Page 63 of Fly Back to Me
Her brows knit as if I’ve just asked her to strip naked. “What? No. Ew.”
I lean into her, peering up through my curled lashes. “I’m kidding.” When I sit back up, I swoop my drink to my lips. “I’m not in the mood to ride in an ambulance tonight from your heart attack.”
“Okay, but where did you get this shirt?” she asks, her fingertips dancing along the bell sleeve of my top.
“Ah.” I flash my wrist, twisting it side to side. “Lulu’s. Isn’t it adorable?”
“So adorable that I’m about to shop their website right now.” Her lips wrap around the straw in her cocktail glass.
“I figured since you were going to be taking me to the world’s most mundane dive bar, I had to make up for it in clothing,” I tease.
“What?” Her hand pokes around at our surroundings. “You don’t like the neon signs and bumper stickers on the wood walls?”
“Uhm …” I tilt my head for dramatic effect. “I don’t like being suffocated by cigarette smoke.”
Her shoulder pops beneath her velvet blouse. “Well, I think it has charm.”
I pivot in my stool to prop my elbows on the counter. My mule is cradled in both palms now, eyes catching the anchor-shaped neon sign bolted to the wall behind the bar.
What else would I expect from a bar called The Rusty Anchor?
“Cade smokes,” I blurt flatly.
“Excuse me?” Lauren gasps, feigning shock. “Your knight in shining armor smells like this bar you just insulted? The nerve.”
I shake my head, jaw screwing tight as I gulp down the ginger liquid. “He doesn’tsmelllike this bar.” Then I consider the night we were under the spreading tree. “I mean,maybe for a split secondwhen he actually smokes, but then it’s automatically replaced by that intoxicating manly scent we get hypnotized by. You know the kind.”
“Oh, yes, yes.”
My hands set my drink on the bar top, and then I’m turning my attention to her. “The smoking doesn’t turn me off. How weird is that?”
“So, if you wind up with him, you’re just going to welcome this smoking habit of his?”
“God, no,” I sneer. “I’ll kick him in the balls. Aversion therapy will be in full swing.”
We both snicker, taking sips of our respective cocktails. And just as I catch her dark eyes under the neon lights, I’m leaning toward her again. “Iamhaving a good time, you know. Thanks for bringing me out.”
Her delicate fingers tuck my hair behind my ear. “I know,” she says before flashing a tight-lipped smile.
I grin as I straighten my posture, and then she’s eyeing me skeptically.
“Unless, wait …” she trails off. “Did you just say that so I would forgive you when you text Cade tonight?”
I didn’t.
“Thanks for the idea,” I retort.
“Olivia. Rose. Sawyer.”
My eyes gape as I dart a finger at her chest. “Afriendlytext. You need to have more faith in my morals, what is up with this?”
“Now what? I’m just supposed to turn a blind eye while you sabotage your own heart?” she challenges.
“Yes,” I demand with a single bob of my head. “That isexactlywhat your job is.”
Now her brown gaze expands, a finger planted at her chest. “And then I’m supposed to pick up the pieces after? Am I getting this right?”
I narrow my eyes through a glint of humor. “You know, if you didn’t want the job as my best friend, you should’ve read the fine print more intricately.” My body rotates on the stool to sip on my mule. “When you think about it, this is really your own fault.”
