that wasn’t how the three of them took it. While Maya and Jayne giggled and snorted like a couple of sixteen-year-olds, Regan still wasn’t budging.
“What about all that lightning crap you were spouting the other night? You said it never happened to you.”
“No, I said if it didn’t happen, there wasn’t much point in trying to force it.”
“And?!” Regan tipped Ellie a “don’t B.S. me” kind of look. “You’ve known the guy for years, Ellie; are you telling us now, suddenly, out of the blue…?”
Crap. Okay, uh…damn! Admitting this was going to be embarrassing, but the truth was the truth.
“Not completely out of the blue.”
“What?!” It was crazy how in sync the three of them were, and when Ellie hesitated, all three of them leaned forward a little more. “We’re waiting.”
“Okay, fine. Remember that day Jayne found out about the storage unit where her gran kept all those books.”
It was a statement, not a question, because of course they all remembered; it wasn’t a day any of them would soon forget. Having recently moved back to town, Jayne had been working like a crazy person trying to get her late grandmother’s bookstore back up to code before the city demolished it. One afternoon, a couple of days before the store was to reopen, Jayne disappeared. Nick almost lost his mind trying to find her, and Ellie left customers alone in her store so she could go with Maya and Brett to help look.
They eventually found her—actually, they found her and Nick together—in her grandmother’s storage unit, surrounded by boxes of books.
“It was then,” Ellie said. “And I’m really sorry, Jayne, because I know that was such a completely awful day for you, what with finding Gran’s letter in those books and all those horrible things she wrote.”
“Not completely awful,” Jayne mumbled over her cup. “There were some good parts.”
“Okay, not including the part where you and Nick were busy going at it like a couple of rabbits.” Ellie grinned at her friend, who was rapidly turning a bright shade of scarlet. “Anyway, when we all got there and found out you were okay…”
“What about it?”
“Brett smiled. Do you remember that?”
Maya shook her head, but Jayne nodded again as understanding slowly dawned over her face.
“Really?”
Ellie didn’t even have to force her grin. “Li’l bit, yeah. I don’t know if it was because I’d never actually seen him do it before or, hell, maybe I was hormonal, I don’t know, but…yeah.”
“That was like a year and a half ago,” Regan cried. “And you wait until now to tell us?”
“What was to tell?” Ellie pushed off the couch and headed to the kitchen for the teapot. “I’ve been nothing but a total bitch to him since the first time he pulled me over, and I wasn’t about to let something like a smile…even one like that…make me think he was any less of an asshole than those other cops.”
She paused, then offered a small shrug. “And in case you hadn’t noticed, Reggie, it sometimes takes me a while to admit I might be wrong about something.”
“No,” they all gasped.
“Funny. Anyway, after that he really started pissing me off with all those tickets he kept giving me.”
“All of which you deserved,” Jayne muttered with a “tell me I’m wrong” tone.
“Hang on.” Regan’s gaze narrowed. “He pissed you off by writing tickets, but he revokes your license and you jump into bed with him? That’s some screwed-up shit, my friend.”
“It wasn’t like that.” When everyone’s cups had been refilled, she switched places with Regan so she could pace. Normally it helped her think, but with three sets of eyes staring back at her, not so much this time.
“Then tell us how it was, ’cause none of this makes sense to me.”
“You think it makes sense to me?” Ellie laughed. “In the span of about eight hours we went from him taking my license and making me want to punch him—”
“I really thought she was going to,” Jayne said, nodding.
“—to him rescuing me and my stupid bike on the side of the road. My mom arrived in there somewhere, I was still trying to sort all that out, and then right there, with my ass in that puddle, I suddenly realized something about him.”
“Which was…”
“He’s funny. Like really funny.”
“Hello!” Jayne cried. “What have I been saying all this time? Jeez, Ellie, if you’d just listen once in a while.”
“And then he brought my bike back and…” Ellie turned, but Regan was too quick.
“Oh my God, she’s