Page 13 of The One I Need
I nod toward the door, seeing out of the corner of my eye that Shane is ready with his sign. Betsy follows my eyes, but does as I signal for her to do. I follow behind her, curious myself as to what’s going on. I stop as she talks to Shane for a second before continuing on to our friend Amelia, who has the next sign.
“Wes think of all this?” I ask Shane.
“Mostly,” he says. Amelia gives a smile and nod to Betsy, who turns left out of our viewing. The two of us start walking toward Amelia, wanting to see what happens next.
“Look who’s alive,” Amelia says. “We thought we lost you.”
“I’m here.”
Neither of us say anything as we watch Betsy walk toward Simon, who drops his arrow, only to hold up another sign.
Just so you know, we’re Team Betsy
We chuckle under our breaths, not wanting Betsy to realize we’re spying as Simon steps out of the way so she can walk toward Wes. Her Jeep is covered in streamers and balloons. It’s reminiscent of what we did for Wes a few months ago when his divorce was finalized. I can tell that Betsy’s laughing, which is a good sign. Because as much as I don’t believe in soul mates right at this moment, I know those two are meant to be together.
“Well, look who showed up,” Simon says as he joins our group. “Where were you this morning?”
“Don’t worry about it,” I say gruffly.
“Excuse me?” Shane says. “Since when have you ever been the type to not tell us every single detail of every part of your day? Hell, you send a message in the group text when you find a pair of socks you like.”
I shrug. “I don’t feel like talking about it.”
“Bullshit,” Simon says. “Something is up, and I’d rather you not let it be pent up for weeks and then you have diarrhea of the mouth. Our work here is done. Let’s go back to Rolling Hills and meet at Mona’s. I need some waffles in my life.”
“I’m out,” I say. As much as waffles sound delicious, I can’t be around these guys right now. They’ll know something is up because I’m a shit liar who doesn’t hold back a detail of his life. And right now, I can’t talk about this. Though I might get some waffles on the way home and eat them in privacy while I watchTop Gunfor the five-hundredth time.
“You’re out? No, you’re not.” Simon looks over to Shane and Amelia for help. “Tell him he’s not out.”
Neither of them say anything, but I don’t think telling me to go get waffles is on the top of their priority list. They’re looking at each other, but they aren’t. It’s weird. He’s looking down, and she’s looking at him, but as soon as he looks up, her eyes shoot to the sky. Again, weird. They’re acting like they just saw each other naked. Which obviously didn’t happen. Amelia is the mother of our group. She’s the one to tell us when we’re being idiots, but also comes in from time to time to help us pull off our shenanigans. None of us have ever looked at Amelia in “that” way. So I have no idea what this whole awkward thing is about.
“Sorry, I’m out too,” Amelia says. “I need to get home and make sure the kids haven’t burned down the house. Plus, I have a shift tonight at the hospital.”
“Fine. Play the kid card. Shane? You in?”
He looks at Amelia one more time, who quickly looks away. Okay, I might be depressed and slightly hungover, but this shit isweird.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Fuck all of you,” Simon says, throwing his arms in the air. “Fine. I’ll go to Mona’s by myself. And I’m going to take a picture of the waffles and send them all to you and make you jealous.”
Simon stomps back toward the hotel, which is why I look that way and see Izzy walking out of the door. She took a T-shirt and a pair of shorts from my luggage, and her red hair is now piled on her head. I try to hold in a laugh as she carefully checks her surroundings, seemingly trying not to be spotted by someone she knows.
She looks over and catches my eye. Fuck. Did I forget in the hour we were apart how beautiful she is? Or is it just seeing her now like this, wearing my clothes, making her even more sexy?
She gives me a soft smile, which hits me straight in the heart. I return the gesture, only for her to give me a small wave before she walks away.
“Who’s that?”
I look over to Shane, who’s now next to me. I’m guessing Amelia also left, since she’s nowhere to be seen.
“My future wife.”
I hear him chuckle as he slaps me on the shoulder before he walks away. He’s probably thinking this is just another one of my dramatic renditions of another failed relationship. Or since it was just a wedding, an attempt at one. And most of the time, he’d be right.
But not now. Only I know it’s the truth.
She’s the one who got away.
