didn’t think it mattered. I’m only mentioning it now because of our new friendship. This should stay strictly between you and me.”
“Carrie Ann heard about it through your fast-track grapevine, so we aren’t the only ones who know. Who else did you tell?”
Patti’s eyes shifted to the left, blinked, then her eyes moved to the right. “Maybe I did mention it to a few other friends. But I didn’t tell anybody about your own little secret.”
There! She’d brought it up. I felt my blood pressure spike. “Oh, really,” I said, “you mean the story you spread about Manny and me, saying we were lovers? Is that the secret you’ve been keeping to yourself?”
“Shhh,” Patti cautioned. “Someone will hear you. It’ll be all your fault if it gets out.”
P. P. Patti was impossible—crafty and cagey with a knack for twisting the truth to fit her plan. This entire dramatic moment was reminding me of high school and how relieved I’d been to graduate and get away from Moraine and its small-town mentalities.
“I heard from a reliable source that you’ve been spreading that lie yourself,” I said. Finally. Some guts.
“I don’t lie,” Patti said, narrowing her eyes. “All my facts are backed up with evidence.”
“You are so full of it. You don’t have any proof.”
“That isn’t the way to talk to a friend.”
“You aren’t my friend, Patti. Friends don’t tell horrible, spiteful lies about each other.”
“Is this the future event that you apologized for at the store? Because if it is, I’m not accepting this time.”
I blew steam out of my nose and ears. I even saw red. “You took an innocent friendship between Manny and me and insinuated that it was something nasty and dirty. If you don’t care about my feelings, you could at least try to care about Grace. How do you think that made her feel?”
“Grace was getting hers with that ex of yours.”
“I know you lied about me. Are you lying about Grace and Clay, too?”
Patti glared at me. She had her arms crossed. “I’m done talking to you,” she said. “Keep on bullying me and I’ll call the cops all right.”
The bullying part stopped me in my tracks, because I had an aversion to bullies and wasn’t exactly sure I hadn’t been acting like one, “I’m sorry,” I said. “But you put me in a serious position when you spread that.”
“Go away. You’re acting like a nut case. I know you’ve been through a lot lately, but don’t take it out on me.”
I left her sitting there and headed for Stu’s.
I needed a drink.
Twenty-nine
I was on my second Diet Coke.
After heating up to the boiling point, then cooling down some on the short walk over, the thought of drinking my lunch hadn’t been nearly as appealing. Not to mention that Stu had refused to serve me.
“I’m cutting you off,” he had said.
“I haven’t had a drop of alcohol yet. You can’t cut me off.”
“You’re my friend. This is my bar. I get to make the rules.” Stu gave me one of those smoldering looks of his. Then he grinned, making it hard to be angry.
“A Diet Coke then,” I said, pretending the switch to a nonalcoholic beverage was entirely my idea. “And make it quick. How’s Becky?”
“Great.”
“When are you two getting married?”
Stu opened my Coke and put it down in front of me. “And spoil our fun? No thanks.”
As I said, I was on drink number two when Hunter strolled in the door. I couldn’t help noticing he had a sexy strut. He and Stu gave each other knowing glances, and I picked up on the message going back and forth.
“You called him?” I accused Stu. “You told Hunter I was here? This is the last time I’m patronizing this establishment.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Stu said, flipping a towel over his shoulder and going back to work.
“You’ve been dodging me,” Hunter said, sitting down next to me at the bar. “We need to talk.”
“I’m all talked out, thanks to Patti. And I’m never apologizing to another living soul again as long as I live.”
“Why didn’t you return my calls?”
“What calls?” I said, shifting the blame to my little sister. I had been avoiding him.
Hunter gave me a look, like he knew I was dodging.
“Besides,” I said. “You know where to find me. If I’m not home, I’m at the store.” Which wasn’t exactly true. Since I had Holly to help out and Carrie Ann was actually showing up for a change, I was freer to come and go