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“Would you believe I’m taking it one day at a time?” I admit.
Fallon barks a laugh. “I don’t believe it.” Her gaze flits to Ruby. “My big sister treats planning as an extreme sport.”
I elbow her. “Excuse you.” Ignoring Fallon’s grumbles about my pointy elbows, I turn back to Ruby. “But she’s right. I used to have plans. Order. I could do it all, and I didn’t need help. I could bake the fuck out of a croissant. And now I just have a baby.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” Ruby says, her eyes falling to the bar top.
I smile. “No, it’s not. I love my little Squish.”
“What about Davis?” Fallon interjects. “You have your Marine.”
I prop my chin in my palm. “Maybe. Maybe not. We used to fuck in secret, now we’re just…fucking in public.”
Ruby giggles. “Oh, I think we’ve all done that.”
I stare at the shots. Is it possible to get a contact high just from looking at them? “How many would it take to forget I admitted that?”
“It’s girls’ night.” Fallon’s gaze is shrewd. “We gonna bullshit or be real tonight?”
Ruby and I both look at her like she’s an all-seeing wise witch.
“Well? Truth or bullshit?”
I take a deep breath and debate. She’s right. So I clear my throat and let it out. “I don’t know what Davis and I are doing. I just know it feels right. It feels normal. Is that so bad to want something simple?”
“No,” Ruby says, her eyes as large as saucers.
“I don’t know where I’m going,” I say. “I just know there’s no one else on earth I want to be with.” The words build in my chest. “I’ve built a life before, and it all burned down. But instead of being afraid, I’m up for the challenge. To do it all over again and hope maybe I get this life right.” I inhale. “I am someone new now and that is okay.”
There’s a long silence, and then Ruby speaks up. “Before my surgery, this would make me sick,” Ruby explains, pointing at her pink drink. “But I can do stuff like this now. Charlie worries because he’s Charlie. I can do a lot. But I can’t do everything.” Her eyes flicker to my belly. “And I’m still trying to be okay with that.”
“Goddamn.” Fallon exhales like Ruby’s words have taken a toll on her.
I look up at Beef. “More water.”
Ruby dips her head and hoovers the rest of her pink drink.
Tequila and secrets. Apparently, that’s where girls’ night has gotten us.
Fallon’s three shots in when the stomp of cowboy boots rattle the floorboards.
I glance over at the door.
My knees go weak at the sight of Davis.
Davis and his brothers stand in the mouth of the bar. Broad-shouldered, broody, intimidating cowboys. Half the bar has their heads on a swivel.
“Here comes the parade of assholes,” Fallon drones dryly. Then she scowls. “So much for girls’ night.”
Davis’s dark eyes rake over me. My stomach curls as I drink in the sight of his dark hair and rough stubble. A tight US Marine Corps T-shirt. Biceps. Oh god.
“Uh-oh,” Ruby whispers. “Here they come.” She secretly sounds delighted.
“Oh, hell no,” Fallon complains, hopping off her barstool. “We’re not letting big, dumb men interrupt our night.” A wicked smile appears on her face, and she leans in conspiratorially. “You want to see the quickest way to clear a room of four tough cowboys?”
She waits until Davis and his brothers are within earshot and says, “Tell me about pregnancy, Dakota? Have you lost your mucous plug yet?”
All four pairs of boots instantly beeline in the opposite direction.
