Page 48 of Beautiful Crazy

Don’t ruin this for Emily.

Do whatever you have to do.

“Emmett!” Lacey calls out.

“Good evening, ladies.” I bow to the group in my regular dramatic fashion. Lola shimmies over, fluffy tail up in the air, and rubs herself against my leg. “To what do I owe this fun pleasure?”

“It’s my bachelorette party, Emm.” Hadley declares, drinking straight from her bottle of wine.

“I see that, but it’s not very party like in here. Though I see your alcohol consumption is on point.”

“Well, we’ve been out all day and didn’t feel like trudging through the snowy, icy streets anymore, so we asked Emily if we could come back here,” she explains. “Hope that’s okay. Or did you have other plans?”

My eyes move to Emily who is snuggled up in our chair with her favorite purple blanket covering her legs. She looks adorably cozy and though she doesn’t meet my eye, for a second my heart forgets about the animosity between us. Instantly I shake my head and give the girls my best smile.

“No plans. Actually, I kind of had an exhausting day at work so I was just going to chill here. Maybe watch some tv in my room.” I hitch my thumb over my shoulder gesturing down the short hallway. “You ladies hungry? I’m happy to whip up some appetizers or something for you all.”

“Oooh…” Emily’s eyes widen, and I think I know exactly what she’s thinking.

“Pretzel bites?”

She bites her bottom lip, nodding slowly. “You guys, Emmett makes the best soft pretzel bites and cheese dip. It’s to die for.”

Her compliment warms my insides. “You want some? It’ll just take me a few minutes.” I hang my coat and drop my bag by the door and head to the kitchen before anyone stops me. Mostly because I don’t want Emily to tell me I’m not wanted. If that happens, I’ll just head to Mom’s for the night, no big deal. But it’ll feel personal.

“That sounds delicious,” Hadley says. “And might help soak up some of this wine. You sure it’s not a problem Emmett?”

I look up from the kitchen counter into the living room space and shake my head. “Not a problem at all. Y’all go back to your girly cackling and pretend I’m not here. They’ll be ready before you know it.”

Shuffling around the kitchen, I work my way in and out of cupboards, pulling out the flour, salt, yeast, butter and sugar, and get to work on the pretzels while the ladies go back to their chat, forgetting that I’m even here.

“So, back to the dating horror stories ladies,” Hadley announces. “April, you have to have a good one.”

“Ugh, you mean like the guy I met at the fitness center a few blocks down the road?”

“Ted?” Emily asks.

“Yep. Ted with the head.”

Emily’s other friend, Shelly, squeals. “Is this the Ted you told me about last week? Ted the protein head?”

I nearly snicker out loud at Shelly’s question, having no idea what she could mean by that nickname but now extremely curious. Mixing ingredients can be distracting when you really want to eavesdrop on a conversation.

“Yes! That’s the one. Oh, my God, he had everything. The body, the smile, the hair, the personality.”

“So, what was wrong with him?” Hadley asks.

I look up just in time to see April cringe. “You mean other than the fact that he tasted like a fucking protein shake?”

Lacey snorts. “You mean like chalk and foam?”

“Yes!” April nods. “Exactly. And not just that but like, motor oil chalk mixed with rotten banana chalk foam. It was soooo bad you guys. And I had to swallow that.”

All the girls cackle once again, sipping on their wine.

“Seriously, why can’t guys be more considerate?”

Shelly looks up with her thumb and forefinger on her chin. “Hmm, do you think if you suck the dick of a vegetarian, it’ll taste like turnip?”

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