Page 101 of When We Were Us
At this, she arches a brow as she runs the rubber spatula along the edge of the bowl.
“Derek kept texting. I tried to ignore it, but Hank saw the messages come through. I let him read them all.”
She makes a face. “What did he say?”
“Basically, that Derek is a dick, and that if he can’t see what he gave up, then he’s an idiot, too.”
“I knew under all that grumpy bullshit that he was a smart man,” she says with a wry smile and starts drizzling icing over each round ball of dough.
I bite down on my thumbnail and nod when she glances up at me. When I don’t say anything more, she sets her spoon down and wipes her hands on a towel, narrowing her eyes at me. “Something happened.”
I nod.
“Spill it.”
“We had a really good time last night. Even with all the texts from my asshole ex. It was really kind of sweet how Hank handled the whole thing.”
“We are talking about the same Hank, right?” she jokes, and I laugh, because I am just as surprised as she is.
“I didn’t expect anything to happen between us, not really.” I fiddle with the lid of the coffee cup.
“Buut,” she prompts, rolling her hand in front of her as if to tell me to get on with it, her tone of voice raised an octave.
“After the bar, we settled on friends. Then, he short-circuited my brain with that whiskey move and?—”
“God, that’s so hot,” she says dreamily, her eyes going glassy for a moment.
I laugh because she’s not wrong. The number of times I replayed that night in my mind—all the things he said to me, and the way he set my skin on fire with barely a touch.
“It was definitely unexpected.”
“You know what they say: it’s the quiet ones who are the freakiest.”
I shoot her a look and she laughs. “Mark my words, girl.”
“Anyway,” I say with a laugh. “After the ranch, everything felt so different between us.”
“Wrenley!” she says with a tortured laugh. “Just tell me!”
“He kissed me again.”
Finnley squeals, tosses her towel down, and rushes around the other side of the counter. “I knew it!” She pulls me into a hug. “How do you feel?”
My eyes search the room beyond her shoulder, still wrapped in her embrace.
“Happy.” I realize it’s true the second before I say the word. Hank makes me happy. This, standing here with Finn and talking like we’re teenagers, makes me happy. Sitting in the stands, watching him and his brothers with the “Girl Gang” makes me happy.Timber Forgemakes me happy. Who knew?
My eyes suddenly burn and my vision blurs.
“Then, I’m so happy for you,” she breathes the words and I know it’s because she’s all choked up, too. “You deserve it, Wren.”
I squeeze her. “Thanks, Finn.”
“Can I ask you something?” she says, pulling back.
“Anything.”
She bobs her head from side to side and the corner of her mouth tips up, like she’s debating her question.
