Page 60 of The Bad Boy's Homecoming
“You know what I think you need?”
“No, but I know you’re going to tell me.”
“You need a night out.I mean when was the last time you went out for drinks with your girlfriends?”Brooke said, then turned on the warm water.
Missy scoffed.What girlfriends she had were back in Atlanta studying for the bar and looking for their first jobs as lawyers.Most of the girls she’d gone to high school with in Sandy Point had moved away to college and stayed gone.Brooke’s younger sister, May, was still in town but she was busy with her own business.In truth, she didn’t have a lot of real friends.
She’d worked for several lawyers as a paralegal while she got her bachelor’s and during the first two years of law school.Then she spent her free time studying, until she met Peter, the handsome golden boy.He was in her class, and for some reason in their second year he’d turned his attention on her after an assignment where they were arguing opposite sides of a case.She’d argued him into a corner, and from then on he’d focused all his attention on her.
“There we go, all done.So I’ll text May and see if she can meet us out for one drink?”
When Missy looked down Brooke had finished washing her burn and redressing it.With an added wrap.
“Okay, why not.You’re right.I’m overdue.”
“Great, I’ll just pop home to check on the boys and change, then pick you up and we can go to Gentry’s.”
“Sure,” Missy said, then showed Brooke out.Levi’s car was still gone, and she wondered if he planned to stay away for good now.
“Mrs.Hart, I’m going to go out with Brooke and May, unless you need me this evening?”she said, popping her head into the sunroom again.
“Wonderful.You don’t worry about me.I’m just going to finish this scarf and probably go to bed early tonight.”
She had the sneaking suspicion that Mrs.Hart had encouraged Brooke to get Missy out of the house.But she couldn’t be mad, because she didn’t want to be home when Levi returned.
After struggling to figure out what to wear, she settled on a pair of fitted jeans with wide legs, a white half shirt that showed just a little peek of her midriff, and a dark green jacket in case it got chilly.She found her favorite large hoops and let her curly hair fall just below her shoulders.It was a little wild, but it was too hard to try to do anything with her injured hand.
When Brooke texted, she made her way downstairs to check on Mrs.Hart one more time and was surprised to find Mr.Greer in the kitchen with her.
“Oh, did I forget to mention I invited Clark over for a light dinner?I thought with you and Levi out tonight…” She trailed off.
“That sounds nice.Brooke brought a few of May’s tea cakes over when she stopped by.”
“Missy, I hope your injury isn’t too painful or stopping you from painting,” Mr.Greer said.
“Funny enough, I think it’s inspiring me to paint more than ever.”
Mr.Greer laughed.“That makes perfect sense.We always want what we can’t have, or in an artist’s case, we always want more of what we can’t catch.”
“Can’t catch?”Missy said.
“The muse.”
“Oh, I’ve never heard it talked about before.I guess I should have taken more art history in school instead of law.”
“Why don’t you come by the shop this week and we can talk more about art.You don’t need a degree in it, when you have a gift like yours.”
Missy still felt a little odd talking about her art with people, especially another artist.Because she didn’t really know what she was doing—up until six months ago she didn’t even believe she created the type of art that someone would pay money for.
“Okay, I think I’d like that.Have a good evening.”
Brooke’s car was waiting just down the steps of Hart House, and as comforting as she found this home, it felt like she was stepping into her own as she walked onto the shell driveway and got into Brooke’s car.
“That sigh tells me this drink was long overdue,” Brooke said.
“I think you’re right.”
“Then maybe we better plan on having a few.Don’t worry, we can always get a ride home.And I better warn you, May said she plans to dance on the bar tonight, so…”
