obviously gotten Botox and bleached her once dark hair. At one time, we had been friends. We were all on the cheerleading squad together with me as the unquestioning leader. We had known each other since Kindergarten.
But things changed. Including their affection for me apparently.
Laura put a hand on her bony hip. “So, what did we do to deserve the presence of Southport’s golden girl? Hollywood sick of you?”
I shouldn’t have been surprised at their rancor; after all, we hadn’t spoken in years because I never bothered to return calls or emails, but it still stung. And irritated me. I may deserve some bitchiness, but I wasn’t going to be a whipping boy for everyone’s hurt feelings either.
“So, Laura, how’s Dominic?” I asked innocently, knowing exactly how her former childhood sweetheart/husband was because I had just seen him at the grocery store walking around hand in hand with a girl barely out of high school.
Laura’s face dropped, and I immediately regretted throwing Dominic in her face. What was I doing? Acting like the Whitney Galloway who didn’t care about treating others like crap.
“Laura ... I shouldn’t have—”
“Must be hard coming back here with your tail between your legs,” Shelly interjected, cutting me off.
I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling heat crawl up my neck. “And how exactly do I have my tail between my legs?”
Shelly leaned forward as if she was about to share a juicy secret—the way she would have done when we were younger. “Everyone knows, Whit.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Wh—what?” I swallowed thickly. How? No one knew …
“That you’re a raging bitch that thinks she’s better than everyone in Southport,” Sally announced, straightening up. She flipped her hair behind her shoulder the way she always did as a teenager. “But newsflash. You’re not. You’re a Southie like the rest of us, no matter how much you try to hide it.”
Was it sad that I was actually relieved by her statement?
“Give it a rest, Shelly. Everyone can see you’re riddled with insecurity over getting knocked up after graduation and never going anywhere,” a deep voice piped up, and I wished I could crawl under the bar and hide.
Shelly’s mouth thinned, and her expression soured. “Of course, Kyle Webber jumps in to defend the Queen of Southport. Some things never change.” She hooked her arm with Laura’s and turned away, ending the torturous exchange.
I glanced at Kyle, steeling myself, but he was trying to wave down the bartender. “Thanks, but it wasn’t needed,” I said, feeling every muscle in my body clench. Looking at Kyle Webber was hard. It shouldn’t be after all this time, but if anything, it had gotten harder.
Because when I looked at him, all I could see was the way he used to look at me.
Like I was someone that mattered.
Now when our eyes dared to meet, all I saw was disappointment and distance.
“Shelly Thompson—now Givens—is a nasty piece of work. Always has been. I wasn’t just doing it for you; I did it for everyone who has ever crossed paths with her.” Kyle wouldn’t look at me. He seemed to be doing everything in his power not to look at me.
God, it hurt.
God, I wished it didn’t.
“She seems to have gotten a little ... well, bitter, in the last few years. But she used to be really nice.” I felt the need to defend my former friend. If she was a jerk just now, it was because I deserved it.
Kyle snorted and took a long drink from his beer bottle. I tried not to stare at his profile. Kyle was like a fine wine; he’d only gotten better with age. He’d always been good looking, but he used to be overshadowed by Adam, who was runway handsome. Adam was the hot one; Kyle was the nice one. But I had always thought that he should have been labeled the hot one too. Because he was. And now he was gorgeous. All thick dark brown hair and tanned skin from working outdoors. He was tall, taller than almost everyone I knew, with broad shoulders and thick, corded muscles.
He was rugged and beautiful and at one time had been madly in love with me.
I was full of enough self-awareness to know I had been a complete idiot to turn him away. But there was nothing I could do about that now. Too much time had passed. And by the way he refused to make eye contact and the stiffness of his well-toned