Page 4 of Wish You Once More
Darla caught hold of my arm as I went to leave. “You’re friends with Mat Redmond, aren’t you?”
Friends. Yeah, that was it. We were friends. I bit my lip against what I really wanted to say. Taking my feelings out on Darla wouldn’t help, I knew that.
Not capable of speaking, I nodded.
“Good. Can you get in touch with him and let him know how grateful we are for him stepping in at the last minute?”
Mutely, I nodded again, mentally cursing myself. Why had I agreed to that? I hadn’t been in touch with Mat for ages. We hadn’t exactly parted on the best of terms.
She beamed. “Thanks, love. We wouldn’t want him to think we weren’t welcoming. I’ll see you on Saturday.”
I stopped myself from nodding again and managed to force out some words instead. “Sure. No problem.”
Five days. Five days before I had to see my ex again.
No wonder I needed a drink.
Callie sat at a table in the corner of the Black Cap pub, our regular haunt. Her head bent over her phone, engrossed in whatever gossip story she’d found. Her dark hair spilled over her shoulders, which she brushed out of the way as she picked up her glass. I must have wandered into her eye line when her head jerked up and she waved.
“Where the fuck have you been? I’m starving!”
“You know where I’ve been, and I’m not late.” I glanced at the clock behind the bar and saw it was seven thirty; I was right on time.
“You know how grumpy I get when I’m hungry.”
“You might lose your appetite when you hear what I’ve got to tell you.” I dropped into the seat opposite her and poured myself a huge glass of wine, rewarding myself with a healthy sip. Having finished the one at the meeting, drinking more on an empty stomach wasn’t the best of ideas, but I didn’t care. After what I’d found out, I needed all the alcohol in the world to erase the memories of Mat Redmond.
Callie wrinkled her nose. “What’s going on? Have you got a date?”
If only it were that simple. Me, having a date would be newsworthy enough on its own, but throw a certain ex into the mix and it could go viral.
“Can we order food first though? My stomach needs to know it’s being fed at some point this evening.” Despite us knowing the menu backwards, Callie pushed one towards me.
Diversionary tactics, brilliant. I tapped my fingers on the table. The sooner I told her, the sooner she’d help me formulate a plan to avoid Mat for the whole weekend. It was utterly ridiculous to think I needed to avoid someone who had broken me so completely four years ago.
We ordered burgers each and decided to share a large fries; the Black Cap’s portion sizes were legendary. I wavered between the need to purge everything in my stomach or fill it with crap food.
“So, what’s up?” Callie looked expectantly at me.
There was no point beating around the bush.
“Mat’s coming back this weekend.”
Her hand froze in mid-air, glass midway between the table and her lips, her eyes wide. “Mat Redmond?”
“How many other Mats do we know?”
She blinked. If she made me say his name one more time, I would kill her. Even thinking about him was enough to send me into a full spiral. “Why?”
“Something to do with his brother’s band needing a bassist for the festival.”
“Oh, yeah, I’d heard something along those lines.”
That was the problem with our small town. Everyone knew everyone’s business. I hated people outside of my friendship group knowing what was going on in my life, particularly when it involved an up and coming rock star.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know it would lead to Mat coming back.” Callie wrinkled her nose. “How long’s he going to be here for?”
