Page 15 of Cold Foot Cash

“Be a stranger-friend. You don’t have to dig too deep into my life, Cash. It’s a fun night of friendship and a good memory, and then you’ll be responsible for fending off the bar flies on your own tomorrow night.”

“You’re leaving tomorrow?”

“Probably. Yes. No. I don’t know.”

“Why’s he sorry?” Cash asked again.

“You’re breaking the rules. No strings attached.”

Cash squared up to her and looked so deeply into her eyes. “What did he do?”

“Cash,” she whispered. “You’re ruining this.”

He just looked at her, refusing to release her from his gold gaze.

“Fuck,” she murmured, hating him. “My divorce is going to be final on Tuesday. I failed it. I didn’t even believe in divorce and here I am. Going through it. One o’clock on Tuesday afternoon, I’ll be at the courthouse in Bozeman, finishing the paperwork on the last part of my failure. We’ve been separated for a year, going back and forth with lawyers, and now I guess he’s having second thoughts. Again. He’s stopped proceedings twice already and stalled it out. He’s laying it on pretty thick right now.”

“What did he do?”

She shook her head, denying him an answer because she still felt loyal. She still had the urge to protect him.

“He was with another girl?” Cash guessed.

Harley couldn’t deny it, so she just pursed her lips.

“You were loyal?” he guessed.

She nodded. “I look and feel pretty stupid lately.”

“No you don’t. He fumbled you.Helooks stupid.” Cash arched an eyebrow. “He looks especially stupid in that wedding picture in his baby blue bow tie.” He turned and threw a dart into the bullseye.

“Hey, be nice.”

“Fuck that dude, I don’t know him. Why do I have to be nice? We’re friends, Harley. I want to talk shit. Just lean in and talk shit with me.”

Her laugh surprised her. She didn’t know why she found it funny, but she did. It was nice to have someone have her back.In Bozeman, everyone was on the fence about them splitting up, and she didn’t feel supported. Not even from Carolina, who loved Lance. He’d been in their family for a long time.

“He sent me a picture of him sitting on my porch,” she admitted low.

“Oh my God, let me see. He’s crying in it, isn’t he?”

“No. Just…tearing up a little.”

Cash snickered as he looked at the picture she showed him. “Heislaying it on thick. What happened to his girlfriend?”

Harley shrugged. “I have no idea. They were fine, last I heard. I’ve been living on my own the whole time, just waiting for the divorce to be finalized. He keeps freaking refusing to sign the paperwork last minute and pushing back our court dates, which makes no damn sense because he’s in a serious relationship with his mistress. Her name is Alissa and she has the perfect bone-structure. It’s annoying,” she muttered.

“She sounds like a cow.”

Harley pursed her lips against a laugh. “She loves posting pictures of them, and my friends would show me the pictures every once in a while, but it wasn’t good for me. It kind of destroyed me, so I asked them to stop.”

He handed her darts, and she threw them one by one. None of them were near the bullseye, but at least they were all on the board this time.

“Hey, you suck less now.”

She giggled. “Thanks a lot.”

“If you ever want revenge on him, let me know.”

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