Page 88 of Every Broken Promise
Orianna just giggled.
“My husband’s best friend lives there.”
“Niceee,” I told her.
“Oh, a wedding,” said Ronnie behind me.
Orianna and I turned to see him there. Ori looked a bit flustered, and her eyes were somewhat bewildered.
“Yeah, a friend invited me to a small gathering,” I said as I closed the invitation so he couldn’t read who it belonged to.
“I love weddings,” he told us. “You have a hot date?”
“No,” I said right away. “I like going to weddings alone and meeting new people.”
His smile faded a bit, and then I realized that it sounded as if I liked going alone so I could pick up guys.
“I’ll probably tell my friend to come with me,” I added right away.
“The mechanic guy?” Ronnie inquired.
“Maybe,” I said, wanting this conversation to end.
“Well, if you find yourself in need of a date, I could always go with you. We can meet new people together.”
“Thanks, Ronnie,” I mumbled.
Once he left, I hid the envelope in my purse, and Orianna leaned into me and thanked me for not saying a thing.
“It’s not a huge thing. Mostly family and a few close friends.”
I nodded, totally getting it.
“That was a little odd, right?” I asked lightheartedly, hoping someone finally told me it wasn’t all in my head.
“Ronnie is a little odd,” she said. “He was a bit weird when I started to work here, but after a while it was okay. I think he misses social cues and tries hard for all of us to like him.”
I took her word for it and didn’t mention Ronnie anymore. My mind once again went to Tyler. He didn’t say anything about giving me space, so I knew sooner or later he would come looking for me.
When I pulledinto my driveway, I noticed a strange man milling around Rachel’s house with a bouquet of flowers. I knew Rachel was not home despite knowing she had taken a few days to work from home. Instead of getting off to greet the man, I checked my backpack to make sure I had my iPad there. If I were going out, I might as well stop by and see Lupe, so I could get to work on the piece I wanted to write about her shop. I drove through the town square, and there was no sign of Rachel’s car anywhere. In this town, there were only two places she could be found, so I made my way to the outskirts toward Zeke’s bar. Her fancy car was there, along with Adam’s white truck.
When I saw Adam’s car there, I didn’t think much of it—it was just Adam. It wasn’t like I had a tattoo on my forehead that saidI fucked Tyler Kane.
There is no way Tyler told him, right?
Once I stepped inside, I instantly spotted Rachel sitting on the bar next to Adam, who was hovering over her. I immediately made my way over to them without checking to see who was onher other side. The moment I noticed Tyler, I almost turned back around, but Zeke had already spotted me.
He would tattle on me, I just knew it.
This is what running away from your problems got you. You met them head-on when you least expected them.
At this point, I needed to buy stock in big girl panties, because I was not getting any breaks here.
THIRTY-TWO
“Rachel, you traitor,”I said once I got close to her and the guys. “I needed coffee, and you weren’t home.”
I was mostly teasing her, but I needed to have an icebreaker. Being near Tyler was freaking me out. If I weren’t so mortified about seeing Tyler again so soon after we had sex, I would have found it funny the way he scrambled out of his chair.
