Page 9 of The Brave and the Reckless

“Me? Oh, nobody except Renee likes me,” she laughed, but there was a sad undercurrent of truth to her words. “These people wouldn’t come near me if I wasn’t handing them their drinks.”

“I think we should be friends,” I said, because I was feeling a kinship with my fellow disliked person.

“Sure,” Adriana grinned, “but only if you can hold your liquor.”

I pointed one finger-gun at her and used the other hand to tip my drink back. I gulped down the sugary concoction like it was air and I’d been suffocating. When I set the glass back down, only ice cubes clinked against its sides. “You just found yourself a new friend.”

Chapter Four

WILD FIELDS

If you’re ready to take your adventure past Bravetown’s borders, why not visit our charming neighbors in Wild Fields? Take a walk around the lush town square with its historic gazebo, and dip into the surrounding cafés and restaurants for a refreshing taste of modern American small-town living.

ESRA

“Bart’s Mart doesn’t take cards?”

“By George, she’s got it.” Adriana grinned and pushed her sunglasses up to her head. They did little to keep her wild blonde mane at bay. “There’s an ATM around the corner. Casey’s Supermarket does take cards, but for some reason there’s never any bathroom stuff. There are shelves for toothpaste and shampoo and all that, all right, it’s just never in stock.”

She had parked the car on a corner of Wild Fields’ town square, from where we had a perfect view of both supermarkets. They each occupied a corner of the square, and I couldn’t help but imagine a diagonally opposed turf war that cost them their credit card readers and toothpaste stock.

“ATM and Bart’s it is,” I said. “I do need toothpaste.”

Adriana led the way. Her long skirt flowed in the breeze, creating a perfect carefree image paired with her cream crochet top and dozens of necklaces and rings. She pointed out the side of the square where three restaurants and two cafés lined up, and called it the food mile, even though it was definitely not a mile.

Everything in Wild Fields looked shrunk. All the buildings were close to the ground. The tallest ones we walked past were three stories high. And with everything built so low, there was just So. Much. Sky. Everywhere. No matter where I turned, I could see the horizon and, above it, miles and miles of emptiness. I kept staring at all that blue and the streaks of cloud. Driving across country and having all that sky above the road and the rolling hills in the distance was one thing, but this whole town was topped by azure.

Adriana had to grab my elbow and pull me in the right direction, or I would have walked right past Bart’s Mart.

I’d only taken fifty bucks out of my account, because there wasn’t much more in there in the first place, but walking the aisles with Adriana soured my stomach. Those fifty would be a tight stretch across two weeks. Who knew that cereal was this expensive? God, I’d have to use the rest of my Moroccanoil shampoo in droplets for the rest of the summer if I consideredthatcost.

“You look a little pale,” Adriana mumbled through a mouthful of M&Ms while we were checking out and the number on the cash register kept climbing and climbing.

“I’m going to sound dumb, but I’ve never bought my own groceries,” I replied, and tried to smile at the lady behind the register who silently raised her brows at me.She’d started scowling the second Adriana had stepped up to pay and hadn’t stopped since.

“Awww, I popped your cherry,” Adriana laughed and made the cashier’s frown deepen.

“You could have bought me dinner first, you know?”

“Gosh, you’re high-maintenance.” She playfully rolled her eyes at me. “Back in my day, it was a beer on the front porch and then you hopped in the car together.”

The cashier cleared her throat.

“To go grocery shopping together for the first time,” Adriana clarified with a grin that betrayed her blatant lie.

I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. At least having her here made it easier to stomach the $43.68 I had to put down for a bagful of bare necessities. And that was with the 5 per cent staff discount I got for wearing my Bravetown employee polo shirt.

“You weren’t kidding about nobody liking you, huh?” I asked as I buckled my precious groceries into her backseat.

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “But it’s fine. I still like Wild Fields and everyone who lives here. They’ll fall back in love with me sooner or later. I just have to get them all drunk first.”

She’d told me that she’d left when she was nineteen and only returned a few months ago, but I hadn’t gotten the story last night, and it didn’t look like I was getting it now. “Where did you learn how to bartend?”

“Nashville.”

“You don’t like talking about yourself, do you?”

“Nope.”

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