Page 13 of Back To Our Beginning

“No! I’m a grownup. If Holden can take on the Easter Bunny, I can take on Beau.”

I grinned. Damn, I sure wished I’d seen that.

With that thought, I pushed open the door of my Jeep and jumped out, planting my boots firmly on the gravel. I smoothed my palms over the sexiest top I owned. It didn’t show much cleavage, not that I had all that much compared to Trenda, but it was a crop top and showed off my belly button fake diamond stud. And that usually got a few male glances. Might as well let Beau know how much he’d fucked up by not calling me sooner.

“Dammit!”

We’d only been friends. It’s not like we’d dated or anything. It shouldn’t have mattered what I looked like. But I smiled anyway. He was a guy. It would matter.

My phone buzzed, and I fished it out of my purse. It was a message from Vic.

VIC:Your boy’s here. He’s been playing pool for a while. I don’t know how much longer he’ll be here.

My boy. I rolled my eyes and started stomping across the parking lot toward the door of the bar. As soon as I flung it open, I realized my mistake as people turned to stare at me. Great, just the impression I didn’t want to make.

“Hi Maddie,” Ruby Miller shouted out.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?” Lacy yelled.

Lacy Cunningham had been doing my hair for eons, and Ruby was fairly new to town, and now worked at the Java Jolt. I usually hung out with them once a week. They were great girls.

“Come sit with us. We just ordered munchies,” Ruby said.

I grimaced. I didn’t want to be rude, but I needed to finish things with Beau and get the hell out of here.

STAT.

I walked past the hostess stand to their table. I grabbed a potato skin off their dish and took a big bite. As soon as I swallowed, I realized my mistake. My nervous stomach did not like greasy food. Ruby immediately noticed and handed me her ever-present Sprite. I sucked some of it down and felt better.

“What’s going on?” Ruby asked softly.

Lacy was wonderful, but she couldn’t read a room to save her life. Ruby, on the other hand, was extremely insightful and could pick up on everybody’s emotions. The only thing she wasn’t aware of was herself.

“Beau,” I whispered back.

“He’s here,” she said. “He’s playing pool with some woman.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Lacy asked as she looked up from her phone and took a big sip of her margarita.

“Beau,” I said.

“Oh, him again. I told you what to do. He’s hot. Take him home and bang his brains out.” She then went back to scrolling through her phone.

Ruby winced. “What’s the plan?” she asked.

“He needs to quit calling me.”

“Are you sure?” Ruby asked.

I bit my lip. Damn, how could she understand me so well?

“Why are you asking me that?”

She broke into a small smile, and her dimples showed. “Maybe because you switched out your normal belly button ring for a diamond stud?”

I blushed.

“I’m just here to tell him to stop calling, once and for all.”