Maybe she’s thinking about me.
Maybe she’s listening for me, too.
CHAPTER TWENTY
PATTY
The next morning, I head out of my bunk to the lounge, where Alicia and Lou are both sitting. Alicia’s working with her laptop out on the couch while Lou is on the ground across from her stretching. It looks like she’s just finished a workout, in black leggings, running shoes, sweat slicking her hair back in its ponytail, and a black sport tank top that shows off just how committed she is to staying in shape for the tour. Her cheeks are flushed from the exertion, giving her a fresh-faced look that’s far too appealing.
I tear my gaze away and turn for the kitchenette, flipping on the coffee machine out of habit. I grind the beans, fill the filter, and slam the lid down harder than necessary. The low hum fills the silence as I lean against the counter, arms crossed.
“Mornin’,” I say.
Alicia smiles, but Lou doesn’t even look at me.
I grab a mug from the cabinet and set it down a little too hard, the ceramic clinking on the counter. I hate how much her silence gets to me.
I have to stop getting closer to her, though. I can’t keep my mind on fixing the past while I’m daydreaming of a future with her. Not that I’m daydreaming about anything. The whole white picket fence life with 2.3 children ain’t for me. I’m too much like my mom—a wanderer too selfish to stay or sacrifice.
The coffee finishes brewing, and I wrap my hands around the mug, letting the warmth sink into my palms. But having Lou ignore me is like a splinter in my finger—instead of working its way out, though, it’s getting deeper, irritating with every tiny moment, impossible to ignore. An itch I can’t scratch. A burn that won’t cool.
Lou’s phone buzzes, and she takes the call, still leaning into a stretch. “Hey, Jane! You’re on speaker in the bus. Alicia is here. And Patty.”
“Hey guys!” Jane says. Alicia responds excitedly while I look at Lou to see if she actually wants me to answer.
She doesn’t look at me. It shouldn’t bug me. But it does. I take a slow sip, the coffee scalding my tongue, but it gives me something else to focus on.
“Do you have a sec to talk?” Jane asks.
“Yup,” Lou says. “Should I go to my suite?”
“No, it’s nothing big. Well, kind of random, but nothing big. I think.”
Lou sits up, leaving her leg outstretched as she holds the phone in front of her. “Okay …”
“You know Tripp’s cousin, Kayla?”
“Of course,” Lou says. She looks at Alicia and whispers, “Kayla Carville—she owns the baseball team in Patty’s town. Look up her wedding ring.” Alicia nods and starts typing.
“It’s funny you mention that,” Jane says. “She just broke up with Aldridge.”
“What? Wow. Did y’all know that was coming?” Lou asks. At the same time, Alicia has pulled up the ring and is gaping at her laptop screen. I risk a peek and almost want to gape, too. The thing is enormous and gaudy to the point of being ugly.
“Tripp said her family’s relieved. Aldridge was a nice enough guy, but he was uptight and too obsessed with her.”
Alicia is looking at pictures of Aldridge, now, and she mouths to Lou,“He can be obsessed with me anytime.”Lou snorts.
“It was smothering,” Jane continues.
“So why now?”
“Funny story. You know how our old intern just got married at the farm?”
“Sure. I was bummed to miss the wedding.”
“I know. We missed you,” Jane says. Lou puts her feet together and her legs make a diamond pattern as she leans forward in a stretch. “At the wedding, she met a certain bartender who she spilled her guts to about how she was dreading getting married, and he asked her what she was going to ‘make happen,’ and that flipped a switch in her head. So she broke off the engagement.”
Lou turns her head to me almost suspiciously. “A bartender, huh?”
