Page 16 of Edge

“Thirty-eight. Same age as me. Reese is a year older.” Edge turned in his chair to survey the room. “See that girl over there? That’s Ember’s daughter, Raven. The girl to her left is Ember’s sister, Blaze. Blaze and her twin brother, Flint, are only a few weeks older than Raven.”

“So Ember and her mom were pregnant at the same time?” I asked.

“Yep,” he confirmed. “We have lots of fun stories like that around here. Reese is married to Duke, and Reese’s brother, Carbon, is married to Duke’s sister, Harper. Their kids are super cousins. I’m not sure where Duke is, but Carbon is the huge guy lurking behind Harper.”

I was happy to have the focus off me, so I listened intently and asked questions when I could. Irene chimed in from time to time but let us do most of the talking. Before I knew it, the party was winding down, and it was time to leave.

“We’re going to head out,” Irene said to Edge. “Thanks for keeping us company.”

“Anytime,” he smiled. “It was good to see you again.”

“He’s talking to you,” Irene stage whispered.

“It was nice to see you, too,” I said, completely ignoring Irene.

She looped her arm through mine. “Come on, I need to find Byte to say goodbye before we leave.”

She dragged me along with her until we found Byte and Gabby talking to a group of people. “Congratulations, honey,”she said to Gabby and gave her a hug. Then she wrapped her arms around Byte. “Come see me when you have a chance.”

“I will,” he promised.

I awkwardly waved goodbye to the crowd and thanked them for inviting me. Once we were in the car, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Irene asked.

“No, I suppose it wasn’t,” I reluctantly admitted.

“You and Edge seemed awful chatty.”

“Edge was chatty. I was being polite.”

“Mmm-hmm,” she said, as if she didn’t believe me.

I did enjoy talking with Edge, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself or anyone else. He was exactly the kind of guy I needed to steer clear of.

5

EVIE

“Shit!” I yelled and slammed my hands on the steering wheel. “Why are you doing this to me now?”

I tried several more times to get my car to start, but I was out of luck. I knew it was going to give out on me sooner rather than later, but I’d hoped I had more time.

Exhaling heavily, I leaned back in my seat and tried to figure out what to do next. I was pretty sure I couldn’t afford to have whatever was wrong with my car fixed, so that left me with walking or asking Irene for a ride to and from work. Since she worked all day, every day, I’d have to find a way to occupy myself for almost eight hours each day after my shift.

As I stared out the windshield contemplating my next move, someone rode by on a bicycle, and an idea hit me. I could ride a bike to and from work. I knew I could afford one, I just needed to find out where to buy one. After a quick search on my cheap little phone, I found a place within walking distance of the diner. Thirty minutes later, I was the not so proud owner of my new two-wheeled transportation.

I didn’t know the exact mileage from the diner to Irene’s house, but it felt like I’d biked across the entire state by thetime I made it home. I looked at my phone to check the time and groaned. It took me almost forty-five minutes to get home. I tried to look on the bright side. At least I didn’t have to pay for gas and would get plenty of exercise.

“Why wasyour car still in the parking lot when I left last night and already here when I arrived this morning?” Irene asked as soon as I walked through the door.

“I’m sorry about that. It wouldn’t start when I got off work yesterday, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it.”

“How did you get home yesterday and get to work this morning?”

“I bought a bike from a shop a few streets over,” I said.

“Well, that explains why you look like you just ran a marathon.”

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