Page 16 of Their Forever Daddy

“Where are you going?” Jesse called after her.

“Anywhere but here.”

Edie

* * *

“The Honk” turned out to be the answer to Jesse’s question. Edie needed food, and while she didn’t really feel like talking to anybody, she also wasn’t really in the mood to sit alone in her car with a bag of greasy fast food, either.

So the local bar-slash-restaurant, with its sneaky goose decor and noisy locals, seemed like the perfect place to wallow in her… whatever it was she was wallowing in.

“How’s your Sassburger, hon?” Kessily, who’d been working at The Honk for as long as Edie could remember and whose stream of pranks drove Shane, owner and bartender of The Honk, crazy on at least a weekly basis, paused beside the table to refill Edie’s water glass.

“Delicious, as always,” Edie said, forcing a smile for Kessily’s sake. The curvy redhead never had a bad day, or if she did, she managed to hide it from her customers.

“Perfect.” Kessily’s usual happy grin stayed in place, but her gaze shifted to the empty bench across from Edie. “Where’s the rest of the crowd?”

“Just me tonight.”

Propping the water pitcher on her free palm, Kessily hesitated as if she were weighing her next words. “Someone said they thought they saw Jesse Walker today. Near your shop.”

Fuck. She should have known Jesse’s presence wouldn’t go unnoticed. “Yeah. She’s in town for a visit or something, I guess.”

“Ah.” That single syllable held a wealth of meaning, but Kessily didn’t press further. Despite graduating together, they’d never been particularly close and Edie was grateful that Kessily seemed content to leave it at that.

Or so she thought.

She was down to the last few bites of her burger when someone slid into the booth across from her. Make that two someones, she realized as she looked up to find Taylor and Ginny watching her with matching expressions of concern.

“Scooch!”

Three someones, with Carly standing beside the table, waving her hands at Edie, indicating she should scoot down the bench to make room.

Which she did, but not without a glare for all three of them. “Can I help you girls?”

“Sure.” Ginny smiled, but there was a hard edge to it. “You can tell us why you’d rather sit alone in a bar feeling sorry for yourself instead of, you know, talking to your friends about whatever’s bothering you.”

“Why does something need to be bothering me? Maybe I just wanted a burger.”

Taylor snorted dismissively, and Edie frowned when she noticed the red rims around her eyes. “Please. I filled Ginny in as soon as she called me. She knows Jesse’s in town, and that she’s staying with you. Unless you finally got your head out of your ass and sent her packing.”

“Nah, if she’d done that, she’d be sulking at home instead of The Honk.” Tilting her head to the side, Ginny studied Edie through narrowed eyes. “So, gonna tell us what happened?”

“Excuse me, ladies.” Flashing a smile, Kessily set a giant brownie, topped with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, and nuts in the middle of the table. “Enjoy!”

“Hold up,” Edie said, raising a hand to stop her from leaving.

Not looking the least bit ashamed, Kessily raised an eyebrow and planted a fist on one hip, cocking the other to the side. “Problem, Edie?”

“I didn’t order this.”

The grin Kessily flashed now wasn’t her usual ‘customer service’ smile. It was full of sass and mischief. “It’s on the house. Figured a conversation like this called for chocolate. And wine,” she added as another waitress placed an open bottle of sweet white wine in front of Ginny, along with four glasses. “Y’all just let me know if you need anything else.”

“Oh, um.” Carly sent her an apologetic smile. “Could I get a water, please? No wine for me.”

If Kessily thought the request was strange or noticed the way Carly’s hand rested on her still-flat tummy, she didn’t show it. “Sure thing, honey.”

“So.” Picking up the bottle as Kessily sauntered off, Ginny poured three generous glasses of wine and settled back against the wooden booth with her glass cradled in her hand. “Jesse’s in town?”

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