Page 25 of It's Only Love

They all ordered and as the waiter left, Christy began to mentally work out how much this would cost. She was serious when she said to Beau that she would pay the next time they went out. That reminded her, Taylor never told her how much hiring the bar for the funeral yesterday would cost. She would pick it up with her separately though, not wanting to bring up the funeral now and dampen the mood, or risk a comment from Dean.

“I, uh, got an offer on the house,” she said tentatively as their drinks were placed on the table.

“That’s amazing, congratulations!” Taylor beamed and lifted her glass to toast. “Although, that means you’ll be going home soon, right?” she added, pouting. She felt all three pairs of eyes stare at her, Dean’s gaze boring into her the most.

“Well, I still need to get it cleared and tidied up. There’s the garden to fix and some repairs that need doing so it will probably take a couple of weeks yet,” she replied. “I’ll need to rent a truck to move most of the stuff out too.”

“You don’t need to do that; you can just borrow Dean’s,” Taylor offered.

“Oh, no it’s fine honestly!” Christy rushed out.

“I don’t mind,” Dean replied, “I was about to offer but Taylor got in there first. I can help you, if you like?” She turned to face him, but his expression was unreadable.

“I can help too.” Beau added.

“Oh, both of you, that’s really sweet but-” she started but Dean interrupted.

“It’s no problem, I want to help you.” She studied him again, but his features were schooled, what was his angle here? Beau nodded in agreement with Dean and she felt like she couldn’t protest without seeming unreasonable.

“That’s very nice of you, thank you,” she said reluctantly.

“No problem, we’re nice guys you know, just give us a chance,” Beau joked and Christy saw Taylor roll her eyes.

They chatted a bit more about small town life, the bar, the people, and the scandals. Dean made them laugh with stories of the pranks he pulled on Taylor over the years. Christy listened with rapt attention being a huge fan of pranks herself. Every time they all laughed, she met his eyes and felt a connection bouncing between them, deepening.

More drinks came and soon she felt a warm buzz descending and everything was a little bit funnier than it had been earlier. Until Taylor mentioned that the previous town sheriff died not too long ago and a replacement would probably be appointed soon. Christy knew he had been married to Rebelle and realized she hadn’t shown up at the bar the other night as agreed. She was sad, not only that Rebelle hadn’t come, but that Christy hadn’t noticed either. She vowed to make more effort to reach out to her, especially if her husband recently passed away, she must be going through such a tough time.

“So, tell me, have you two done it yet?” Taylor asked mischievously. Beau choked on his drink.

“Done what?” Christy asked innocently.

“You know…it!”

Christy blushed as she realized what she meant. “Taylor!” she scolded, embarrassed to have been asked, especially in front of Dean and guilt about last night hit her once more.

“What? We’re all friends here!”

“I don’t think we...” Beau started, but Taylor interrupted him.

“Oh, come on, it’s surely just a yes or no kinda answer?”

“It’s not something to discuss in polite conversation,” Beau replied, sounding uncomfortable and putting an arm around Christy’s shoulders protectively.

“Come on, Christy, woman to woman? Is he a dud as I suspect?” Taylor joked.

“That’s enough, Taylor,” Dean said, steel coating his words. Christy flicked her eyes to him and his eyes no longer looked alive, they were cold, hard, and unfriendly. She realized then that Dean would never want her and Beau to be together. He had an issue with it from the start and now the thought of them getting closer made him angry. He still thought Beau was too good for her. Well, fuck him! She put her hand on Beau’s firm thigh.

“We’ll just have to see what happens tonight,” she replied, squeezing Beau’s leg. Christy leveled her hard stare at Dean, challenge accepted. His eyes flashed, burning anew. He opened his mouth to reply, but the waiter turned up with their food.

As they ate the general chit chat from before resumed, Taylor and Beau sniping at each other occasionally. As Dean watched her with his hardened stare, she could tell he was plotting something, his expression was too contemplative.

“Say, Beau,” Dean said, “Someone called Cassandra rang the house for you earlier.” His tone was so calm and conversational that Christy watched him suspiciously. She felt Beau tense beside her.

“Is she one of your girlfriends from the city?” Dean continued. Aaaand there it is.

“As if you still have a house phone,” Taylor mocked.

“What? No, she’s uh, a client,” Beau replied, and Christy could already tell he was lying.

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