A Simple Wish About love - Karice Bolton Page 0,47
“You’re supposed to have your ears shut.”
“I’m just one of the girls.”
“Not on your best day.” Erika glanced at the table across the way, and the man was already finished with his martini. “I’ll be back.”
Erika walked over to the table, and they both wanted more of the same, which made it easy. She walked back to the bar, made the drinks, and Daisy took them over.
Drew was watching her carefully, and Erika finally looked over at him.
“What?” she asked.
“Is he treating you well?”
Erika nodded. “Amazingly so.”
“You deserve the world, Erika. If he tries any funny business, you tell me.”
Erika chuckled. “Yes, big brother.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do, and I’m forever grateful.” Erika smiled. “I honestly don’t know where anything is going to go from here. I’m certainly not leaving Silver Ridge, and he seems pretty well rooted in Colorado.”
“There’s always a way,” Drew said, smiling.
“Maybe.” Erika smiled. “I hope so. I just don’t want to do something stupid.”
“You won’t.” Drew leaned against the bar. “Trust your gut, and don’t try to stop it before it has started.”
“I don’t think I could even if I tried. I like him too much.” Erika felt the knot in her stomach. It was so true. She liked Slade. She was falling in love with Slade. But she was completely different from her eighteen-year-old self. She wouldn’t say she was in control because it certainly didn’t feel that way, but she was more cautious.
Part of her wanted to jump in feet first and never look back. The idea of plunging into something without caring what happens was intriguing but completely irrational and never going to happen in a million years.
“I can tell.” Drew smiled and let out a breath. “Now, if only I could have the same thing happen to me . . .”
“You want to meet a man in the bar and start an online relationship with him?” Erika teased.
Drew laughed. “Only if he had killer curves.”
“Speaking of . . .” Erika glanced around the bar as the food was brought out to her table. Daisy checked on them, and they seemed to be fine with everything. “Have you ever been in love?”
Drew’s expression changed instantly. “No.”
“That was a quick answer.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And I don’t believe it. You’ve definitely had plenty of opportunities to explore—”
“And it’s just never happened for me.” Drew looked out the window and cleared his throat. “I really liked someone when I was in high school, but as we both know . . .”
Erika laughed. “Yeah. That doesn’t always work out as planned, but in my defense, the guy I liked wasn’t in high school. He was way older.”
Drew laughed. “I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.”
“Me neither.” She smiled and cocked her head slightly. “So, you did have someone you cared about?”
“Briefly. But we were too young, and her life got ahead of us both and . . .” He shrugged. “It was silly to even think there was something there at that age.”
Erika leaned on the counter. “Okay, so it might not have worked out for either of us at that age, but I actually know quite a few high school sweetheart couples who are still going strong ten, twenty years later. Truth.”
Drew chuckled. “Well, I wasn’t one of them, and that was a good thing.”
Daisy showed up and punched something into the computer. “What was a good thing?”
“That I had the chance to meet a lot of fish in the sea.”
“Ew.” Daisy grimaced.
“Long story,” Erika explained.
“I can only imagine.” Daisy let out a sigh.
“We were talking about high school sweethearts,” Erika explained.
“Drew, did you have one?”
“One what?” He pretended to look uninterested.
“A high school sweetheart.”
Erika smiled. “He did.”
“What was her name?” Daisy asked.
Drew let out a groan. “I knew I shouldn’t have come in here today.”
Erika chuckled. “Spill it. What was her name?”
“Fine. Vera Roberts.”
Daisy nodded. “Rolls off the tongue nicely.”
“She doesn’t live around here any longer, I take it?” Erika prompted.
Silver Ridge was small enough that Erika would have run across her by now, and she knew no Veras.
Drew let out a heavy sigh of defeat, and Erika felt partially bad for him. He knew they’d wear him down until he spilled the beans.
“No, she never lived in Silver Ridge. I knew her because her parents owned an inn.”
“Where at?” Daisy looked intrigued.
“Up north, near the tulip fields.” Drew waved his hand in the air.
“What’s the place called?” Daisy asked.
“Cloudberry Inn.”
“So her parents owned an inn,