Page 21 of Clumsy in Love

“Where are your manners, girl?” Faith said. “Of course you’ll eat with us. Come on, we already claimed a spot in the back.”

Faith took his arm again and dragged him to their table.

“But we havestuffto talk about,” Holly whispered to Faith, staring daggers.

“Later.” Faith waved a hand dismissively.

“You don’t have to do this,” Holly said to him. “Really.”

“It’s not like Iwantto. But if you sit back here, I can’t see you from the bar. Just pretend like I’m not here,” he said, plopping into the chair beside her. “That’s what I plan to do.”

She huffed. “I already regret agreeing to this.”

They sat at a big round table, Holly on his right, Faith on his left, and the other three across from him. The waitress came and took their drink orders. As soon as she walked away, the girls all leaned in.

“All right,” Alex said. “Let’s get to business. First, tell us about New York, then we’ll get into the ‘other thing.’”

“Yeah,” Tess said. “Murder preempts a jackass leaving you at the altar.”

“How’d you meet Cole?” Juliet asked.

“Oh, well,” Holly said. “I stopped at this bar for a drink. There was a bit of a misunderstanding, and Cole showed up.”

“She got into a brawl,” Cole said. “Someone called the cops, and when my partner and I arrived on the scene, she was soaked head-to-toe in beer and being accused of assault.”

“Hol-ly!” Juliet said.

“That is a gross overstatement of how it went down,” Holly said. “What happened to pretending you weren’t here?”

He shrugged.

“Iaccidentallyfell into a server, who,unfortunately, was carrying a huge tray of drinks.”

“Now that, I believe,” Alex said.

“The only time this one isn’t a complete klutz,” Tess said, hitching a thumb at Holly, “is on the court.” They all nodded in agreement.

“She’s pretty smart,” Faith added. “But has a tendency to be outwitted by a spoon.”

“Cups and glasses are also vexing,” Alex said with a smile.

“Any. Way,” Holly continued. “This diva got a little beer on her shoes, freaked out, and called the police.”

The waitress brought their drinks and took their food order. Cole only had a second to glance at the menu and, rather than hold everyone up, just copied Holly’s request—a firecracker cowboy burger and fries.

“Okay. So, you met that night. How did he end up on guard duty?” Juliet asked.

“The very next day, I was in Central Park,” Holly started.

“And you got lost,” Alex stated.

“Who’s tellin’ this story?” Holly demanded. Cole bit back a smile, and her friends zipped their mouths and stared at Holly with wide eyes, silently begging her to continue. “And I got lost.”

They burst out laughing. Even Holly. “All right. All right. Make fun of me if you want. But things got dead serious after that.”

They knew the basics of what had happened and turned appropriately somber. “Did you really see someone shoot a guy?”

“I was hiding in some bushes from here to there away,” she said, pointing to the pinball machine. “It was so surreal. Like watching TV, but knowing it wasn’t fiction. I made a noise, and the bad guy came after me.”

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