Page 11 of A Pizza My Heart

I groan and swing my eyes toward Wren, who’s standing at the edge of the table, an amused grin dangling off her lips.

All spunk and sass, it’s good to see not much has changed about Wren since I’ve been gone.

I say not much because there is a lot about her thathaschanged.

Her hair, of course, but that’s always been her thing, changing her hair with the seasons or whenever she gets bored.

But there’s something different. She seems…older. Wiser. Confident.

Sexier.

Stop it, jackass. She doesn’t see you like that. She made that perfectly clear before.

I sit up in my chair. “I’m starting to rethink missing you.”

She lifts a perfectly sculpted brow, still grinning. “You missed me?”

I give her a look because there’s no way Iwouldn’tmiss her.

How could I not? I’ve known the Daniels since we were thirteen. Me, Winston, and Wren—the Three Musketeers. You couldn’t peel us apart from one another. Sure, Winston might have been my best friend, but Wren was always there too, following us everywhere with those awful butterfly clips barely holding her messy hair out of her eyes and way too much glitter BonBons lip gloss coating her lips.

She’s been part of my life for far too long for me not to miss her…even though she’s part of the reason I left to begin with.

But that was years ago.

I’m over it…or at least that’s what I have to keep telling myself.

“You know I did, Birdie.”

Another grin tugs at her lips when I use her childhood nickname. She always bitched and moaned about it, but I knew she secretly loved it anyway.

“Weird how my phone didn’t ring once.”

Gut, meet Wren’s fist.

“I—”

“Um, excuse me,” Natasha interrupts with a bite to her tone. “Can I get my drink? I’mparched.”

Wren’s baby blue eyes light up and I can see she’s trying to hold back a sarcastic comment. Showing admirable restraint, she flashes my date a smile and sets our drinks down.

“Sorry about that, kiddo.”

A grin pulls at my lips.

I always did like passive-aggressive Wren best.

“Can I get you two anything else while I’m here?”

“If you could hurry it along in the kitchen, that’d be great. I’mfamished.”

“Parchedandfamished? You poor thing. Your parents must’ve forgotten to send a snack this morning. I’ll bring some breadsticks over, on the house.”

I take a sip of my beer in order to hide my laughter as Wren flits away, acting like she didn’t just insult the shit out of my date.

“Someone’s cranky today,” Natasha mutters bravely. “Anyway, I—”

I hold up my hand, stopping her. “I can’t continue this date. I’m too old for you.”

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