Anyone But Nick (Anyone But... #3) - Penelope Bloom Page 0,16

and more people were crowded in around us. It was one thing to tease her among the three of us, but we’d never risk letting something like that spin into a rumor. West Valley was worse than high school when it came to rumors.

“Wait,” Kira said. She had her hair pulled back in a bun and her glasses on tonight. She had started dressing a little fancier since she’d reconnected with Rich, but she somehow still managed to look like she could fit right in restocking books at the local library. Of course, she was beautiful, too, but she was the wholesome sort of pretty that never seemed to bring out cattiness in other women. “I thought the event tonight was the apple cannon thing. Why are the criminals here?”

She was looking toward the center of the gym, which we could see now that we’d climbed up the bleachers a few rows. Three men in handcuffs were sitting inside a fenced-off area where a greased-up baby pig was snorting and sniffing around piles of hay. Seeing the pig explained the smell I’d noticed when we came in. I’d thought maybe it was just the collective sweat of a few hundred people, since everyone seemed to think the heat needed to get cranked up to sweltering whenever the temperature outside dipped below seventy-two.

“Uh, no,” Iris said. She had started letting her short black hair grow out so that it now reached her shoulders. I wondered if that had been at Cade’s request, or if Iris had just decided she was done trying so hard to look the way she thought a police officer should look. To me, she’d always been somebody who could kick my ass and look good doing it. For all Cade’s negative qualities, he did seem to at least have a positive impact on Iris and her confidence. “The apple cannon thing is in July. How did you get that mixed up?”

Kira sighed. “I guess I just kind of show up most of the time. It’s all some different version of crazy, anyway, right?”

“This one seems extra demented,” I said.

“Why?” Iris asked. “Is it the criminal part?”

“There are kids here. What if one of them breaks loose and goes on a murderous rampage or something?” I asked.

Iris laughed. “Okay, see, you’re forgetting we’re in West Valley. Goat theft is about as criminal as things get around here. More often, we’re looking at public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and that kind of jazz. So, unless you brought a goat with you tonight, I don’t think you need to be afraid of our criminals.”

“I didn’t bring a goat, but I did bring you. Is that close enough?” I asked.

Iris shot me an icy glare. “Careful. The roasters are still off, but I won’t hesitate to flip you over and cook the other side if you test me.”

I rolled my eyes and smiled.

“Why do they agree to try to catch the greased pig again?” Kira asked. “Isn’t it kind of demeaning for them?”

“Because we give them a nice mattress and some other perks in their cell for a few weeks if they win,” Iris said. “Oh, and don’t look, but a certain ex-boyfriend is walking straight toward you, Miranda.”

Robbie was shouldering his tall frame through the crowd and climbing up the bleachers. He was handsome. He’d been everything I’d thought I wanted in a partner when I’d met him at a company luncheon a few months ago. He was the kind of good looking that everybody could agree upon. There was nothing risky about him, from his safe, classical, and sensible features to the way he managed his life. Everything about him was always in order. After just a couple of months together, I’d been able to know almost for certain how our future would turn out. A few kids, a nice home, regular vacations.

We could’ve had all of it, and I knew it. But instead of comforting me, the thought had made me feel suffocated.

“Miranda,” Robbie said. He shot Iris and Kira a look that clearly implied he’d prefer to speak to me in private. Kira started to stand up, but Iris grabbed her wrist with a sinister little grin and made sure she didn’t go anywhere.

“Hey, Robbie,” I said. It hadn’t been an ugly breakup, so I gave a smile I hoped was friendly. I didn’t have any reason to think we wouldn’t be able to transition to being friends, but we also hadn’t talked much since it had happened