Chapter 13
“Tease me all you want but cross the line to bullying and you’ll regret it.” ~ Paisley
Paisley
“I’m excited.” Chloe skips toward the entrance to Mermaid Mini Golf. “I’m going to win. Again.”
“Ha! No, you won’t.” Sophia chases after her.
Nova slings one arm over my shoulders and one arm over Maya’s. “I’m just glad to get away from Mr. Overprotective for a few hours.”
“You love Hudson and you know it,” Maya says.
Nova grins. “I do. It’s true. And you love Caleb.”
“Never said I didn’t.”
I snort. “Except for the twelve years you were pen pals and claimed you were only friends.”
“I was mistaken.”
“Mistaken. Sure.” I wink. I switch the subject before her face becomes red enough to light up the island. “I’m glad we managed to arrange an evening to play mini golf again. ”
We used to play once a month. And by play, I mean drink beer, do shots of whiskey, and generally forget about the actual miniature golf part of the evening. But since my friends have fallen in love, they don’t have as much free time.
I expected this to happen. I dreaded the day in fact. Since I don’t ever plan to fall in love – learned my lesson there – I knew I’d end up alone at some point. Especially since I don’t have a family I care to spend time with.
My so-called family can fall off a cliff for all I care. Actually, I do care. In fact, I’ll help push them.
Nova nods in agreement. “We need to make time for each other. Otherwise, the years will fly by and before we know it, Iliana will be graduating from high school.”
“Where’s your putter?” Chloe asks when we reach her.
I don’t play golf but I am serious about winning miniature golf, which is why I have a putter. Or, rather, I used to.
“It was in my office.”
Her face falls. “I’m sorry. I’m a cow for reminding you of the brewery.”
“It’s okay. I can hardly forget the brewery was destroyed by a hurricane when I had to relocate the entire brewing facility to another location.”
“Another location?” Sophia snorts. “She’s cute. She thinks if she doesn’t mention Eli, we won’t either.”
It will be difficult to convince my friends – who for some reason think they’re matchmakers – to not discuss Eli. But I have an excellent idea of a distraction. I lift the whiskey bottle I brought with me. “I purloined provisions. ”
Chloe’s brow wrinkles. “Purloined?”
“It’s a fancy way of saying steal,” Maya says. “Heroes are always purloining things they shouldn’t in historical romance.”
“I’m surprised you still have time to read romance since you’re now shacked up with Caleb,” Nova says.
“It’s impossible to have sex all the time.” Maya’s eyes widen when she realizes what she said. Her cheeks darken and she slaps a hand over her mouth.
Chloe barks out a laugh. “You’ve obviously tried.”
I hand out shot glasses to Sophia and Chloe but Nova holds up her hands. “I’m breastfeeding.”
“Drinking one standard alcoholic beverage a day at least two hours before breastfeeding is not known to be harmful to a baby.”
Nova snatches the shot glass from me. “Leave it to you to fact my excuse away.”
I hand a glass to Maya but she holds up her hand. “I’m trying to get pregnant.”
“Just accept the glass. Paisley is going to fact your excuse away anyway,” Nova mutters.
“Maybe I want to hear the fact,” Maya says.
I oblige. “If you are trying for a baby,it is best to limit alcohol consumption to four drinks total per week. Since you haven’t been drinking at all, this one shot will not hurt your chance to conceive.”
I hand her a glass before pouring a shot of Buccaneer’s Whiskey in each glass. “Raise your glasses. Here’s to the bootleggers. Masters of sneaky snips and secret stashes. Thanks for keeping the party alive!”
“Bootleggers!” they shout in return before downing their shots.
“Wow.” Nova rubs a hand over her chest. “I forgot how whiskey can burn.”
Chloe smacks her lips. “But it’s a good burn.”
I gather the glasses and place them in my bag with the whiskey. Usually, we play a drinking game while we work our way through the nine holes of miniature golf but considering Nova’s breastfeeding, Maya’s trying to get pregnant, and Chloe’s trying to get pregnant but doesn’t want anyone to know, I didn’t bother bringing any beer with me.
“Time to kick some mermaid ass!” Chloe shouts.
“Mermaids don’t exist,” I say because I enjoy ruffling Chloe. It’s almost ridiculous how easy it is.
She glares at me. “Mermaids do exist.”
Sophia threads her arm through Chloe’s and nudges her toward the office. “Come on. Let’s play some mini golf.”
Cindy, the teenaged girl working in the office, groans when we arrive. “I thought you’d given up on mini golf. And now I’m going to have to kick you out.”
Chloe scowls. “We’ve never been kicked out.”
“But we have been politely asked to leave before,” I add.
Chloe holds up a hand. “Not the same thing.”
“Never said it was.”
“What if I politely ask you to leave now?” Cindy asks .
“We’d decline and tell all the smugglers you have a crush on the captain of the football team,” Sophia says.
Cindy rears back. “The captain of the football team is my best friend’s boyfriend. She’d kill me.”
Sophia hands her a wad of cash. “Give us our putters and scorecard and we’ll be on our way.”
Cindy groans. “I’m never working on Thursday again.”
Once we have our putters and Maya has the scorecard – she’s the only one trusted to keep score without cheating – we proceed to the first hole. Chloe skips to the tee.
“Anyone else tired of Chloe going first each time just because her name starts with a C?” Sophia asks. Nova and Maya raise their hands. I join them. I don’t care who’s first but I do enjoy teasing Chloe.
Chloe glares at Sophia. “What do you suggest?”
“Reverse alphabetical order.”
“But you’d be first every time.”
Sophia grins. “Exactly.”
“We can pick names out of a hat,” Maya suggests.
Chloe throws her arms wide. “And who’s got a hat with them?”
I jiggle my phone at her. “I’ll use a random name generator app.”
She throws her putter on the ground. “This is some bullshit.”
“Why? Because you’re losing.”
She narrows her eyes on me. “You hate to lose as much as I do. ”
It’s true. I’m quite competitive. It’s why I owned my own putter after all. I quickly input our names into the app.
“Sophia, you’re first. Next are Maya, Nova, and Chloe. I’m last.”
“Ha! Ha! You’re last,” Chloe taunts.
I ignore her. Being last has its advantages after all.
When we reach halfway, Maya collapses on the grass next to the mermaid at the ninth hole. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but mini golf is harder sober.”
The rest of us join her on the ground and form a circle. I wave the bottle of whiskey at her. “You want another shot?”
“Give it to me.” Chloe snatches the bottle from me, unscrews the top, and drinks straight from the bottle. “Anyone else?”
“Might as well,” Sophia says. Once she’s had a drink, she hands the bottle to Maya who takes a dainty sip. She passes the bottle to Nova who gives me the bottle without drinking.
Chloe falls back to lay on the grass. “Who would have thought when we were playing mini golf last summer that this summer we’d all be in relationships?”
“Not every one of us is in a relationship,” Nova says. “Paisley’s still single.”
Chloe waves her hand in the air. “It’s only a matter of time before Paisley and Eli are knocking boots.”
I growl. “Eli and I will not be knocking boots.”
“Oh right. Because you hate him.”
I blow out a breath. I may have been wrong on my assessment of Eli as an asshole. He hasn’t been a jerk once since I’ve been brewing at the distillery .
On the contrary, he brings me coffee every morning. Mostly purchased from Pirates Pastries since he’s now afraid of the coffee machine. And he checks on me periodically throughout the day to ensure I’m not working too hard.
In other words, he’s been a gentleman. It’s possible I was a bitch to him without reason. Or rather, the reason did not justify my rancor.
“Speaking of Eli.” Sophia smirks.
I glance over my shoulder. What is he doing here? I scan the area and notice his brothers goofing off at the first hole.
“Hey, Eli!” Chloe waves him over. And I debate hitting her with my putter. Not in the head. But in the back of the knees wouldn’t be so bad. Too bad she’s laying on the grass.
Eli strolls toward us with a grin on his face and a sparkle in his stunning blue eyes. I could drown in those eyes.
“Settle a debate for us,” Sophia says when he reaches us.
“What debate?”
“Do you think Paisley is cuter with or without her glasses?”
At the mention of my glasses, I slide them up my nose. “We weren’t discussing my glasses.”
Eli feigns studying me. “She’s cute either way but with the glasses she’s got the whole nerdy thing going on.”
I scowl. “Nerdy thing?”
“You know mad scientist ready to overtake the world.”
“Mad scientist?”
Chloe giggles. “We always did claim our little nerd would conquer the world.”
“I’m not a nerd,” I grumble .
“Too bad because the glasses sell the whole nerd look, Mr. Magoo,” Eli says and I see red.
I jump to my feet and fist my hands on my hips. “Who do you think you are? Making fun of someone with glasses.”
He holds up his hands and backs away. “I didn’t mean…”
“I didn’t mean,” I mimic. “I am so tired of people saying they didn’t mean anything when they call me a nerd or make fun of my glasses. I need glasses to see. What’s funny about being visually impaired? Nothing I tell you.”
I stomp away.
“I’m sorry,” Eli shouts after me.
I ignore him. I was wrong. Eli is an asshole.