Page 25 of How Dare You

Rhett

Won the best prize in the silent auction

-From Rhett’s Most Important Things notebook, August 16th

Allie greets me with a bright smile and starts making my drink without asking for my order. She’s got an incredible memory. Devon doesn’t turn to acknowledge me, but I take the stool next to hers. “Should we compare schedules?” I ask, tapping on the leatherbound planner that sits on the counter between us.

She turns toward me, fierce as ever. “Don’t touch that.”

Holding both hands up between us, I shake my head. “Whatever you say, mama.”

Her navy eyes narrow. “I’m not giving you energy today, McCoy. You can pick up whatever game you’re trying to play with me some other time.”

“No game, just want you to make good on your word.”

She tightens her features into a look that could kill—someone else. I smile back.

“What are you talking about?” Allie’s quick to come to her friend’s defense. “Devon’s never gone back on her word for anything.”

“I’m counting on that.”

“I’m not going to drop all my current projects so I can start on your mystery place,” Devon answers, voice dry.

“Mystery?” Allie asks, leaning forward across the counter.

“I got those two weeks with her in the auction—”

“He said the project he’s hiring me for, through the auction, is a surprise—”

“Ooh, I love surprises,” Allie coos, her sweetness cutting right through the bitter tone of her friend.

Devon smiles at her. “But there’s no way for me to prep for a surprise, so I can’t get him scheduled until he tells me what’s going on.”

“You should really do something about that,” Allie says to me, an echo of the advice she gave me about Devon a few weeks ago.

“Don’t think I will,” I reply to Devon instead.

“Then you’ll continue to wait,” she says matter-of-factly before turning back to Allie and patiently discussing a package that was delivered to her old house.

Their friendship is intriguing. Devon is hard-lined, damn near severe about everything but her friends, and she has a particular soft spot for Allie, who’s bubbly and easy-going. Her attitude shifts completely from indulgent and adoring with Allie to sharp and uninterested with everyone else. How did Allie break through?

I can count the number of times I’ve seen Devon smile, a genuine, joyful smile, not some placating customer service smile, which didn’t involve her friends on one hand. Once, while this building was under construction, Luke’s dog came up and laid down directly on her feet, almost knocking her over. Another time, we all ordered takeout for lunch, and hers came with an extra pickle she hadn’t asked for. Last month an electrician on another job we were working made a wildly inappropriate dick joke, and I caught her laughing in the next room. My favorite smile I’ve seen on her, though, was the first one—right after I jumped into the pool on the night we met.

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Bradley holds up an orange silicone stacking toy ring, pointing it at me. “I still can’t believe she didn’t kill you on the spot when you said she’d have to stay with you for two weeks.”

“It’s because she likes the idea.” Feeling around on the floor, I find the next smallest ring, a yellow one with a wave texture on the side and toss it over to him. “I keep telling you, she’s into me.”

My oldest friend shoots me a wry look.

“I’m serious,” I insist. “Her friends think so too.”

“Who? Who thinks so too?” Bradley props his hands on his knees, standing up from his task of straightening the living room floor. “Which one of her friends said that?”

I add another brightly colored book to the stack I’m gathering. “None of them said it directly.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you.” He plops down on the couch, spinning the baby monitor on the coffee table so he can check on Emery while she naps in the other room. “I work with Allie a few days a week. She knows we’re friends, and she’s never mentioned anything to me about you and Devon.”

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