Page 57 of Will Bark for Pizza
A white Bronco rounded the bend, appearing from the clearing. Alyssa Bennett waved from her open window.
I tensed.
The three of us had been best friends since kindergarten. We had our share of fights throughout the years, but last summer, Alyssa reached a breaking point with me after what it took to get me to Aspen’s wedding at all. We hardly spoke that weekend because she was so pissed. And that was all before Stupid Intoxicated Kira decided to steal the microphone from the band.
I couldn’t blame Alyssa for being upset with me, but it didn’t make me any more excited to see her today.
Though I planned to reach out to her—eventually—I wasn’t prepared for this conversation right now. Not after the bomb that was dropped on me only hours ago.
“Did she move home?” I asked Aspen as she stood and slipped her feet back into her flip-flops.
“No. She’s in town for the weekend. You heard about Mom’s surprise birthday party?”
“Yeah. Connor mentioned it. But are you surethisis a good idea?” I muttered to Aspen as Alyssa hopped out of her Bronco. The second her gaze landed on me, hercheerful expression hardened. I could feel the laser beams from her narrowed gaze penetrating my bones. The urge to hop in my Jeep and run away was overpowering, but I fought my way through it. Like it or not, Alyssa was on my apology tour list.
“You didn’t tell meshewas going to be here,” Alyssa hissed.
“Yeah, same,” I said, defensiveness rising automatically. Husker didn’t seem to care about the tension. Only that Tango was allowed to trot up to Alyssa without restraint and he was unfairly tethered by a leash. He gave me a look that said as much.
“Okay, okay,” Aspen said, lifting her hands in surrender. “I tricked the two of you. But I had a good reason.”
“You’re going to help me make her body disappear at the bottom of this lake?” Alyssa guessed, a sinister smile spread across her lips as she gave Tango pets.
“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you,” I fired back.
We stared one another down for several tense seconds, with narrowed glares and pinched lips. She had every right to be pissed at me. During the drive to Bluebell Springs for Aspen’s wedding, she let me know exactly what she thought of Travis. She made it pretty clear that if I stayed with him, our friendship would not survive. Though deep down I knew she was well meaning, I never responded well to being told what to do. I was also at my fucking limit. There’d been tension ever since.
“If you two want to throw punches”—Aspen looked at me—“orsnakes, leave me and the dogs out of it.”
Light danced in Alyssa’s eyes, and her tightly pursedlips curled at the ends. Suddenly, I was fighting a smile, too.
We both burst into laughter at the same time, meeting in the middle and falling into a hug. The kind of hug I’d been desperately craving for what seemed like forever. The kind of hug that reassured me that though I may have hurt some feelings last year, my closest friends and family did not abandon me. I could fix this.
Husker wedged his way between our legs, insistent thatheshould be the center of attention now that Tango had his turn.
“I heard you ditched The Asswipe,” Alyssa said, letting go and crouching to greet Husker.
“Have you been talking to Luke?” I asked on a laugh.
“I have my sources.”
“Well, this was easier than I thought it would be,” Aspen murmured.
“You thought you were staging an intervention again, didn’t you?” Alyssa asked.
“Well, yeah.”
The three of us laughed as we unloaded paddleboards from vehicles and set to inflating them. Thankfully, my friends shared their battery-powered pumps. My arms were still sore from my last encounter with a hand pump.
“You remember that time you tried to do an intervention because Alyssa and I got into a huge fight over Tony Nickles?”
I shook my head, remembering how big a deal that seemed at fifteen years old. How the world seemed to come crashing down when we found out Tony had made out with both of us.
“I did you both a favor,” Aspen said, pulling off her sweatshirt.
It was an unusually warm day at the lake, not a cloud in the sky. The wind was nearly nonexistent, and the water still. But despite the warm sun, it still had nothing on the Nebraska humidity. I also remembered how chilly the water was and decided I’d rather keep my sweatshirt on this time.
“Have you seen what’s become of dear ol’ Tony?”
