Page 47 of The Marrying Kind
“Or she’s in here.”
Tripp waggled his eyebrows and nodded in CJ’s direction. She had been looking at me, but quickly looked away when Mr. Smooth over here lewdly gestured toward her.
“You bastards drinking without me?” Noah called from across the bar as he shook snow from his jacket.
Tripp stood up to slap his palm in Noah’s.
“One Bloodlust, please,” Noah called out to CJ before turning to us. “I should slap you both for ordering anything else.”
I rolled my eyes. Maybe Noah had a point. Our local watering hole had finally added our new blood-orange beer to the tap just in time for spring, and we should be celebrating. But I couldn’t bring myself to drink that brew. It was Ella’s favorite, and it reminded me she wasn’t here.
Maybe our messaging should have reminded me, but for now I was able to live in my fantasy land where Ella was just off on vacation, returning any day now.
Noah sipped the bright honey-colored liquid and let out an audible sigh. “This is perfection.”
“Yes, we get it. You are a god of flavor.” I groaned again.
Noah nudged me. “What’s up your butt today?”
“He’s been staring at a picture of Ella for a half hour,” Tripp said in total bro-hood betrayal.
“Where is she now?” Noah asked, taking another long sip.
“Hawaii.”
“In a bikini?” His brows shot up.
“Hell yes. And there’s some muscle-bound guy in the photo too,” Tripp said, and I just about crushed the glass in my hand.
“Oh shit. Sorry, Austen.” Noah set a hand on my shoulder, and I shrugged it off.
“Nothing to be sorry about. She’s not my woman or anything. I don’t know who that dude is, and I totally don’t care. We’re just friends. I’m fucking happy for her and proud of her. How many people will be able to look back on their life and recount a hundred amazing adventures?”
“Whoa ... easy, brother,” Noah said with a frown. “We’re on your side. I’m just thinking that maybe you being friends with her is making it harder for you to let go. Move on, I mean.” He paused and dropped his voice. “CJ’s been giving you fuck-me eyes for months.”
I wanted to clap back at Noah then and tell him CJ wasn’t who I wanted. Ella was. Ella was the marrying kind. It was that simple. Unexplainable, definitely, but simple. Even if she was off seeing the world.
Eventually, the world would get small, and she’d want different things. Maybe it was stupid to live hoping for something I had no right to hope for, but that’s what I was going to do for now. It wasn’t hurting anyone, except maybe me.
After slapping a twenty down on the bar, I swallowed the final sip of my beer, then patted Tripp and Noah on their shoulders. “I’m out. Have a good night, guys.”
I drove home from the bar, fully intending to fall onto my mattress. Remembering I’d washed my sheets and they were still in the dryer, I hauled my unhappy ass to the laundry room and retrieved them. Upstairs, I held the edges and fluffed the sheet out, letting it settle slowly on the bed. As I walked around to tuck it in, a memory hit me like a freight train—Ella’s pink sleep shorts.
Lifting the mattress, I grabbed the crumpled pink fabric.
Maybe I should throw these away.
I wasn’t sure why I’d kept them, anyway. It was surely creepy and desperate. Or maybe in another dimension it was sweet and adorable, but probably not. The thin fabric balled easily in my palm, and Noah’s words nagged me all the way to the trash can.
Then my phone rang, that weird tone that’s reserved for video calls, and I pulled it quickly from my pocket. My heart leaped at the name on the screen, and I slid the button to answer.
“Hey, princess.” I beamed at Ella’s tanned face. Her hair had been just slightly lightened by the sun. She looked so damn fit.
She laughed at the nickname and shook her head at me. “How’s my favorite brewer?”
“Glad to hear you haven’t replaced me with another favorite brewer. How’s Hawaii?”
“Incredible. The plants and trees here are insane. They get so thick and tall, it makes me feel like a little bug or something. And the ocean, Austen, it’s incredible. I wish I got a video of me surfing to show you. I actually stood up a few times.”
