Page 23 of Broken Dreams
I’m sure she’s still processing what the hell that was back there.
We get to the front of Peakness, the only bar around here, and I pull the door open. I’ve only been here once when I came home to see my siblings. It’s a quintessential dive bar, with neon lights on the wall and the bar stools filled with single people.
“Maybe this is where you should’ve started the dating search.”
She smiles. “Probably, but I was never the bar kind of girl.”
“What kind of girl were you?”
Her eyes twinkle in the neon lights. “I bet you’d like to know.”
I would, because she’s the one person in this town I really like being around. She’s funny and smart. She is great with Jett and gets what it’s like to lose the person you were meant to spend the rest of your life with.
I spot a few open seats at the bar. “Want to sit there?”
“Perfect.”
We take the two seats together at the end and the bartender comes over. “Addison! Haven’t seen you around here before. And who is this?”
“Carmen, meet Grady Whitlock,” Addison says over the music.
Carmen is a short woman with curly brown hair and a smile that you can’t look away from.
“Nice to meet another Whitlock. I know your brother well.”
“Which one?”
“Both,” Carmen says with a laugh. “What can I get for you?”
“I’ll take an Aviator on the rocks.”
Carmen bobs her head with a smirk. “Gin man, I like it. And for you?”
“I’ll have a vodka cranberry.”
Carmen heads off to make our drinks and Addison turns to me.
“You drink Aviator? For real? Is that like a pilot requirement?”
I laugh. “I like gin and I happen to like that brand.”
Addison rolls her eyes. “Naval. Aviator. Such a dork, but I owe you. Seriously, thank you for stepping in. I would’ve left, but I think I was stunned and slightly afraid. He picked me up, I didn’t have a car, but you saved me—again.”
“I didn’t save you either time. I figured you would’ve told me to fuck off if you were fine with it or come with me if not.”
She sighs heavily. “I was definitely leaving.”
“I wouldn’t have judged you either way,” I tease her.
“Oh? You would’ve supported my sexfest with Dan?”
I laugh, feeling a lightness I haven’t in a long time. “To each their own, but I’m just saying, I get it. You know, we all have that itch.”
“Well, he sure as hell wasn’t scratching it.”
Carmen returns, placing our drinks on the bar. Addison lifts hers and I do the same. “To bad dates.”
“To the end of bad dates,” I reply. “You’re cut off.”
