Page 26 of Seven Year Itch
I glance over at Addison. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m not even drunk.” She takes a shot of tequila like she just took a drink of water. “You three are lightweights.”
Impressed, I down my own shot, trying to be tough like her but wincing like a little bitch.
Trista follows suit and coughs as she downs the spicy liquid. “I wonder what the guys are doing?”
“Who cares!” I groan and set my glass down on the bar. “This is ladies’ night. No guy talk!”
“But aren’t you single and ready to mingle?” Cozy asks pointedly.
“Yes, but not with a Fletcher brother. Ick.” I shudder at the thought. “I’d rather go for short King Carlos over Killer Calder.”
“What’s the story with you two?” Addison asks, noting my irritation.
“Who? Me and Carlos? I don’t know.” I glance over at Carlos, and he offers me a flirty wave. “There does seem to be a connection, doesn’t there?”
“Not Carlos,” Addison laughs. “I mean you and Calder. Why all the tension? Did you two used to date or something?”
“God no!” I exclaim defensively. “And there’s no tension. I don’t give a shit about Calder Fletcher. I’m totally chill.”
“Totally,” Cozy sputters out a laugh.
I glare over at my soon-to-be former best friend. “He just fucked up a lot of stuff in my house years ago, and we’ve never got along since then.”
“That was seven years ago,” Cozy groans and sips her shot of tequila with a gag. “When are you going to get over it?”
“And he fixed it, right?” Everly asks innocently. “I can’t imagine my uncle wouldn’t fix something he broke.”
“Yes, he fixed it,” I sigh, irritation crawling up my back. “Or he fixed what he could. But some of the stuff was irreplaceable. He was careless as he’s always been, and my house...” My voice catches in my throat as emotion sweeps over me. I’ve clearly had too much to drink if I’m reacting this way about my house in front of everyone. “I had so many dreams for that renovation, and Calder didn’t give a shit.”
“I don’t know if that’s true,” Cozy argues.
“Whose side are you on?” I stare back at my bestie who looks just as intoxicated as me. “I know you’re related to the Fletchers now, but I knew you first!”
“He paid for your wedding dress,” she volleys back.
“Hewhat?” Trista, Everly, and Addison both snap their attention to me, waiting for me to elaborate.
My eyes blink heavily. “My wedding dress was part of the collateral damage of the house screwup. A pipe burst in the attached bath of my bedroom. That room shared a wall with my closet where the dress was stored, and my dress was ruined a few days before I got married. It was an original design by one of my closest friends who’s a fashion designer in Aspen. It was one-of-a-kind. Irreplaceable.”
“So, what did you do?” Everly asks, concern etched all over her face. She was just a kid when I got married so she wasn’t aware of any of this stuff that went down.
“I went to some random bridal store and bought something off the rack. I hated it, but there was only one I could find that didn’t need to be altered, so it was what it was.”
I wince as I recall the wedding photos from that day. I looked bad. Randal looked bad. It was just altogether... bad. To say that my wedding day wasn’t all that I hoped for would be a huge understatement.
“Maybe it was a sign,” Everly murmurs, and all eyes turn to the young girl who just said the quiet part out loud. “I only met Randal a few times because you never brought him around that much. Maybe the universe did that for a reason.”
“The universe is Killer Calder?” I roll my eyes. “Let’s not give him too much credit, okay, kid?”
“Accidents happen, though, right?” Addison offers innocently.
“Yes, but it wasn’t just the dress and the house. It was what he said when it all went down.”
“What did he say?” Everly asks, and I feel all four women staring intently at me, but it’s Everly I pause for.
Despite absolutely loathing the man, I know he’s an excellent uncle. I don’t want to spoil her good opinion of him—and that’s for her sake, not his.
