Page 30 of Past the Broken Bridges

I try to forget about the girl in question, and it’s safe to assume Dawson has too since his focus has been on other women. “It’s been over a year.”

“And then with Marco…”

I eye my former fling, feeling defensive over my friend. “Is there a point to this?”

She holds up her hands in surrender. “I think it’s nicethat you two are close. It’s obvious after everything that he needs somebody. And you…”

My eyes narrow in warning.

Lucy sighs, standing up. “I obviously never got to know you that well, but I think you could use somebody too. Everybody needs at least one person in their corner.”

Guilt curls itself into a ball in my chest. I like Lucy. I liked her when we first started hooking up, and I like her now. But I never allow myself to get close to somebody because I never want them to know the version of me that I barely get along with.

“You’re a good person, Luce,” I tell her.

The compliment makes her roll her eyes. “I know. That’s why Sean smartened up and did something about it. Somebody had to.”

Had she been waiting for me to? I always thought she was fine with casual. “So you two are good?”

Her smile warms. “We’re great.” Jabbing her thumb toward the back, she says, “I’m going to finish breaking down the boxes if you need me. But Banks?”

I look at her.

That smile remains, making me feel like an even bigger tool for not giving her a real shot when I had one. She cares about people, about me, but never pushes the way most people tend to. She asked me about my lip, accepted the bullshit answer whether she believed it or not, and let it go. It made being around her easier. She was always easier.

“You’re a good person too,” she says. “I hope you let yourself believe that one day.”

Gaping at her as she disappears into the back room, I lean back in my stool. Swiping at my jaw, I look down at the inventory sheet and sigh.

After a couple of hours pass by, the sliding doors open, and a familiar face walks in, beelining right for the snack section.

When Sawyer sees Lucy organizing the chips, the girls laugh at something like old friends. I watch them from the counter, ignoring the sketch pad in my lap that I’ve spent the last forty minutes working on when I see how they lean into one another and giggle in low voices.

One of my brows draws up when Lucy points in my direction, causing Sawyer to turn. When she sees me sitting behind the register, she straightens. I don’t know why her smile disappears or how I notice that it’s only gone for a millisecond before reappearing.

She grabs something from the shelf and walks over. “Long time, no see, Just Banks. I didn’t know you worked here. I’ve only ever seen Lucy and some skinny guy who looks like he hates the world and everybody in it.”

Lucy snorts at the description of Teddy, which is oddly fitting. “That’s our manager. Can you blame the guy when this is his full-time job?”

Sawyer giggles again, the sound stirring something in my chest. “Poor guy.”

I pick up the Pop-Tart and scan it. “I didn’t know people still ate this cardboard.”

She passes me the cash for it, down to the cent, and grabs the snack that I barely tolerated as a child. “At least the cardboard has frosting. They’re a guilty pleasure of mine. Don’t you have a comfort food?”

Lucy chimes in. “She’s the one who’s been selling us out of that flavor.”

Sawyer shrugs, unashamed. “The vending machines around campus only have the ones with strawberry filling. It’s gross.I prefer chocolate fudge. When the peanut butter ones came out, those were my favorite. Then they stopped making them.”

My coworker beams. “I used to go for the s’mores. Although the chocolate fudge is a close second. And if you toast them, they’re like an orgasm in your mouth.”

The last thing I want to hear from two attractive women, especially one whose body I’m familiar with and another I might like to get familiar with, is anything having to do with orgasms. Or their mouths.

Gazing between the two of them, I can’t help but ask, “Do you two know each other?”

It’s my neighbor who shakes her head. “Not really. She’s the one who usually sells me these.”

“Some of us are actually personable enough to make friends easily,” Lucy teases. She turns to Sawyer. “Sorry. Banks is the broody type. He’d prefer sitting here in silence, as horrible as that sounds.”

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