Page 37 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

“What?”Tori asked, laughing without even knowing the details.

Ellie matched his grin.“I offered him a beer as thanks for holding on to the boat.Ironically, he let go of my boat to grab the bottle and the boat tipped and I ended up in the bayou anyway.”

“Oh no!”Tori said.“You weren’t mad?”

Ellie shook her head.“Nah.I’d ended up in the bayou before.But I’d never had such a good-lookin’ guy choking on beer while I did it.”She gave Leo a look.“But I did say, ‘you realize that you just passed up getting laid for a beer, right?’He looked down at the bottle, then back up at me and, I shit you not, said, ‘well, it’s not every day you get a free beer.’”

Tori turned wide eyes to Leo.“But itwasevery day that you got a girl?”

Leo wiggled his eyebrows.“Where do you think my grandsons get all of that charm?”

Tori laughed.She was having more fun than she’d had in a long time.Maybe hanging out with people wasn’t all bad.She really liked dogs and cats and cows, but they didn’t have great falling-in-love stories to share.“So I didn’t stand a chance once I met Josh?”

Leo shook his head, chuckling.“Good you realize that.Just give in.”

“How long have you been married?”Tori asked Ellie and Leo.

“Oh, we’re not anymore,” Ellie said, pushing back and moving to refill a glass down the bar.

Tori frowned at her, then glanced at Leo.“What?”

Leo shook his head.“Lasted thirty years though.”

“Thirty-one,” Ellie corrected him.

Leo nodded.“Something like that.”

“No,” Ellie said.“Exactly that.One monthpastthirty-one, in fact.”

Leo rolled his eyes.“Been divorced for a while now.”

Tori felt stunned.And disappointed.“I’m…sorry.”She frowned.“But you’re obviously still good friends.”

Leo grinned at Ellie.“She’s still the feistiest girl with the biggest heart I know.”

“What happened?”Tori was suddenly completely invested in this story.The entire thing.Maybe she could help get them back together.She frowned a little at that.That was a weird thought to have about two near-strangers.But there was something so genuine and warm here that she was completely enthralled.

“We still had—have—the chemistry,” Leo said.

“And the respect,” Ellie agreed.

“But we laugh more when we don’t live together,” Leo said.“So we just tried living apart.But then the taxes got complicated.”

“And I wanted to sleep with Trevor,” Ellie added.

“And that,” Leo said with a nod.

“Trevor?”Tori asked, her eyebrows nearly in her hairline.

“My boyfriend,” Ellie said.

Tori leaned in and looked down the bar, wondering if one of these men was Trevor.

“He’s not here right now,” Ellie said.“He’s at work.He’s a banker in New Orleans.”

“Oh.”For some reason that surprised Tori.

“He’s a big deal,” Leo said.“He ironed out my retirement account and helped us with transferring the business over to the boys.Good-looking guy too.”

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