“La mia bella, here you go, my dear,” Sal calls out from behind the counter, his hands clutching a large pizza box.
Beth nods over her shoulder, avoids me, and smiles at the rest of the table. “It was really nice to meet you. Maybe I’ll see you guys around.”
Tessa and Mia both tell her goodbye, and Nolan waves behind her back.
My eyes follow Beth out of the restaurant through the glass window to the parking lot.
“What is wrong with you?” Tessa asks with a firm shove to my shoulder. “You should go to that party with her.”
“Why would I go to Molly’s engagement party?”
“Why would she invite you?”
I stare at Tessa, waiting for her to answer her own question.
She lets out an annoyed sigh, as if this explanation is a waste of her time. “She’s trying to make you jealous, obviously. There’s no other reason why she would want you there. And showing up with your hot little girlfriend is a good way to shove that jealousy right down her mother effing throat.”
I look over at Mia. “You wanna weigh in on this?”
She faintly lifts her shoulders. “I agree with Tessa. If my ex invited me to something like that, I’d grab the hottest guy I could find and take him with me as my date.”
Tessa holds her hand out over the table and Mia high-fives it enthusiastically. “Thank youuu,” Tessa sings.
I look out the window, spotting Beth closing her passenger door and walking around to the driver’s side.
“Do it, Reed,” Tessa encourages. “If you’re over Molly like you say you are, what’s the harm?”
I don’t answer her. I can’t, because I’m too busy shoving out of the booth and exiting the restaurant, waving down Beth’s car as she backs out of her parking spot. The rain has let up for now, but the clouds are still heavy overhead, threatening another storm. She sees me through the front window and stops half-way out of her spot as I come up to the driver’s side.
“All right, I’ll go,” I tell her as soon as she rolls down her window.
I’m expecting that smile. I want that fucking smile. But her lips pull down in distress as she shifts her grip on the steering wheel.
“I know you don’t want to go with me. I get it. It’s not a big deal.”
I flatten my hand on top of the hood, angling my body down to get closer. “This has nothing to do with you. That bitch thinks I’m still hung up on her, and I’m not. That’s why she threw that invite out. She wants to make me jealous or some shit, but you gotta care to get jealous, and I don’t care. I stopped caring a long time ago. I said I wasn’t going because I don’t really like the idea of being around somebody I never wanted to see again. Someone I regret knowing. Not because I still give a shit about her.” I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she watches me with steel concentration. “Do you get me?”
She nods, hesitantly, her eyes gentle as they gaze up at me. “I get you. I know what that’s like.”
“If we’re doing this, we’re fucking doing this. That means we need to spend some time together before Saturday. This isn’t going to be believable if I don’t even know where you’re from.”
The corner of her mouth twitches. “How did you know I wasn’t from here?”
I drop my gaze directly to the source of that sweet sound. “You’ve got a little drawl to your voice, and it isn’t one I’m used to hearing.”
That sexy mouth, all full and soft, curls up slowly. “I’m from Kentucky. Louisville. Lived there most of my life, I think.” Her tongue wets her lips, and I lift my gaze before my dick punches straight through her driver’s side door and scares the shit out of her. “And you’re right,” she continues. “We should probably be prepared for questions about each other.”
I straighten my spine but keep my hand on the hood. “It’s supposed to rain again tomorrow. If that happens, I’ll be free, if you are.”
“I’ll be free. I was just planning on running out to the Verizon store in town to get a new phone plan.” She smiles, so fucking big, my heart reacts to it. “Would you come with me? I need to pick out a new phone too and I don’t know what I’m doing with any of that stuff. The only tech thing I’m good at is my Kindle.”
I give her a nod. “Yeah, all right. I can do that. Is noon okay with you? I can meet you there.”
“It’s perfect with me.”
We stare at each other, her smile growing the longer the silence lingers.
I can’t fucking help it. I breathe out a laugh, letting myself feel not just okay with this, but fucking good about it. My hand falls to my side and I take a few steps back.
“Tomorrow, sweetheart. You and me.”
“You and me,” she echoes.
I turn away, flipping off my two best friends through the window as they enjoy the show.