About Tomorrow - Abbi Glines Page 0,31

to sound as happy about Fleur’s marital status as I was.

“I’m going to play for two hours tonight. They don’t stay open late this time of year. Not enough customers.”

“Sounds nice and I’ve not had a lobster roll since I’ve been back in New England.”

He shook his head. “Shame on you.”

We rode in silence for a moment then I felt Creed glance over at me. “You weren’t really going to hold our past with Fleur against her still, were you?”

I bit my bottom lip a moment because I wasn’t sure if I was going to lie or tell the truth. A lie would save me the embarrassment. Finally I just said, “Old habits die hard.”

Creed laughed loudly then and I smiled, liking that I’d made him laugh. Even if it was at me. He had a great laugh. It was something I used to love to hear and rarely did anymore.

“Derek is one of my friends now. I learned to forgive and forget,” he said in a teasing tone.

Derek Clark was Fleur’s brother. He was one year older than us, but I didn’t recall a reason for us to dislike him. He had always been nice to me. “Derek was never an issue,” I reminded him.

“Not to you he wasn’t. He worshiped the ground you walked on. If you’d told him to jump off a cliff, he’d have done it and taken a fucking selfie in the process.”

I turned my head to look at Creed. “No he would not! He was just a nice guy. He had to be because his sister was trying to make my life hell.”

Creed rolled his eyes. “You were blind to poor Derek’s efforts. If I hadn’t been so damn jealous, I would have appreciated it more. I couldn’t laugh about it back then because I was terrified you’d fall for the older, popular guy.”

I frowned. Was he serious? I didn’t recall Derek Clark having a thing for me at all. He was just a sweet guy. “I think you’re remembering things wrong.”

Creed raised his eyebrows then. “Okay. Then I’ll ask Fleur about it tonight. We will see who is remembering things incorrectly.”

The idea of asking Fleur about her brother’s attraction to me six plus years ago made me cringe. I’d rather just say I was wrong now and forget about it. “That’s okay, I believe you.”

He chuckled and kept driving. I had a feeling he wasn’t going to let this go. Before I could think of more reasons for him to forget about this, we were pulling into the parking lot of “On a Clark Shell.” Okay, so that was a cute name for the bar.

“I don’t play until seven thirty so we have forty minutes to eat. Can I trust you not to attack Fleur while I’m on stage?” He was teasing, but I still glowered at him then got out of the truck.

He was around the truck before I had the door closed. “It’s a little icy,” he said, then held out his arm for me to take. I looked down at his arm and thought about it for a second then decided I was thinking too hard about something so silly. Taking his arm, we walked toward the entrance, and twice, I almost slipped and would have busted my ass had he not being holding me up.

When we went inside, the warmth of the place was a relief. The closer to the water, the colder the wind it seemed. Outside felt frigid. There was a large fireplace that sat on the far-right wall and I wanted nothing more than to sit at a table near that. It looked toasty and the view to the stage in the center of the back wall would be perfect.

We were greeted before we could go too much farther by a young brunette in jeans and a black t-shirt that said In a Clark Shell on the front. “Good evening, Creed.” She blushed as she said his name. “Where can I sit you tonight? The usual?” She couldn’t be older than nineteen years old.

Creed looked down at me. “You want to sit near the fire, don’t you?” he asked me.

I nodded. “Please.”

He turned back to the waitress, “Lulu” or at least that’s what it said on her name tag. “Tonight, let’s try the booth by the fire,” he told her.

She gave me a smirk as if I were a lightweight that needed heat then spun around to strut with an over-exaggerated swing in her hips toward