Page 28 of For Butter or for Worse
I slip inside the house and don’t stop moving until I’m safe in my bedroom, but even then I feel like Georgie’s eyes are on me. I know I shouldn’t hide from her like this, not when I need to play the part of loving husband, but I’m already getting sucked into her pull, imagining how much better my life could be with her in it.
If only I knew she could stay.
To make it through this, I’m going to have to change my strategy and avoid her whenever I can. This marriage is going to be the biggest wave I’ve everattempted, and to make sure I don’t wipe out, I’m going to have to find my balance and ride this wave all the way through.
“Will you stop staring at me like that?” The question comes out of me rougher than I’d like, but I can’t help it. This is the first time I’ve gone out with the guys in weeks, and they’ve been looking at me like I’ve grown a second head. “What is with y’all?”
Coop snorts a laugh. “Don’t even pretend you don’t know what you did, Kingston.”
I sigh, gritting my teeth as the sounds of billiards and darts in the pool hall fill in the silence left behind by Coop’s comment. I came out to The Shallow End, Willow Cove’s local hangout spot, to try to getawayfrom my new marriage, but of course my friends aren’t going to ignore the elephant in the room. That would be too convenient.
“So it’s true?” Duke asks, lifting an eyebrow at me. “You really married What’s-her-face?”
“Georgie,” Perry grunts, lining up his shot.
Beck frowns as Perry knocks two balls into the pockets at once. “Isn’t she the one who always got you into trouble over the summer?”
“She’s the one who turns King into a flat-out moron whenever he’s around her,” Coop says before I can argue. “Put the two together, and there’s one brain cell between them.”
I shoot a glare at him, but it isn’t all that effective because the other guys laugh. These guys have known me my whole life, which I would have thought would put them on my side, but apparently not. “Pretty sure you’re overreacting, Coop,” I say and then turn to Beck. “I didn’t get into that much trouble.”
“You once stole Carl Pinnock’s boat because Georgie wanted to re-enact that scene fromTangled,” he argues.
“One of the lanterns set fire to part of the boardwalk,” Duke adds.
“And almost got my dad’s plane,” Coop says.
I glance at Perry, wondering if he has his own addition to this attack, but he’s busy planning out his next shot. Hopefully that means I’ll have at least one ally tonight. The problem, though, is I can’t say anything about theTangledincident because it wasmyidea. Not Georgie’s. “This isn’t a big deal,” I mumble. “So I got married. It’s not going to change anything.”
I’m met with four deadpan stares.
I guess I can’t blame them for disagreeing with me. They’re all as single as I was up until three days ago when I said, “I do,” and that’s unlikely to change. Clenching my hand into a fist, I shake my head and try to focus on Perry’s attempt to get another striped ball.
Coop doesn’t let me. “Dude, it’s like you forgot how this girl broke your heart.”
Duke and Beck both murmur agreement, and Perry makes his shot. He misses. Then he looks at me, and I feel like he’s trying to tell me something but I don’t know what it is. It would be helpful if he used his words more often than he does.
“I didn’t forget,” I say, trying to look at each of them so they know I mean it. “I don’t think I could ever forget.”
“Good,” Duke says. “Because you were the worst after she left.”
Beck chuckles. “I’ve never seen a guy mope the way you did.”
Again, I can’t argue, and I’m regretting more and more my decision to come out tonight. But if I had stayed home, I don’t think I would have been able to avoid Georgie. I’ve been doing my best to keep my distance the last couple of days after the incident with Prince Harry, but each night it gets harder. I’ve found myself staring out the window into the backyard, hoping for a glimpse of her.
I got one earlier tonight. She was talking to her phone—a video call, probably—and pacing along the edge of the pool in a t-shirt and cutoff jean shorts, her hair pulled up in a high ponytail that spilled her curls up and out like the top of a pineapple. I had a hand on the back door before I caught myself, and I was out the front door and driving into town a moment later.
With the way the guys are looking at me, I might have been better off facing my attraction to Georgie than dealing with their judgment.
“She called me, you know,” Beck says, raising his eyebrows as he watches my reaction.
I try not to clench my jaw and glare at him, though I’m not sure I succeed. “Did she?”
“Seems she has plans to renovate your uncle’s bakery and needs a contractor.”
“Yep.” My voice breaks on that one, and I clear my throat. “Whose turn is it? Mine?”
Coop pokes me in the gut with his cue. “You’re sitting out this round, dude.” Then he nods for Beck to take his turn.
