Page 11 of Love Story

Haider blinked at me as if the thought had never even crossed his mind.“I’m too drunk to think about that right now,” he declared, holding up his drinks as if they were trophies.

Before I could press him, Haider disappeared into the crowd, leaving me to shake my head.As always, he was chaos wrapped in glitter, but he made life a little brighter.Sometimes, that was all a person needed.

“So, the guy in the car,” Conor asked as he leaned on the bar, arms crossed, his firefighter curiosity piqued.

“Ben,” I said, tipping my beer bottle toward him.

“Yeah, he went into the ditch.We didn’t get called out.”

“He wasn’t far in.Just in the shallow dip after the gates to the farm,” I replied, taking a swig.The memory was still fresh, the image of Ben slumped over the wheel flashing in my mind.“He refused paramedics, wasn’t trapped, and got himself out.”

Conor frowned.“What was he doing on that road?Snow was bad enough to keep most people off it.”

“Being an idiot,” I said bluntly, shaking my head.“He wasn’t too hurt, though—just a scratch and a bruised ego.”I shrugged, setting my bottle down.

Around us, the party hummed with life.Haider’s laugh rang out near the chocolate fountain, as bright and loud as the decorations he’d thrown together.Everyone was here, as they always were when Haider planned something.He was the most outgoing of the four of us—always with a ready smile and had a way of drawing people in, and nights like this proved it.Conor, Ryan, and I might be his closest friends, but everyone in town loved him.

Still, the day’s events weighed on me, and the faint ache of hunger reminded me I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.I scanned the tables.Chocolate.More chocolate.Desserts of every shape and size.But where was the real food?

“I need food,” I muttered.

Conor leaned in with a conspiratorial grin.“I ordered pizza.”

I raised a brow.“Pizza at Haider’s fancy chocolate party?”

“A lot of pizza,” he said, ignoring my teasing.“It’ll be here in ten.Trust me, we’re all going to need it.”

I smirked, about to reply, when Joe, the mechanic who’d pulled Ben’s car from the ditch, appeared by the beer cooler.

“Sam,” Joe greeted, grabbing a beer for himself.

“Joe.”

“Got the car back to Harriet’s.”

“So I saw, thank you.”

“Guessing I send the bill to him at Harriet’s place?”

“Yep.”

We stood in silence for a moment.Joe had this habit of starting to talk about cars at the slightest provocation, and apart from how to keep my truck on the road, I knew nothing about cars.I gestured goodbye with my beer, but it seemed Joe had something to add.

“His luggage was fancy as hell.Heavy, too.Nearly broke my back getting it out of the trunk.”

I winced.“He’s a city guy, Joe.I’m guessing they don’t travel light.”

“No kidding.”Joe twisted off the cap of his beer and took a swig.“The car wasn’t too bad.The front bumper took a hit, though.Hope he’s insured.”

“I’m sure he is,” I said.

Joe snorted, tilting his beer toward me.“Well, if he’s got that much stuff, he’s planning to stick around.Better get used to him.”

I nodded but my mind wandered back to the image of Ben—wide-eyed, flustered, and stubborn as hell.Maybe Joe was right.Maybe Ben wasn’t just passing through, but I wasn’t interested in romance with yet another asshole fresh from the city who could never understand me.

That would be enough as long as I didn’t have to dig him out of any ditches.

“I JUST WANTto sleep,” I groaned into my pillow.

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