Page 84 of Between Now & Heartbreak

She nods and I don’t miss the way her fingers stroke the paper before she hands I to me.

“You’re so lucky to have that.” And my heart squeezes…how did I not see how she felt about James before this?

“So, are you gonna wait until you’ve got a hand around your throat before you try to see what those wings of yours can do?” She asks and interrupts my inner fretting.

“No. Let’s go home and get me dressed. I’ve got a date to crash.”

25

CELEBRATE

BETH

“I shouldn’t be here.”I say in a panicked voice and slump low in my car seat and look over at her, my eyes wide with worry.

She rolls her eyes.

“I told you that a million times, already.”

I turn and scowl at her. “No one forced you to come.”

“Um, I’m your friend. You’re obsessed with him. You think I was going to let you come here in an Uber when you’re clearly not in your right mind?”

“Well, if you thinkthat, why’d you tell me about his date and joke about crashing it?”

“I didn’t think you were going to take me seriously. I was thinking you’d call him or something…normal.”

I kiss my teeth in disgust and grab the door handle.

Dina grabs my arm. “Think about this before you go in. I’m not saying I think it’s important. I know we’re not in Winsome. But, everyone knows who you are. And they’re going to be watching you. Your dad could find out.”

I swallow the apprehension her warning

“I bet they won’t even recognize me. I’ve been blonde and pink for so long now, I bet they’ve forgotten what I really look like.” I run my hands through my now chin-length, dark brown hair.

She gives me an assessing glance from head to toe.

“You looksoincredible. And maybe you’re right.”

“Of course, I am.” I bug my eyes out at and grin with a cavalier bravado I don’t feel, but that I’m clinging to. Without it, I’d be too scared to walk in there tonight.

“I wish you’d wait. Let me finish this interview and then I’ll come with you.”

“He’ll be gone by then. And then we’ll have to break into his house to stop him from sleeping with her. This is easier. And I’ll be really discreet. I just want to talk to him.”

Dina gives me a stern frown and wags a finger in my face. “No brawling.”

I laugh and pat her shoulder sympathetically.

“That wasonce.I didn’t start it. And, I have a good feeling about tonight. Ireallydo.“

“It wastwice.You certainly finished it, and you had a good feeling election night 2016.” She despairs.

“Don’t wait up. I’ll get Carter to bring me home.”

I saunter across the parking lot to The Wishbone. I’ve never heard of it, and it’s almost thirty miles outside Winsome But, Dina told me it was on a Food Network show recently and has become a tourist destination. I’m just thrilled that it’s a restaurantanda night club. I love to dance and never get to. I’m already sashaying by the time I’ve paid my cover.

I see Carter as soon as I step inside, and my bravado fails. He’s with a blonde woman. They’re huddled together at a table near the DJ and she’s leaned against him likeshedidn’t say no when he asked if they could be more than just friends. They’re grinning like idiots up into the phone.

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