21. Reed
By halftime, Reed had his arm slung around Maya and her back snug against his chest, a lingering hug from a touchdown celebration a few minutes earlier that they never quite ended. With a break in the game, she patted his arm to ask for an out so that she could slip away to the restroom. He only hoped she’d settle right back in the same spot when she came back.
“So let’s get real here Mr. Stanton. Is she pregnant?”
Willa’s eyes darted to Dustin. “Pregnant? Who’s pregnant? Nobody’s pregnant.”
“Maya,” Dustin clarified.
Reed looked to Willa who seemed strangely flustered by Dustin’s usual messiness, then he focused on Dustin leering at him from a barstool away. Willa covered her mouth and stopped what she was doing to listen in.
“You’re way out of line, Dustin.”
“You bring this new lady friend in here out of nowhere, you’re all sweet on her, she’s been drinking water all night, and so have you. Come on, man. Somebody has to ask!”
This right here was one of the things he didn’t love about his hometown. The minute you so much as laid eyes on a woman, or had eyes laid upon you, you were pretty much married off. It’s how people were defined around here. As so-and-so’s wife or so-and-so’s husband. And it’s not that he didn’t want a wife and children someday, it’s just that there was more to him than that. And there was a hell of a lot more to Maya than that. Never mind the fact that all they had done was kiss, not that that was anyone’s business.
“There are tons of reasons people don’t drink, Dustin, and none of them are your business,” Sara reminded him as only she could.
Willa took a sip of the ginger ale she kept behind the bar and nodded emphatically.
“What’d I miss?” Maya asked as she came up behind Reed.
“Nothin’,” Reed said quickly as he shook his head at Dustin while Maya climbed back in her stool.
He put his arm around her and she eased right back into him as he hoped she would. He tightened his hold on her as if that would shield her from this ridiculousness.
“Can I get you something else to drink, Maya?” Willa offered, seeing her empty glass. “Anything you want. It’s on the house.”
“She makes a mean rum and coke,” Dustin said. Reed shook his head. The man just couldn’t help himself.
“Or a coke,” Sara added.
“Or just another glass of water,” Willa offered with a smile. “Maybe with a little squeeze of lemon?”
Reed groaned at his friends’ antics. She must have felt like a pinball being knocked around between the three of them, but somehow she seemed to be taking it all in stride.
“I appreciate it, but honestly? I’m so hungover that even the smell of alcohol is enough to make me sick.”
Reed looked at Dustin and raised his eyebrows smugly while he tipped his glass of water at him. Nice try, buddy. Now don’t ever pull that shit again.
“Oh honey, why didn’t you just say so?” Willa asked. “Here.” She pulled out some packets of crackers from under the bar and reached to refill her water glass. “You want fries? Let Dev make you some fries. They always do the trick for me.”
Maya seemed to perk up. “Actually…”
“You’ve got it.” She hollered the order to Dev, then reached across the bar and bopped Reed in the back of the head. “And what were you thinking? Dragging her to a place like this?”
“Willa,” he hissed, rubbing the back of his head. “I didn’t.”
“No, he didn’t,” Maya interrupted, coming to his defense. “I totally invited myself.”
“Oh, so what were you thinkin’ tryin’ to keep her from us then?” Willa asked indignantly.
“I—” Reed sighed before just giving up and taking a sip of his drink. There was no right answer in this situation.