Page 34 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
Beer or butts.
Decisions, decisions.
“One beer,” Odessa said. Bonnie clapped and bounced, the standard Bonnie response to good news. “I’m down to my last pair of clean underwear, so laundry has to happen.” And maybe she could watch a few episodes of that new sci-fi show where the sexy astronauts stray off course and they end up in their underwear, for some reason. She didn’t pay attention to the trailer, okay, before she added it to her video queue.
“Ew. TMI, boss.”
“Oh, sure, act like you’re not impressed with all this glamour.”
* * *
Loud and crowded,the bar basically embodied everything Odessa hated.
She found Bonnie at a table in the back, along with Tina and two other women she didn’t recognize. Bonnie waved a hand and made quick introductions. The women were Alyse—she of the infamous coffee shop butt grab—and Luz. Or Liz. Again, the bar was loud. They ordered burgers, fries, and far more wings than Odessa thought possible for four people to consume, but as she licked the sweet chili Polynesian sauce from her fingers, she had zero regrets.
“So, what happened with the hot guy?” Bonnie shouted across the table.
All eyes at the table fixed on her.
“He’s not a hot guy,” Odessa said, lying through her teeth. “He’s my friend from high school. That’s all.”
“He’s that guy she’s been hung up on for ten years,” Bonnie told the table. “The guy who every guy is in competition with.”
“Tell me everything,” Tina said.
“I don’t know what you think I know,” Odessa started.
“I know you never go out, even though you have plenty of game,” Bonnie said.
“Whatever that is, I don’t have it.” She wore basic clothes to work and hadn’t indulged in a salon hairstyle in years. Two weeks ago, she spilled expired milk on her shoes and they still smelled like yogurt.
“You really don’t see the way people look at you, huh? Trust me, plenty of guys check you out. Like that silver fox over there.” Bonnie pointed to a man with graying hair at the bar.
He stared at their table, but Odessa didn’t think she was the reason. Bonnie, Tina, and Luz—or Liz, she really needed to know but too much time had passed to ask without it being awkward—were younger and prettier.
“You could date if you wanted,” Bonnie said.
Odessa sighed. She didn’t want to date, not really. She hid behind Ruby as an excuse, but she fell hard for Mads a long time ago and never got back up. He was it for her. She couldn’t see the point in dating when she couldn’t offer her heart.
And now he was back.
The situation made her nervous and excited and a bit warm and fuzzy, like the sensation she got after a hard apple cider. It made no sense because she should be upset, bitter and angry, not fighting back a grin whenever she thought of him and his warm brown eyes and those dumb, kissable lips—
“Damn. If I ever found someone that made me look the way you do right now, I’d never let them go,” Tina said.
Her phone vibrated with a text message from Mads.
I salted your steps.
You didn’t have to, she replied.
And I replaced the lightbulb in the front hall.
Why are you in my house?She felt more amused than upset. How he got into her house, she already knew. She kept a spare key stuck to the inside of the mailbox with a magnet, the same system her parents used. Mystery solved.
I’m helping so you don’t fall on icy steps in the dark, and then you’ll be stuck in bed with a broken foot and I’d have to make you soup. You’re welcome,he texted back.
That wouldn’t happen.
