Page 67 of My Ex-Best Friends

I pushed her hands away and looked down at my feet. “Seems like that’s the only way forward, huh?”

She laughed and pushed me. “I can’t wait for dinner parties with the family. You and I are going to be the best of friends, babe. You’re going to help me torture Noah.”

Hearing her sound so sure that it was going to happen, that everything was going to be okay, put a lightness in my heart. “Is it still a double date if I bring three men?”

“We could really fuck with them and bring you over to our side.” She wagged her brows at me before laughing and stumbling away in the sand. “I was trying to walk off the cake I ate last night. If my ass gets bigger, I’m blaming you.”

I stayed on the beach with Lucy after Kelly left and something about the heat of the sun, the soft snoring of Lucy, and the lightness Kelly left me with had my eyes growing heavy. I curled into Lucy and didn’t wake up until sometime later when a seagull landed on my forehead and Lucy finally decided he’d had enough.

54

***Logan***

Itilted my head to the side and studied the mural on the side of the hardware store. I’d avoided it for a while, not wanting to add to my misery. That misery wasn’t going to last for much longer, I’d decided. As Brooke’s man, it was my job to make sure she wasn’t hurting unnecessarily and I was putting an end to it. Even if I did have to be heavy handed and pushy. With that decided, I could stand beneath Brooke’s view of Beaumont and take it all in.

“You were right.” Noah’s voice reminded me that I wasn’t alone.

I knew exactly what he was talking about. In the background, woven into details of flowers and other nature was our treehouse. “This is us.”

“It is. It’s not about Beaumont. It’s us.” Colt stepped closer and then turned to face me. “How long do you think it would take us to build a treehouse?”

Noah bounced where he stood, his energy finally increasing. “Today.”

I grunted. “If we want it to fall down on us.”

“No, I’m serious.” He pulled out his phone. “We’ve both got a list of teenagers who always need extra cash. Call them. Colt, you go to the lumber yard in Demont and Logan and I will get the kids together. We can start as soon as you get back and have it finished today. Let’s end this shit tonight.”

A wave of hope filled me. “I can put a list together of what we need right now.”

“Do it. I’ll drop the list off at the lumber yard and swing by one of the flower shops. We’re doing this right.” Colt gripped my shoulder and patted Noah’s at the same time. “She comes home tonight.”

“Even if I have to kidnap her.” I shrugged at their looks. “I’m done with standing by while she cries.”

*

It was nearly ten o’clock that night when I pulled to a stop in front of Brooke’s mom’s house. I brushed my hands down my t-shirt, suddenly nervous. The treehouse was built, there were flowers inside waiting, Colt and Noah were ready. Everything was ready. Yet, my heart was in my throat and I felt like throwing up.

I barely got my first foot on the front porch when I was knocked backwards by Brooke’s giant dog. He panted happily with his front paws on my shoulders. “Jesus, dog. You scared the shit out of me. Don’t you know I’m freaking out enough without you adding to it?”

“Why are you freaking out?” Brooke’s voice came from the dark corner of the porch, startling me just as much as her dog had.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” I eased the dog back down on his four feet and stepped around him. As my eyesadjusted to the dark, I saw that Brooke was in one of the outside chairs with a blanket and a pillow in her lap. “What the fuck? Did your mom kick you out again?”

She laughed and then sighed. “She made up with Jimmy and she’s sick of me moping. Her words. She told me that I didn’t have to sleep on the porch if I’d just go back to y’all.”

I grunted as it all sank in. “You chose to sleep on the porch over coming to us?”

She stood up and dropped the stuff in her arms into the chair. “I’m not sleeping on the porch, am I?”

A jolt of need hit me when she walked closer and I saw that she was wearing a tiny tank top and the smallest pair of shorts I’d ever seen. I’d been staring at her for too long, apparently, because she reached forward and thumped me in the chest. “What? Sorry. I just…”

“Do you want to know why I’m dressed like this?”

I licked my lips and stepped closer. “Uh huh. Sure.”

“I fell asleep on the beach today.” She studied me. “Half of my body is incredibly sunburned.”

My head jerked up and I met her eyes. “What?”

---