Page 14 of Fall for You (Flirting with Forever 4)

Sophia: LOL Heath and I are sitting here with Shawn already.

Me: Well, if half the gang is already there …

Piper: Crud. I’m cooking with Damon’s mom right now. Rain check?

Me: No worries, I’ll fill you in later.

Hadleigh: Oh, what’s going on? Sawyer and I are nearby. We could stop in for a few.

Me: I have a dilemma. Relating to Liam and Olivia.

Madison: Uh-oh. I’ll have Shawn make a pitcher of margaritas. Heading downstairs now.

Me: That’d be wise.

A while later, my girlfriends and I sink into the big booth in the back corner of the bar. Sawyer and Heath are still here, but when they’d spotted the look on my face, they’d wisely chosen to hang with Shawn at the bar for a little while.

Usually, it’s my job to pour drinks for everyone, but Sophia takes over for me tonight, pulling the pitcher and cups i

n front of her. “So, tell us the deal. What’s he like?” She nudges the first drink poured over to me, and I gladly take a quick sip.

“Um, well, we haven’t really had the chance to talk much. We’ve just had sex.” I give them a wide-eyed yikes, clamping my teeth together.

I’m not blind. I see the silent exchanges going around the table. I may as well share the whole cannoli with them. “So, it happened the first time that night I told you about, on Hadleigh’s birthday—”

Hadleigh gives a sharp bark of laughter. “You’ve done it more than once?”

“Um, yeah. I stopped in at the cider mill last week.”

Zoey exclaims, “Without us?”

I nod my affirmation. “Yes. And yes, it happened again.”

“Oh boy. Our girl has it bad.” Madison covers the wide grin that crosses her face with her hand.

Wow, it feels hot in here. I pinch the fabric of my blouse between my fingers and try to use it to fan the heated skin of my chest and neck. Shaking myself, I focus on my friends instead of the hot flush of embarrassment creeping up onto my cheeks. Maybe they’ll just think it’s a nice margarita-induced flush.

Hadleigh squints her eyes at me. “Do you know much of anything about him yet? Or is it still like a dick-and-dash situation?”

Sophia stops, glass full of margarita midway to her mouth and has to set it back down. We each glance around the table and then can’t hold it in any longer. We burst out laughing.

I crack a smile for the first time since I sat down. “Hadleigh, thanks for that. I haven’t felt much like laughing for several days now.” A little giggle-snort bubbles up from deep in my chest.

She shrugs with a laugh. “Well, am I right or am I right? It was an appropriate description of the relationship.”

I stop to wrinkle my nose and grit my teeth. “Yeah. Until all the stuff with his daughter came up, anyway. And now it’s infinitely more complex.” Playing with the condensation on my glass, I glance around, knowing this is totally my show, all eyes and ears on me. I dragged everyone here, and I don’t even know what I’m looking for, other than commiseration and possibly some support. “So, um, I did find out that the wife? She’s his ex.”

Murmurs of “Oh, thank goodness” and “That’s a relief” hit my ears, and I don’t even know who said what, but I forge on. “I didn’t really get a chance to find out more than that. I had Olivia for tutoring after school today and once she was in the car, Liam and I talked for just a minute. I thought I was going to pass out thinking about the fact that I fucked this guy and oh my God, his poor wife and—”

“Well, his poor wife would have been mostly his problem, not yours.” Sophia arches a brow at me.

“Well, you know what I mean. I thought at the time that I’d unintentionally ruined this woman’s marriage and was feeling awful.”

I lick the rim of my glass and take another sip of my drink. The girls seem to sense I’m about to spill something significant and fall silent. “My father slept around on my mom with a woman who knew he was married. Mom finally found out and kicked him out, I guess. We spoke about it a grand total of one time, but the pain he caused our family has lasted years now. I never want to be that woman, even by accident. I couldn’t live with myself if I ruined someone’s family like that.” I take a deep breath, then let it all out. “I was feeling pretty shitty and literally almost passed out over it right there in the parking lot.”

Zoey sucks in some air. “Oh my gosh.” She puts her hand on my shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay? What happened?”

“I bent over and just tried to breathe. That’s when he told me Becky is his ex.” I sigh. “So, I feel a little better about that at least, but I’m still worried about the fact that his kid is my student. I just don’t know how to handle it and told him as much. I’m not sure what to do.” I frown, remembering the look in his eyes. So hurt. “I think he wants to try to figure things out, but I don’t even know how it’s possible.”

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