Page 12 of Hard Count

“Shut the front door! You did what?”

Reid laughed, smoothing her hair down from the light drizzle that began to fall right as we locked up Magpie and headed for Happy Hour. “Owen and I found an old antique shop that had the matching trunk to the one Grandma Lena’s best friend had. And Owen totally wore the poor shop owner down on the price. And now, Magpie has the matching set. After that we went skinny dipping in the lake.” Her eyes twinkled.

“Fuck, and I missed it?” Jessa pouted. Reid playfully swatted at her. “What? I need to live vicariously through you. The least you could’ve done was take a sneak attack pic and text it to me.”

“Jessa, I am not sending you nude photos of Owen. Ever.” Reid rolled her eyes, a smile playing on her crimson painted lips. “Even if you did kinda introduce us, that does not mean-”

She sighed. “I know, but he’s such a knight in shining armor. But I’ll just have to live with my Henry Cavill fantasies. Stupid chin dimple,” she muttered.

“Weren’t you worried about, I mean-”

“You will not catch me jumping in the water a la Luke Bryan country song. Nope. I’m with you, Maddie.” Jessa nudged me with her shoulder. “Unless there’s some high caliber abs and a few shots of vodka involved. I’ll put in an order with my little bartender friend, with extra pom guac,” she added before I said a word.

I wrinkled my nose and mouthedthank youas she headed towards the bar.

“So,” Reid said as she sat down on the high pub stool and propped her chin on her hand. Elbow on the colorful table, smiling at me.

“Yes?”

“How are you, Mads?” she asked, eyes soft and full of concern.

The music changed, and a song started playing that I loved, and that’s when I noticedhewas here.

Again.

Sitting at a table with the same guy he had been with last week. Simmons? Sigh. One of these days, I might have to figure this football thing out.

My eyes shifted from the magnetic pull of Sebastian to my other best friend. “I’m good. Really good. And,” I bit my lip with a smile, “I talked to Kylie about helping.”

Her smile grew and she grabbed my hands in hers. “Good. And it’s not just ‘helping’, Maddie.”

This time, I wrinkled my nose at her. “But I have absolutelynoqualifications, Reid. I mean I left in the middle of college to come out here, and well, we know how that ended up.” Her flinch was so slight that I almost missed it. I squeezed her hand. “I am so sorry about-”

Her cool hands took both of mine in her own. “Stop right there. We absolutely never apologize for other people’s toxic behavior.”

I bit my lip, then smiled. “Grandma Lena?’

Reid nodded as Jessa came back from flirting to get her way with Frankie, the bartender who loved to make our drinks just strong enough that the pom guac became a necessity. Which I was good with. Sigh. When I found out I could take an order home with me, I squealed with delight. “She was a wise woman.” Her eyes teared, and she wiped underneath her eyes with a quick motion. “And she also said never ruin good mascara unless the reason is everything. So, cheers?”

We raised our glasses. “Cheers!”

Throughout the night,I kept stealing glances over at Sebastian. Except they weren’t exactly stolen, because every time I glanced his way, piercing green eyes caught me red-handed. It became a game of sexy chicken. Who would break the spell first. I did, because guilt at the whole thing with Owen’s estranged brother was eating away at me.

Three very strong drinks in, though, my inner self, the girl who had moved out here in the first place all on her own, was kicking down the door and deciding to make an appearance. She was in no mood to let anyone else dictate her actions. Even if it meant staring at one of her best friends off-limits future brother-in-law.

Phew, that was a mouthful, I thought as I ran the lime along the rim of my glass then licked the gingered salt off. Eyes daring Sebastian to look away first this time. Jessa kicked me under the table, and broke the spell. “What?” I suppressed the urge to stomp my foot, then giggled. “Shit, I’m buzzed, aren’t I?”

Jessa nodded, then pointed at Reid’s retreating back. “You’re just lucky Reid is too starry eyed about planning herwedding to Tall, Dark, and Daddy to notice. But she will if you don’t knock it off.”

Not sure if it was the buzz or the ‘Tall, Dark, and Daddy’, but suddenly I couldn’t stop the case of the giggles overwhelming me. Jessa crossed her arms over her head and flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. Her lips twitched, and finally she let out a snort and smiled. “Fine. But it’s true. You making googly eyes all night is pretty fucking obvious. Told you, need to get laid. But,” she held up a hand before I could get a word in edgewise, “Maybe not with Tall, Dark, and Asshole over there. Or ride it once, get on the horse, then let him gallop off into the sunset.” She stopped, and put her arm around my shoulder in a half a hug, because neither of us would relinquish our drinks. Our verystrongdrinks.

“Pshaw. My buzzing buddy takes care of me better than most men ever could. Who needs that disappointment?”

“No disappointment wanted here!” I raised my glass and as we tapped them together, Nicky showed up with a round of water bottles. “We didn’t order these, Nicky.”

She winked then jerked her head toward the table Sebastian sat, staring and broody. His friend was talking animatedly, but Sebastian ignored him. “Somebody said you looked dehydrated and asked me to bring it over.”

Jessa’s eyes widened. “No shit?”

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