Page 20 of Cream and Punishment
She froze, and I could picture her scrutinizing him from behind her glasses, the guy who dared call herlittle. Despite her hardcore look, she stood at about five-feet two-inches tall. But if anyone mentioned that, they soon learned to regret it.
Poor Seth. He had so much to live for.
And then the unthinkable happened: Annie grinned. It wasn’t a scary, “can’t wait to make him eat his words” grin, either, but a genuine, happy grin. “Seth Douglas? Is that you?”
Hold the phone. They not only knew each other, but she washappyto see him? What kind of alternate universe did I just enter? Her smiles were rarely given, even to her friends.
If her grin caught me off guard, my jaw literally dropped when she ran around the car and flew into his arms for a hug. I was dreaming. I had to be. Annieneverhugged anyone if she could help it. Ever. I’d thought Lex wasn’t the touchy-feely type until I’d met Annie, in which case Lex changed from a cactus to a teddy bear.
They started talking a mile a minute, catching up on the major points of each other’s lives, so I decided to wait in the car.
Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to eavesdropso hard. But after being on my feet all day, rolling out dough and icing cakes and pastries—overseeing all facets of My Batter Half—my body ached. Fiercely. The passenger seat of a Toyota corolla had never looked so inviting.
She joined me in the car minutes later, a smile still lighting her features. “Sorry about that. Which bridal shop are we going to again?”
I told her, then shifted in my seat to face her. “What was that all about? I had no idea you knew Gale’s grandson.”
She pulled into traffic, checking her blind spot over her shoulder. “We were best friends growing up until he moved away when we were twelve.”
No. Way.
“And now he’s back?”
She kept her head facing forward, but I still caught the smile pulling at her lips. “I guess so.”
seven
“Letmegetthisstraight.” Annie shifted on her stool and swirled her straw in her Crash Bandicoot cocktail. “You moved out of Lex’s apartment, spur of the moment, in the middle of a Tuesday? Just like that?”
“Whileher car is in the shop,” Kris added oh-so-helpfully.
I shifted guiltily on my barstool. I wasn’t surewhythey seemed upset about this but based on their disbelief and the chastising tones of their voices, I’d clearly done something wrong.
I took my time chewing on my Nacho Mama Fries, my gaze darting around the establishment. The smell of fried food and burgers hung heavy in the air, mixing with the faint, fruity notes of the cocktails on the table. The electronic dings and music from arcade games weren’t overwhelming from where we sat, but when combined with the laughter and chatter from all the other patrons, it could be a bit much after an hour or two, at least for me.
Nacho Mama Fries were one of the many stellar hallmarks of the bar-arcade hybrid where me, Lex, and three of our closest friends met for girls’ night every Thursday. Supposedly, after the original bar-cade, Ready Player One, shut down, a few regulars were so bummed that they revived it a few years later with the name Ready Player Two. New ownership, same classic arcade games lining the walls, same ingeniously named foods. It was the perfect place for our unusual group to meet.
And, boy, were we unusual. We had me, the old soul who was in bed every night by eight; Lex, my sister the FBI agent who couldn’t make it tonight; Hattie, a fifty-something drama teacher and instigator of bets and drinking games; Kris, a CrossFit connoisseur and mother of two whose wardrobe of choice included sundresses and bows and everything you wouldn’t expect someone so muscular to wear; and Annie, a leather-clad, bright-eyed librarian who always carried snacks and would fight the Devil himself for calling her short. But you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Unable to stall any longer, I finally swallowed the savory goodness. “Lex is getting married in a few weeks, and I’d been meaning to move out and stop mooching off her for months now. I finally got around to looking for available listings, and someone urgently had to sell their lease for a place that fit nearly all my criteria. I meant to bring it up as soon as I signed, but I guess I kept forgetting.” I paused, the fries suddenly heavy in my gut. “Did I do something wrong?”
All three of them exchanged knowing looks, which did exactly nothing to help my ratcheting blood pressure.
“What is it?” I asked, unable to hide the dismay in my voice.
Kris patted my hand in an attempt to comfort me. “No one’s mad at you, Dekker. It’s not that you did anythingwrong, necessarily. Just…”
“Impulsive,” Annie finished for her. She sent her straw in another circle around her glass, looking uncharacteristically uncomfortable. “You know I’m not the most tactful person, so don’t take this the wrong way, but you tend to jump into things without thinking them through all the way.”
“Like what?” I thought things through. All the time. Didn’t I?
Annie raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Aside from moving apartments when none of us were available to help you?”
“I reckon you’ve been walking to work alone while your car’s in the shop, too,” Hattie added.
Kris chimed in now. “And let’s not forget how you sold your old bakery and moved here last yearwithouttelling Lex in the first place.”
“That shouldn’t count,” I argued. “She was undercover at the time. I couldn’t have told her even if I’d wanted to.”
