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“Yup.” I pop the P. My thoughts are muddled as I flash to an image of her in my bed. Was I a rebound? “But she wasn’t with him then, so it doesn’t matter.”
“How do you know that?”
Studying her, I want to tell her. I want to shout, ‘because she was inmybed at that time!’ But I don’t exactly remember the timeline. I don’t remember anything, really. I just know I have her necklace. I know the owner of that necklace is the one I’ve been thinking about,without realizing why she hasn’t left my mind. That night replays with blank spots I try to fill, but I just can’t. It’s just a feeling I get though, like I had the best thing ever and blew it.
Dismissing her question, I shake my head. “You just said they were broken up.” Glancing around the room, I settle on Adley just in time to see Steve wrap his arm around her, but his eyes linger on the waitress as she passes. My hands grip the bottle I’m holding. “He doesn’t deserve her, Chelsea.”
“No one does. My sister is the best of the best.”
“Don’t I know it?” I whisper the words, lost in my memories, but she hears me, her eyes full of knowing sadness. Tom sits quietly beside me.
“It’s her, isn’t it?”
I told Tom I had slept with someone that night, and the only thing I remember was that the woman was different. She was captivating. She was someone Iwantedto remember but couldn’t. The way my heart and mind kept searching for her over the last six months has been exhausting. The yearning is too much, but I can’t grab hold of the full memory.
Him acknowledging that conversation now makes my heart race.Of course, it was her. Her and all her details have been on my mind since I was twenty-one. But when I refuse to answer his question, I notice Chelsea and Tom have a silent exchange and it makes me mad. Standing from my chair, I move around the table.
“I’ve had enough. I’m out of here.”
I make my way from the room, but Tom is hot on my trail. “You’ve been drinking, Bill. Don’t you dare get in that truck.”
Stopping at the door, I take a breath and steady myself, fingering the chain once more. He’s right. Digging in my back pocket, I pull out the keys to the new truck I just bought and shove them at him. I’ve been there once before. Maybe I learned a thing or two. “Get me home. Now.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ADLEY
“So, Steve, huh?”
Rolling my eyes at Britt, I laugh her off. “Yes, Steve.”
“Are you sure?”
Sighing, I pour more wine and reply, “This is not how I pictured girls’ night to be the weekend after I get engaged.”
“Same,” she answers with a sarcastic tone, eyeing me over her glass as she sips her wine.
I narrow my eyes at her, but I can’t even be mad at her because I’m not sure this is the right choice, either. On paper, we look like a match, but he doesn’t give melife.We had broken up. He moved out, and I was away from him. But he showed up one night, said he was sorry, and that he missed me. Then he asked me to marry him. I was caught off guard and I said yes. Before I knew it, we were driving to Christmas to see my sister, and I walked into my engagement party.
Steve planned the whole thing, and it felt a bit too calculated.
Right down to Billy being present.
Steve had a thing about him from the first moment he met him, and I couldn’t understand it because I never spoke about Billy. Or maybe Steve just felt the way the room sizzled every time Billy and I were in it together.
Even after our one night together, which he doesn’t remember, I never said a word, because, well, because it’s embarrassing. The one man that made me feel more than I ever had doesn’t remember the one night we spent together. One incredible night.
‘How could I ever forget you, Adley?’
Guess I wasn’t memorable after all. How come men find it so easy to cast me aside?
“Anyway, can we get off my bullshit and blow-up Francesca’s spot?”
“My spot? What are you talking about?” She sputters over her drink.
“Girl, you don’t really want to be with Nick.”
She squirms in her seat and my smile breaks free. I’m glad I’m not the only one confused about who I want. Nick Goldman is her boyfriend. His dad owns the PR company she’s been interning at. Once she graduates, she’ll be working there full time, staying in the city and I know not one of us is happy about it.
