Page 23 of Driven to Love

“Screw it.” She exhaled, turned the car around, and pulled into the lot.

Addison parked in the back. She slipped through the back door and scanned the bar. The room opened onto the opposite side to the dining area. She threw back her shoulders, pushed past the regulars at the bar with their piles of pull tabs in front of them, and weaved around tables of high-schoolers and families. In the back corner, she found Laney and Marti chatting with Leon’s wife.

Laney stood and waved. “You made it.”

“Yeah. My plans wrapped up early.” She pulled out a chair and gestured to the pitcher of beer on the table.

“Didn’t you have a date tonight?” Marti grabbed an empty glass from the stack and poured Addison a beer.

“Oh no. You’re here. That’s not a good sign.” Laney’s eyes widened like a sad doll’s.

“What happened? Was he a dud?” Marti asked, handing her the drink.

Addison took a healthy gulp. She exhaled, lowering the glass to the wooden tabletop. It clunked, just like her hopes. She itched to spill the details of her date, but first she glanced over her shoulder. The last thing she needed was Nash eavesdropping on her flopped date. “Where are the guys?”

“In the back room playing darts or something.” Trish eyed Addison, begging her to spill the juicy deets.

Addison’s shoulders dropped. “I had dinner at Ted Barnes’s house.”

Laney spat out her drink. She grabbed a napkin and started mopping up the spill, but never lost eye contact with Addison. “Barnes? As in Teddy the Turd?”

“Who’s Teddy the Turd?” Marti’s attention bounced from Laney to Addison.

“He was my neighbor when I was little. He moved the year before you came to Gray Duck Grove.”

“Is this guy still a turd?” Trish asked.

“No. He’s not. I ran into him and Sawyer earlier this week, and Ted moved back to town. We had a drink to catch up a few days ago, and he asked me to dinner.”

“I wouldn’t have thought he was your type. Then again, I haven’t seen him in over two decades.”

Addison shrugged. “I’m trying to change type.”

“So, what happened at dinner?” Trish leaned in.

A teenage boy ran up to the table. “Mom. Can Davey come over and play video games tonight?”

“I’m fine with it, but it’s up to his dad.” The boy did a fist pump and ran back to the back room. “Sorry. Go on.”

“I don’t know where to begin.” She dropped her head into her hands. “He lives in a beautiful old house. He’s remodeling, but… I couldn’t see past the animals.”

“Pets? I once dated a guy who had the whole freakin’ circle of life. Dogs, cats, birds, and a snake. He asked me to hold his snake, and I’m not talking about the one between his legs. No, it was a python. Sorry, but I was out.” Marti shivered from her curly hair to her flame-red toenails.

“No, these were all dead. Bambi and Babe were on the walls! He had the rest of the ‘Enchanted Forest’ critters too.” She downed the last of her drink and reached to refill her glass.

“Babe was a farm pig. I bet if Ted’s a hunter, it’s a wild pig.” Laney tapped her lip.

“Did it have dark hair and big tusks?” Marti held her hands up to her face to illustrate.

“Yeah.”

“Boar,” she confirmed. “I saw one when we lived in Texas.” Marti moved a lot when younger because her father was in the army.

“My dad would be so jealous.” All three turned to Laney. “What? My dad’s an outdoorsman.”

“But your dad doesn’t have them all in his living room. I don’t think I could live in a house with carcasses on the walls.” The thought of seeing “the guys,” as Ted called them, before she had her morning coffee unnerved Addison more than waking up to nose hair and bad breath.

“Mom won’t let him. He has some antlers and a mounted duck in the basement, but that’s it.”