Page 59 of Call it Reckless

“Reid Braxton.”

“Huh. I don’t remember a thing.” She rested her head in her hands.

“You passed out in his car.”

“Oh.” She cracked an eye open and peered at me. “He’s really handsome, and he seemed to have fun with you last night.”

“Oh, he did, all right,” I muttered.

She lifted her head, tilting it while her eyes narrowed. “Am I missing something?”

“We slept together.”

She choked on the sip of coffee she’d just taken. “I’m sorry. Did you say you had sex with him?”

I nodded.

She looked around.

“Don’t worry. He was already gone when I woke up.”

“Well, shit. I need more coffee for this conversation.”

“Help yourself. Reid made it.”

“He made you coffee before he left? That was sweet. Did you make plans to get together again?”

I shook my head and caught her up on the note.

“Why are you analyzing this so much? He said he’d call you. See what happens, then. It’s not like he ghosted you. He made you coffee. That’s not a man who woke up thinking he made a mistake the night before.”

I thought about how he’d cared for me, how he cuddled with me. “You’re right. It was just so unlike me to do that.”

I pointed to her outfit. “Why are you dressed up, anyway?”

“I’m supposed to meet Teagan this afternoon. She has some listings to show me.” She glanced at her watch. “Shit. I’m supposed to be there soon.” She looked at me. “I don’t suppose you’d want to come along? I could use another set of eyes, and you know the town better. Besides, it would do you good to get out of the house and think about something different.”

“Sure. Why not?”

* * *

Six housesand nearly the same number of hours later, Teagan, Paige, and I arrived back at Teagan’s office on Market Street.

“What do you say we have dinner together at Ruth’s?” Teagan suggested. “My treat. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m too tired to scrape anything together for dinner.”

We started walking the couple of blocks down the street toward the diner. I was surprised to see how many people were still in the area on a Saturday evening.

When I said as much, Teagan said, “There’s a lot of little new stores with things to do.” She pointed across the street. “There’s a couple of new bistros and bars. Sometimes, there are book readings at Brynn’s Bookstore, you can create a piece of art at Addison’s Art Store while you sip wine from Celine’s Twist, which is a cocktail bar.

“Addison, Brynn, and Celine? The triplets?”

Teagan grinned. “Yep. We call those stores the ABCs of Sterling Mill.”

I grinned. “Good for them. They were lots of fun to hang around with in school.”

Teagan went on pointing out new things. “Leah at the bakery teaches classes, and the wine store does tastings. Mayor Bowen really encouraged shop owners to give people something to do in the evenings. They rose to the occasion.”

I was impressed. “That was a good idea.”

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