Chapter 18
18
AURORA
Despite winning our bet, Johnny left me Wanda’s number last night.
On the back of an old gas station receipt resting on my kitchen counter, I found her phone number scribbled in nearly illegible writing.
780-555-1829. Call her Rory. She’ll want to meet you.
Johnny, aka the pro sliver remover
It was too late to call her then and too early when I left the house this morning. I’ll call her later today. That’s what I tell myself, anyway. Every time I reached into my pocket and felt the paper there, I promised myself I’d call later. It’s a pathetic excuse for stalling.
Staring out the bakery window, I rub the thin paper between my fingers. The girls are staring at me, each one of them wanting to ask why I’m gripping a piece of trash like it’s a lifeline but holding themselves back.
They always do this .
Well, all except Bryce. Usually, she doesn’t care about holding back when she’s curious about something. It’s in her nature to be blunt and precise, without a care. I respect her for it.
But today, she’s quiet like Poppy and Anna are, choosing to dissect every slight change in my expression instead. That speaks to the magnitude of my inner struggles, I suppose. They’re obvious to everyone around me.
“Everyone is so glum today,” Poppy groans, obviously done with the silence but being the only one willing to do anything about it. She rips off a chunk of her chocolate croissant and brings it to her lips. “It’s Sunday. And we didn’t even get drunk last night, so nobody can claim to be hungover.”
“Especially not you, Aurora,” Bryce adds, continuing to sort through every emotion written on my face with her concentrated gaze.
I fist the receipt and drop my hand to my lap beneath the table. “What makes you think I wasn’t drinking myself silly last night?”
“Were you?” she asks.
“No.”
“I doubt Johnny would have wasted his first date with you getting drunk,” Anna adds.
I tighten my hold on the receipt and ignore the heat crawling up my throat. “Does everyone know we were together last night?”
Bryce takes a swig of her steaming black coffee. “Why? Was it supposed to be a secret?”
“Well, no.”
Anna tugs on the plastic straw in the lid of her iced coffee, creating a hair-raising screeching sound. “Then yes. We all know. It’s not often he misses a Saturday night at Peakside.”
“I told him to invite you out with us, but he was feeling selfish with your attention,” Poppy says, fiddling with the shoulder strap of her pale purple sundress before plucking a piece of animal hair off Bryce’s band tee .
All three women are dressed casually today, in a way that helps me feel even more comfortable around them. Blue jeans, T-shirts, the typical, flowy sundress that Poppy loves. There isn’t any pressure to be done up all the time in Cherry Peak. No high standards that I feel like I have to hold every time I leave the house. It’s comfortable, everyone non-judgmental for the most part. In my jean shorts and baggy tee, I feel accepted.
“Johnny wasn’t out blabbing if that’s what you’re worried about. He only told us three and Garrison, and of course, we told everyone else,” Poppy clarifies, looking at me now.
Anna reaches across the table for a napkin before starting to wipe her fingers free of the powdered sugar from her donut. “Would it be a bad thing if he had been out blabbing?”
The number of questions they’re asking makes my hackles rise, but I know they mean well. I have to remind myself of that as I try to keep my answers from being so defensive.
They invited me out today, even after I’ve stopped working at Thistle and Thorn. Without my job forcing them to spend time with me from time to time, I half expected them to cut their efforts to spend time with me. It wouldn’t have been surprising. I haven’t given them any reason to keep trying.
But no. A week after starting a new job, and here we are, chatting like old friends.
“Johnny is . . .” I start, releasing some of the tension in my fingers. “I don’t care if he talks about us. He’ll be the one that will have to deal with the curiosity once I’m gone.”
“If there’s one thing Johnny doesn’t care about, it’s the opinion of others, Rory,” Bryce says. “He’s too unapologetically himself to give a shit about that.”
“I’ve started to realize that,” I reply softly.
Poppy scoots her chair closer to the table and offers me a smile that feels almost special, like only a certain number of people get to bear witness to it.
“He’s smitten by you. Are you smitten by him?”
“Going right for the throat, Pops,” Bryce mutters .
Anna laughs lightly, watching me. “You don’t have to answer that question if you don’t feel comfortable. I know we’re all still getting to know each other.”
And not for their lack of trying. It’s been weeks of effort from them with little payoff.
My stomach tightens with guilt.
“He’s rebuilding my porch; did you know that?” I ask, unclenching my fingers to press my sweaty palm flush to my thigh, the receipt paper crinkling beneath it.
It’s Bryce who answers first. “I didn’t.”
“I was curious about the wood he dumped in the burn pile this morning, but I didn’t piece together that it was from your porch,” Anna says, and Poppy nods along with her.
“He insisted on doing these jobs around my house, saying it isn’t safe enough for me. I didn’t think he was going to start with something so big, but there was no stopping him once he pulled out a crowbar and got to work.”
My smile is small as I recount last night, but Bryce doesn’t miss it. She latches onto it with her icy-blue eyes until I can’t help but say more, suddenly compelled to divulge far more to these girls right now than I ever have before.
It’s a risk to open up, but maybe with these women, it’ll be worth it.
“We made a stupid bet too. Like children. I used my chance to win something that would help me do what I came to Cherry Peak to do, but he only wanted something from me. Yet when he won, he didn’t take his prize.”
“What did he want?” Poppy asks.
I ignore the sparks of nerves in my belly. “A kiss.”
Anna squeals and then slams a hand to her mouth as Bryce relaxes her features and leans back in her chair, laughing to herself.
“That’s fucking adorable,” Poppy says, a dreamy expression on her face .
Bryce glances at her best friend. “Adorable is for children, Pops.”
“I don’t care. Johnny’s always been adorable. And it’s really damn cute that that’s what he wanted out of anything he could have asked for.”
Anna cracks up, shaking her head at the both of them. “Did you think he was going to ask for something else? As if.”
“Would you have kissed him if he had tried to claim his win? Or would it have been an obligation thing?” Poppy asks me.
My first instinct is to lie, but I have no doubt Bryce would call me out on it instantly. Besides, I’ve already opened up about this. I might as well go all the way.
“I would have kissed him. And not because of the bet. I wanted to kiss him before we even made it.”
“That’s good, Rory. Isn’t it?” Anna asks gently, her lips curved into a small smile.
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “He’s young and rambunctious. I’m neither of those things.”
“Thirty isn’t old, and twenty-two isn’t that young either.” Anna shrugs a shoulder, unbothered.
“Eight years is one of the better age gaps I’ve heard of. You could always be one of those women who dates an eighty-year-old billionaire on his deathbed,” Poppy says.
Bryce snorts a laugh. “Clearly, Poppy has thought of taking that route before. She got lucky and found a thirty-year-old billionaire instead.”
“Don’t be jealous, you hag. And don’t talk about me marrying anyone else around Garrison, or he’ll get jealous and have me walking around bow-legged for the next week.” Poppy cuts herself off and smirks. “Okay, on second thought, maybe do bring that up to him.”
“You’re disgusting,” Bryce grunts, shoving Poppy by her arm.
Poppy pokes her elbow. “As if you’re some saint. I’ve seen inside your nightstand. ”
“You’re one to talk. I think you have an actual clinical dildo addiction. I know a therapist if you want their info.”
“At least I haven’t been pining after?—”
Bryce cuts Poppy off with a hand to her mouth. Her glare is sharp like the tips of an iceberg. Poppy rolls her eyes, seemingly unbothered by her best friend’s annoyance.
Is that because they have complete trust in one another? And if so, how did they open themselves up to the possibility of that? Maybe I should be taking advice from them.
Anna touches my forearm from the seat beside me, drawing my attention away from the two bickering friends. She’s the newest one in the group outside of myself, and as such, I’ve always felt more of a pull to her. It’s hard sticking your nose into a friendship that’s been so solid for so long without feeling like a hang around. While none of these women have ever made me feel like that, Anna’s the one I’m most comfortable with. It’s like on some level, I trust her to be more accepting of me. I’m not as intimidated by her.
“Does Johnny being twenty-two actually bother you, or are you using it as an excuse not to give in to the feelings you clearly have for him?” she asks, keeping her voice low, the question only for me.
The bluntness of her question hits me square in the chest. “It’s one of the many excuses I’ve been using.”
“There are always a million excuses as to why we shouldn’t do something. That doesn’t mean that even a single one of them is worth using. I get why you’re reluctant. Poppy does, too, when she’s not bickering with Bryce. We’ve both experienced falling for someone when there are other forces at work that make it feel impossible. It’s daunting not knowing what comes next, but I can tell you without a doubt that it’s worth the risk, whether you stay or go.”
She gives my arm a comforting squeeze. A reminder that she’s here for me. “If I hadn’t given Brody a chance because I knew that he was supposed to go back to Nashville, I wouldn’t be as happy as I am right now, with a life that I could only hope for in my wildest dreams.”
“I knew that Garrison was going back to Toronto, but I fell in love with him anyway. And it was the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life to let him go, but he came back. Even if he hadn’t, the heartbreak would have been worth it for the time we got together,” Poppy adds, her eyes warm with understanding as they dart between Anna and me.
Bryce nods, but in the same way that she can seem to read me, I can read her. Maybe it’s a shared talent we both have. Something that comes from being so guarded and defensive.
It’s the stiffness in her shoulders and the twitch in the left side of her jaw that give her away. That make it obvious she isn’t as believing as the other two are.
I let it go. “So, you’re saying I should what? Demand he kiss me?”
“God no. He has to work for it still. Keep him on his toes, just don’t close yourself off to the possibility of something happening between you yet,” Anna says.
It’s easier said than done, but something tells me every one of the women at this table has thought that and pushed past it. I just have to follow suit.
It’s my turn to be brave.