Page 111 of Shortcake
Warren coughed into his fist and took a sip of his seltzer water.
Dammit. I sent Finn a glare across the table.
“Yeah,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “It’s not public or anything though, so…”
Elijah nodded and put his hands up. “No worries. I won’t say a word.”
I cringed, hating that I had to bring this up now… thanks to Finn’s big mouth. “Not even to Adam? I haven’t talked to Harper yet and I know Adam and Harper have been spending time together.”
Hell, they were out on a date tonight. They went to Shortcakes for Guinness stew and strawberry mint shortcake. Addy agreed to keep an eye on them while they were out.
To his credit, Elijah gave a lighthearted chuckle. “Don’t worry. I’m not in a rush to brag to my son that you got the girl I liked.”
Oof.
The table went silent at that.
“Oh, come on!” Elijah took his time looking around the table at each of us. “It’s not exactly a secret that I liked her. But it’s fine. She and I were never a thing. I never even asked her out… lucky for you.”
My spine bristled at that. “Lucky forme?”
Elijah laughed and shook his head. “Lighten up, Sheriff. I’m just teasing.”
“Can we stop talking about my sister? Yeah, thanks.” Finn grumbled, not making eye contact, but flipping through the coupons he had left.
“Just deal the next round.” It took a hell of a lot of effort to keep my voice even. Even more effort not to lunge across the table and take Elijah by the collar. Hell, if this game had been at my house, I might have. I might have thrown him out, right on his ass to my curb.
Elijah groaned. “One more round, then I’m done,” he said. “Good thing we’re not playing for real money. I’d be just about wiped out.”
Cards fluttered as Warren shuffled the deck. “See?” Warren pressed his voice a little too shrill, trying to lighten the mood and happily utilizing the moment to his advantage. One by one, he doled out cards to everyone. “Playing for coupons is better than real poker.”
Finn snorted. “Sure dude. Keep telling yourself that.”
Simon stood up. “Deal me in. Anyone want another beer?”
Warren met my gaze as he tossed a fifth card my way and said, “Call.”
Uh, what? I glanced down at my hand… which he hadn’t even finished passing out to everyone. Hell, Simon was still grabbing the next round of beers for all of us. “We’re not even playing yet. How can you call?”
“No,” Elijah said and tapped my cell phone which was sitting face up on the table beside me. “Call. Youhavea call.”
Oh.Oh. I had forgotten that I turned my phone to silent for the game, but that’s why I had it face up, so I could see if Harper needed anything.
Only, it wasn’t Harper’s name lighting up my screen.
It was Meghan’s.
She hadn’t called me in years.
Literal years.
She called Harper, sure. And occasionally, I’d chat with her when she called her own daughter. But she had not calledmycell phone since Harper was about ten.
Elijah’s brow lifted as he asked, “Who’s Meghan?”
I snatched my phone and rushed out of the room. “I need to take this,” I muttered, then stepped out into the cool summer evening.
Despite the chill in the breeze, the air surrounding me was thick and humid. One of the joys of living on the lake in New England. Cool, wet air.
