn’t realized she’d needed. The girls were empathetic and asked questions that only other women would know to ask, and they seemed to genuinely care about what she and Lucas had been through. Birdie and Sasha shared the worries they’d had about Seeley over the years. They explained that they really hadn’t known what had happened, and they told her how they’d known he’d harbored love for her for all this time because he’d become so closed off after that summer.

Their serious conversations were interspersed with laughter and hugs as they teased each other, and the girls joked about how possessive the guys were, watching them like hawks while they danced. Juliette knew that, at least for Seeley, it wasn’t because he didn’t trust her, but rather because he didn’t want anything to happen to her or any of them. She loved that about him, but with the girls, she saw the humor in it, too, because the guys’ eagle eyes were peeled.

They danced and laughed until they were too hungry to keep going. Then they joined the guys at the table, chowing down on finger food, enjoying easy conversation, fun banter, and smooches from their men. Which Birdie never failed to comment on, and wow, did Juliette feel good. She’d lost touch with her high school girlfriends after moving to California, and it had been hard to find new friends there, because she was a seventeen-year-old married mother, and most girls her age were still in high school or out partying. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed having girlfriends until now. She felt like she’d found a true sisterhood. A tribe of women friends who talked about real things and understood that life could be treacherously hard but also irresistibly beautiful. And they not only believed in deep, soul-searing love, but they were rooting for her and Seeley and Lucas as hard as she and Seeley were.

As the night wore on, her new girlfriends convinced her to ride the mechanical bull, which was an embarrassment but fun as hell. Seeley and everyone else cheered her on for the five seconds she lasted. She couldn’t stop laughing after falling off, and Birdie hollered, “Attagirl! Show that floor who’s boss!” making her laugh even harder.

Seeley helped her up and pulled her into his arms. “I think you’d better stick to riding your cowboy.” He smothered her laughter with a merciless kiss that drew whistles and shouts from the crowd.

Now she was in his arms on the dimly lit dance floor, dancing to “What if I Never Get Over You.” His hands were warm on her back, his body brushing sensually against hers. They were surrounded by couples, but he was looking at her like she was the only person in the entire room. Her heart was so full, she was sure he could feel it beating between them.

“Are you having a good time, darlin’?”

“I’m having the best time. I love being here with you, getting reacquainted with your brothers and sisters, and getting to know their partners. This is what I’d always imagined for us.”

“Me too. I still can’t believe you’re right here in my arms. And I get to have you all to myself tonight.” He kissed her softly, his gaze moving slowly over her face.

“What?”

“You’re so beautiful, it almost hurts to look at you.”

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

“I’m serious, darlin’. When we were apart, even when I was trying not to think of you, I’d wonder how you’d changed over the years. No matter how I pictured you, whether it was heavy or thin, short hair or long, you were always beautiful in my mind’s eye. No one could ever hold a candle to you.”

Not for the first time, and she knew not for the last, the honesty in his voice took her breath away. “Seeley Whiskey, are you telling me that at sixteen I ruined you for all other women? Because I’m thinking there should be a trophy for that.”

“Oh, there is, and you’re going to get all nine inches of it.”

They laughed, and he kissed her again.

“But I do have a little something for you. I hate that I missed so many birthdays and Mother’s Days, but I look forward to being here for all that are yet to come.” He pulled a small velvet bag from his pocket, and there in the middle of the dance floor, he presented her with the most beautiful white-gold diamond-studded infinity necklace that hung vertically, with a heart-shaped aquamarine at the bottom. “Happy birthday, darlin’. I hope I got Lucas’s birthstone right.”

She teared up. “You did. It’s beautiful.” He put it on her, and then he kissed her. She choked out, “Thank you,” and he held her a little tighter.

She rested her head against his chest, holding him tighter, too, as they danced through the end of the song. When “Ready to Be Loved” came on, it was a faster song, but they continued swaying to their own silent beat. They gazed into each other’s eyes, and he whispered the lyrics to her. As he sang about how he was used to hiding his feelings and wanted to risk it all with her, how he’d been hurt and had never let anyone in, and how he was ready to let it all go to be loved by her, every word made her heart feel even fuller.