Page 131 of Best Served Cold

“You’re not into me. It’s fine.” She gave me a wobbly smile. “You don’t need to justify why not.” She bit the corner of her mouth. “But you and Noah are a thing?”

“We’re…something.”

“I know this means nothing because it’s coming from me, but I’m happy for you. You guys make sense.”

“Thanks,” I said, my voice gruff again.

“How am I supposed to start over?” She flopped back against the bench. “Making friends as an adult is sooo hard. I don’t even know where I’d meet new people other than at work.”

“Noah’s sister is new to the area. I’m not saying you two have anything in common or you’ll be besties or whatever. What?” I flicked my gaze to her as she started giggling.

“Hearing you say besties is just funny.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I imagine it is.”

“You think his sister might be open to making some new friends?” she asked tentatively.

“Yeah, but you need to know she’s a single mom. She has two under two, and she’s younger than us.”

“How old is she?”

“Twenty.”

“And she’s raising two kids? Damn. She’s a superhero.”

I couldn’t stop my look of surprise.

“My mom was sixteen when she had me. She raised me alone until she met my stepdad when I was ten.”

Huh, I hadn’t known that about her.

“Maybe you could talk to Noah and see if he wants to pass my number to his sister? What’s her name?”

“Becca. And I’ll talk to him. Is it okay if I tell him and Riv about…everything?”

“Might as well. It’s not like it’s a secret or anything.”

“Did you drive here?”

“Got a ride.”

“Do you want to stay? We can get you home if you’d rather leave.”

“We?”

“Riv and me.”

“Are you sure? It’s like, a thirty-minute drive to my place.”

“We can handle it.” I stood and extended my hand to her.

She took it with a smile and let me pull her up. “Thanks. For everything. You could have just written me off like everyone else. It means a lot that you didn’t.”

I shrugged and shoved my hands in my pockets as we headed toward the house.

“Why did you come talk to me today?”

“River said something a while ago that made us question what was going on. We figured there had to be a reason why you’d had a personality transplant overnight.”

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