Page 8 of Ruined
Well, now I felt bad. I gave her as friendly a smile as I could muster. “Right,” I felt my cheeks heat up with embarrassment. “You’ll have to forgive me, I suck at remembering names.” Hopefully, my little white lie wouldn’t send more bad karma my way. Heaven knew I’d had enough.
“Lizzy.” She winked while she aimed her coffee pot at the door. “What brings ya to town?”
“Kenzie has been so busy lately, we haven’t seen each other in ages. I miss her, so I thought I’d come see what she’s up to.”
Lizzy pulled a mug from below the counter before placing it in front of me. She lifted the carafe in question. Shaking my head, I asked, “To go?”
Her smile was even wider as she said, “Sure, sweetie.” After placing the coffee pot on the counter, she disappeared behind the side door that I presumed led to the kitchen. A few seconds later she reemerged, to-go cup in hand.
“She’s going to be so happy to see you,” Lizzy placed the cup in front of me and filled it. I inhaled deeply, sending the delicious scent of coffee straight to my lungs. “She misses you too.”
My heart squeezed; Kenzie and I had been as close as two sisters. She was the only person, besides my family, who knew every broken part of me. Well, everything except—
“Are you heading to the cabin or meeting her in town?” Again, Lizzy’s voice pulled me from my own thoughts.
I secured the lid onto my cup. “I was going to surprise her at home.”
“What?” Her excited squeal drew the attention of a few patrons. “She doesn’t know you’re here?” When I only shook my head, Lizzy came rushing around the counter. She cupped my shoulders and squeezed. “Oh my gosh, she’s going to flip in the best way.” Her head whipped around to look at something on the wall. “We have to have lunch together. All four of us.”
“Four?” I managed to get out.
“Yeah,” she nodded furiously. “You, me, Kenzie and Harper. It will be so much fun.”
To be completely honest, she was freaking me out a bit, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that. Plus, I knew from Kenzie’s frequent vents that living in a small town meant everyone knew everyone else’s business.
“I’ll…uh…ask Kenzie.”
Lizzy squeezed my shoulders harder. “Yes!” she exclaimed and then repeated, “It will be so much fun.”
Carefully extracting myself from her grip, I asked, “What do I owe you for the coffee?”
“Pfft,” she waved me off. “It’s on the house.”
She was being kind, and I wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there. Lifting the cup in the air, I muttered a quick, “Thanks,” before spinning on my heel and heading toward the door.
From inside my purse, my phone dinged again. Still walking, I rummaged through the bag dangling from my arm, cursing myself for throwing the device back in there. I was so focused on finding the damned thing that I didn’t pay attention to where I was going.
The moment I realized that it would probably be best to keep my eyes in front of me it was too late. I walked straight into a newcomer, dousing the person with the contents of my cup.
