Page 23 of Flick

“I’ll give you that one. What about Sarah?” Winnie asked.

“Oh for the love of Pete, what is your point? This questioning is so freaking irritating when I need to get back to Flick,” Beth said.

Remi chuckled, then bit her lip. “You mean get back to the op, correct? Or did you mean back to Flick?”

Beth laid her head on the table because her siblings were jumping on her last nerve, and she was so tired from not sleeping and the worry about her dad.

“Just freaking tell me what you think I need to know that you’re dancing around?” Beth growled.

“Fine. Did you ever think that you haven’t found the man of your dreams because every guy you meet doesn’t measure up to your best friend? Maybe you have met the man of your dreams, and he’s your best friend?” Remi said, punctuating each word by shaking her finger in Beth’s face.

“Shake that finger in my face one more time, and pregnant woman or not, I will kick your butt. I am tired. I’m in yesterday’s clothes, and I haven’t had coffee yet,” Beth growled.

Jesse giggled, then snorted, and then leaned back laughing.

“She threatened you, but she didn’t deny it,” Jesse said.

Beth stared at her sisters. “I love you all, but after the last twenty-four hours I’ve had, I can’t deal with you all. Love you, and I’m heading back,” she said, hugging her sisters and heading out of the hospital.

Beth stared at the road ahead. She’d driven the last four and a half hours thinking and dissecting what her sisters had broughtup. She felt like a character in a movie that had just had the curtains pulled back and learned their life wasn’t what they thought it was.

Flick was her best friend. They watched movies and shows. They texted and checked on each other when they were away from one another.

Beth’s heart hurt for Flick when he’d had a horrible day, and she wanted to make it better.

When she tried to imagine five years in the future, the only thing she knew for sure was that for her to be happy, Flick had to be a part of that future. Did she love him like that?

She knew she loved him as a friend and as a member of the Bluff Creek family. She needed someone to talk this through with, and she didn’t want it to be her sisters.

Beth and Ellie had so many conversations when Ellie and Hennessy were finding their way to each other. Beth checked the time and figured that with kids, Ellie would be awake.

“Hey, Beth, is Locks doing okay?” Ellie asked.

“Hi, Ellie, he was awake when I left. Doctor seemed to think he’d be fine,” Beth said, then paused. How the heck did she bring this up?

“I’m guessing you need to talk because you don’t usually call when you’re on a job unless you need something,” Ellie said.

“Well, my sisters brought up if Flick and I had gotten closer this trip,” Beth whispered.

“And?” Ellie asked.

“You’re really making this hard,” Beth said.

Ellie giggled. “Payback’s hell, woman.”

Beth laughed too because Ellie was doing the same thing to Beth that Beth had done when Ellie called about Hennessy.

“They seemed to think that Flick and I liked each other but just weren’t recognizing it. At least that’s what I got from what they said.”

“Hmm,” Ellie murmured.

“Way to be non-committal. Do you think Flick likes me that way?”

“I think if he does, he might have shoved it down because of the age difference. And if you haven’t shown him any indication you wanted him that way, he may be worried he’d ruin your friendship.”

Beth thought about what Ellie had said. Sure, he was forty-five and she was thirty-three, almost thirty-four, but this late in life, she didn’t see a problem with it. If she were fifteen and he were twenty-seven, oh yes, she would.

“I guess he’s always been my best friend since the first time I tried to cheer him up.”

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