Carter and Nick, Brett started to direct his question at Nick, then turned back to Carter.
“I’m sorry, have you not met Ellie? About yay high, brown hair, brown eyes…friend of Regan’s. She’s the one who used to call Nick ‘Dumbass,’ and I’m pretty sure she’s the one who tried to convince Regan that you were going to be the biggest mistake she’d ever make. Ringing any bells yet?”
“Wow, Hale,” Carter laughed. “Who knew that getting all horned up turned you into such a prick? I like it!”
“I’m not—” Brett stopped, took a long swig of his beer, and slammed it back down. “Just forget it. It is what it is.”
There was no way either one of them was going to do that—not now.
“This is the most simple thing in the world, man.” Carter pointed his beer at Brett’s chest and nodded. “I told you before; you just need to go kiss her.”
Nick choked on a swallow and pulled his bottle down so fast that beer bubbled over the top and down the sides. “Don’t do that!”
“Why not? You did it with Jayne.” A knowing smile spread over Carter’s face. “And it worked like a hot damn with Red.”
Still coughing, Nick shook his head until he could finally speak again. “I didn’t just walk up and kiss Jayne out of the blue. I didn’t even mean to do it that first time, but then she finally let me hug her, and, well…”
“And then you kissed her,” Carter laughed. “I’m telling you, man, just do it. Just walk up to Ellie and do it.”
“No way,” Nick warned. “It’s not the same as what happened between Jayne and me or him and Regan.”
“It’s always the same,” Carter snorted. “Someone just has to have the balls to make a move. So grow a pair and go make a move! She did it to you—even if it was just for show!”
Brett was on the verge of nodding until Nick’s words sank in.
“Nick’s right,” he muttered. “It’s not the same.”
“That’s just your inner wuss talking.”
“No, it’s not. I’ll be gone in three days.”
“So what? Think of all the things you can do with her in those three days. And those three nights. At least give her the option of saying no.”
“Okay.” Nick nodded. “That I agree with. You have to at least call her back.”
He would. He would. It was just that she’d left him a couple of messages and he’d been trying to figure out what to say before he called her back. But it was two days later now, and with every passing minute, it got harder and harder to come up with something.
Chapter 17
“If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.”
—Sheriff Walt Longmire, Longmire
By the time the four of them were halfway through their first drinks at Chalker’s on Tuesday night, Ellie had told them the truth about Brett and how it had all been an act.
Her stomach had knotted itself so tight, at a couple points she actually had to bend over and force herself to breathe, especially when she told them about the weekend in the hotel with him.
They were her best friends; she wasn’t going to give them half-truths now. If she was going to come clean, she was going to come squeaky clean.
“I’m so so sorry,” she said. “I hated lying to you guys, but—”
“Seriously?” It was Regan who snorted, but the other two were grinning. “Do you even hear yourself?”
“Yes, and I’m trying to apologize.”
“You don’t need to apologize to us, Ellie—does she, guys?” Jayne and Maya seemed to have been practicing synchronized head shaking. “Think about what you’ve told us.”
“God, Regan, it’s all I’ve thought about this whole time: how I was ever going to explain this and what I could possibly do to earn back your trust. I lied to you.”
“To me?” Regan laughed. “Uh, no. Jayne? Maya?”
Again with the synchronized head shaking.
“The only person you’ve been lying to is yourself, Ellie. I mean, look at you! You’re obviously in love with the guy, and that’s what you’ve been trying to make us believe, so where’s the lie? I say you get off that stool right now and go get him. Just walk right up to him and plant a big old wet kiss on him. See what happens then.”
“Okay,” Jayne laughed. “I think we can all agree that’s Carter’s influence talking there, but she’s not wrong, Ellie. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Oh, I don’t know—he could leave me standing there like