But it was her son who held her now, swaying and smiling and acting like that song didn’t hurt a little for all of us. Logan exaggerated a dip with Mom in his arms before spinning her around the coffee table, and she laughed and laughed, her messy pony tail swinging with the motion.
“I don’t think there ever could be anyone else,” I mused.
Jordan nodded, each of us finishing off our beers, and I wondered what it felt like to love someone that much.
I wondered if I’d ever know for sure.
Ruby Grace
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I crossed my arms, deadpan expression on my face as I glared at my best friend — though I was debating the title at the moment.
The bonfire the Jensen twins had started was high and warm behind her, dozens of Stratford’s residents littering the space around it, as well as stretching into the barn and beyond. There were five kegs, an entire table dedicated to liquor bottles and mixers, and every single person held a red plastic cup that housed either beer or a mixed drink. Ages ranged from sixteen to fifty-five, though everyone seemed to have their own little sections of the Jensen property marked off for their clique. The last time I was here, I was with the high schoolers who liked to party in the barn next to the resident DJ. Now, I was somewhere in the in-between, not sure where to stand or where I fit in.
The Black Hole was the main party spot in town, especially on Friday nights, and Annie had begged me to come with her since it was my first week back in town.
And now, she was bailing.
Annie cringed, forcing a smile through it as she gestured to her belly. “I know, I’m sorry. I really did want to come, but little man is rolling around so much tonight. I just want to go lie on the couch.”
“I think that sounds pretty perfect,” her husband, Travis, said, wrapping his arm around her. He pulled her into him, kissing her temple as she melted into his side. When she looked up at him, they shared a longing look before he kissed her nose.
And as cute as they were together, they weren’t cute enough to bail on me.
“I didn’t even want to come here,” I reminded her, an almost whine in my voice. “You begged me, Annie. And now we’ve been here for an hour and you want to leave?”
She apologized again, going on about how she’d make it up to me, she’d take me out for ice cream at my favorite little diner in town later this week, and she’d come over and help me and Mom with wedding planning, too. The longer she rambled, her little belly bouncing with her as she pleaded, the less I could hold my anger.
My best friend was too cute for her own good.
I sighed, running a hand back through my lightly curled hair — hair that had taken an hour to fix — before I conceded. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Annie blanched. “Wait, I meant we would like to leave,” she said, gesturing between her and Travis. “As in, the two of us. You should stay. Have some drinks, catch up with people.”
“Catch up with who, exactly?” I probed. “The girls I thought were my friends in high school before you and I both found out the hard way that they only hung out with us for our money? Or how about the boys who, even after graduating, are still boys, and are already tripping over themselves with the urge to ask me out… even though they know I’m engaged?”
I glanced over at a group of guys I recognized from high school — some of them graduated, some of them seniors now — and they all looked away simultaneously, sipping on their beers and pretending like they hadn’t been staring.
Annie chuckled. “Okay. Fair point,” she said, but then her eyes flicked somewhere behind me. “Well, would you look at that. It’s your buddy from the distillery.”
I turned, following her gaze over my shoulder, and immediately locked eyes with Noah Becker.
He was standing with his younger brother, Logan, as they filled their cups from the keg. He smirked when I saw him, saying something to Logan before he started toward me, and I whipped back around, eyes wide.
“He’s walking over here,” Annie whispered as Travis pulled to the side, saying goodbye to his buddies.