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They looked at their dresses and then back to me. A wide grin moved over Corina’s face as she said, “Jacob will certainly be happy to see you!”
When the rest of them started laughing and walking toward the parking lot, I started after them, moving the best I could in these damn heels.
“Okay, wait! Who is Jacob?” I shouted as their giggles grew louder.
“Corina!” I shouted.
A truck came around the corner and the driver had to slam on the brakes to miss me. Throwing my hands up in the air, I yelled, “Slow down, asshole!”
“Um, Harley. That’s Tripp,” Amelia said, grabbing my hand and pulling me away.
“Oh, shit,” I mumbled.
“What in the hell, Harley!” he yelled out the window. I turned to face him and give him a piece of my mind, but I saw Mallory sitting in the truck and froze.
“Sorry, Tripp. You better have a reservation or you’ll be joining us at Lilly’s,” Amelia said.
My eyes were locked on Tripp. He quickly looked my body up and down before focusing back on Amelia.
“Yeah, we have reservations.”
Pulling my arm free of Amelia, I walked away. Amelia went up to Tripp’s window. I did a quick glance over my shoulder and saw her talking to him. I slid into the back of Corina’s car and closed my eyes.
“I’m never going to get used to seeing him with her, and I know I have no right to feel that way. Not with what I did to him.”
Paxton took my hand in hers and gave it a squeeze.
“You’ll get used to it,” Waylynn said, crawling behind Paxton into the third row of seats. “Besides, did you see the way he looked at you? Oh, yeah, my baby brother still has the hots for you.”
I threw my arm over my eyes as I leaned my head back. He may look at me with lust in his eyes, but he had no plans to act on it, and I just had to resign myself to that fact.
“Lilly’s then?” Amelia asked, getting into the front seat.
“Let’s do it!” Corina replied.
Chewing my lip, I wanted to ask Amelia what she’d talked about with Tripp, but I looked out the window instead. Were the girls all friends with Mallory? Had they gone out together? A part of me hoped not, and I felt so guilty for that. They didn’t have to forgive and take me back into their lives like they had and here I was hoping they weren’t friends with Mallory. Christ. How shallow could I be?
“Penny for your thoughts,” Paxton said.
“Thinking about the problem with the vet clinic,” I lied.
“It’s all going to be okay, Harley.”
I dragged in a deep breath. “I wish I could be so optimistic. I’m still waiting for Chuck White to call me back.”
“I’ve heard he’s a good lawyer,” Paxton said with a smile that screamed she’d heard the opposite.
Shit. I am so screwed.
Doc Harris had a brother who was an investor. After Doc had retired and sold me his practice, his brother showed up claiming he owned part of the practice and Doc had no right to sell it to me, and he wanted his share back. It was so messed up. If there was any truth to his claim, I’d never be able to buy his brother out. Hell, I was in debt for buying the vet practice as well as paying off my school loans. I’d already squeezed every ounce of blood out of the turnips that I could. And I hadn’t been able to sleep in days.
It didn’t take long before we were all walking into Lilly’s. Jacob, I quickly found out, was one of the cooks. Apparently he had let it slip to Amelia he thought I was hot. He couldn’t have been over twenty. Thankfully, Lilly’s was so busy he never noticed I was there.
After eating our dinner and laughing more than I had in years, we walked across the square to Cord’s Place.
“So, how’s the work going on the new Irish pub?” Paxton asked Waylynn.
“It’s good. Jonathon’s almost done. He said Maebh should be opening up soon.”
“Who’s Maebh?” I asked.
Waylynn rubbed her hands together and laughed. “Oh, just a pretty little Irish thing who happens to have caught the eye of Cord. Although he claims to detest her because she’s his competition.”
“I thought she was opening up more of a restaurant, fine dining-type place,” I said.
“Oh, she is,” Amelia said. “But Tripp keeps feeding Cord lies to get him fired up.”
“Steed said Cord knows the truth now, I guess. But I think the poor guy doesn’t know what is up and what is down. He’s not sure what to believe.”
We all laughed.
“Maebh. That’s such a pretty name.”
“It’s spelled pretty, too. It’s Irish. M-A-E-B-H, pronounced like may with a v on the end,” Corina added.
Waylynn stopped walking and put her hand up for us to stop.
