Page 87 of Best Served Cold

“He sees in you what we see,” Briar says simply, as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world.

Suddenly I feel burning behind my eyes. “What ifIdon’t see it,” I ask in an undertone. “I…I’ve been trying to, like I promised to last weekend. But it’s hard. My whole life…no one’s ever wanted to keep me.” It feels like I just peeled back my skin and showed them my insides, but I force myself to keep going. “I thought Jonah did, and I felt sograteful. It makes me sick to think about it.”

Briar takes my hand and squeezes it, her grip surprisingly strong. “You’re not getting rid of us.”

“Even if you wanted to,” Hannah agrees. “We’ll keep showing up with muffins, and it will be a whole stalker situation.” She’s her usual Hannah self—not a big feelings talker like Briar—but she presses a hand to my back, then adds, “And if you can’t see it, then it’s our job to remind you. Just like you’re always throwing compliments at us. Telling Briar you love her ridiculously gorgeous hair and all her rocks. Telling me how much you like my big mouth.”

“I think she said she liked your lipstick,” Briar says with a soft smile.

“And the smart mouth underneath it,” I say, with tears still welling in my eyes. “I likeeverythingabout both of you. You know, Rob told me something last week that I’ve been thinking about a lot. He said our past makes us who we are, so we can’t resent it. I’m glad that all this crap happened with Jonah, because if it didn’t, then I wouldn’t have you two. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a real friend.”

“Me too,” Hannah says, squeezing my shoulder.

“And me,” Briar adds.

“Speaking of,” Hannah says. “Did you hear anything from that bartender at The Ginger Station?”

“I haven’t reached out to her yet,” I admit. “The whole Rob thing kind of took over.”

Briar gives her a quizzical look. “Why is this so important to you?”

“No one gets left behind,” she says. “It was one of our rules when we were kids. Probably because my dad was totally crap at keeping an eye on us. That’s why I’m working with Liam. He needs someone to keep him in line.”

I realize I felt the same way about Otis, although that feeling has been shifting. The more space I’ve given him, the more he’s grown. “You don’t like working at the brewery?” I ask.

“Eh, it’s okay,” Hannah replies. “You know me. I like being around people, and the team is pretty good. But it’s not my dream job, no. I’m there for Liam.”

Interesting. I haven’t met Liam yet, but from what she’s said, he has a short fuse. It’s hard to imagine Hannah shaping her whole life around a man, even her brother. “Does he know that?”

“No,” she says, giving me a piercing look. “And he won’t. Ever.”

“I’m not going to tell him. We haven’t even met him.”

“Can we meet him and Connor?” Briar asks, Connor being Hannah’s younger brother.

“Oh, you don’t want to meet Liam. He’s an asshole.”

I laugh. “We don’t want to meet the big brother you love so much you’re working at a job you only sort of like so you can keep an eye on him?”

She laughs, shaking her head. “Look. You’re going to meet him at some point, but I want to make sure you’re inextricably attached to me before you do. Connor’s great. The life of the party. But he lives in Boston.”

“We want to meet LiamandConnor,” I say. “We’re already very attached to you.”

“You also told me I could hire him if my brewer quits,” Briar points out. “Which is almost certainly going to happen, because my father just announced he’s not giving anyone more than two consecutive days off until the end of the summer, and our brewer’s girlfriend lives across the state.”

“You’ll both meet him,” Hannah says, waving a hand. “We’ll have a beer together sometime, pinky swear. But I’m with him at work all day, and honestly it’s good to get a break sometime. Anyway. We’ve let things wander too far from the point, which is that it bothers me that we don’t know what GingerBeerBabe’s deal is. If sheison Team Jonah, I feel like we should know, especially after Sophie and Rob just declared World War III on him.”

“Crap, you really think we did?” I ask, biting my lip. “I don’t like conflict.”

Hannah smiles at me. “You stood up in a booth and told a roomful of people exactly what a cheating jerk he is. He’s going to try to bite back. So we have to bite harder. I’ll follow up on the whole GingerBeerBabe situation.”

I glance at the clock, and my pulse leaps. “On that ominous note, I have to get ready. I’m supposed to be at the park in twenty minutes, and it’s at least ten minutes away.”

Briar stands up. “We’re helping you.”

“I’m just going to the park,” I say. “It’s no big deal. It’ll probably be boring.” But when I think about seeing Rob again, my pulse picks up, and butterflies start fluttering drunkenly in my midsection.

I don’t know what I want from him, but I have to be at least this honest with myself: I want something.

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