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“How often are you over there?” Henry asked, his gaze calculating.
“Not often,” Avery answered absentmindedly as she played with a string of cheese.
I’d given her riding lessons for free, but I owed her.
Remington strode by, carrying another pizza to add to the stash on the big round table Stetson and I often used. “There’s the main man,” he said as he neared. “Leave it to you and Stetson to throw the biggest party this place has ever seen.”
“You know it.” When I turned back, I caught the flash of jealousy in Henry’s eyes. He was used to being the big shot, but in Rattler’s I was the guy people looked to. Me and Stetson, but Stetson wasn’t dating Henry’s ex-wife. Any other day and Henry wouldn’t care. But he hadn’t gotten to be a surgeon by not being competitive and maybe a little egotistical.
And of course that was the time Holly picked to show up for lunch.
“Holden!” she called, spreading her arms wide as she sashayed toward me where the restaurant was obviously full. “I keep running into you here.”
I pushed up in time to intercept her hug, giving her only a quick one-armed squeeze. She was still sort of a friend, and she’d done nothing wrong other than raise Henry’s suspicion of me.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Landon, then turned and herded Holly toward an open booth. “What’s up?”
She glanced around. “I’m meeting Sienna for lunch. What’s going on here?”
“Our football team’s last game. Stetson and I are treating them to pizza.”
“That’s so nice of you.” She dropped into her booth and peered out the window. “I knew I should’ve picked her up, otherwise she’ll be late.” She smirked at me and scanned through the restaurant. “Still seeing that girl?”
“Emery? Yes. Those were her kids and her ex I was talking to.”
“Oh, shit.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “That’s her ex? Are you two cool?”
“No. Believe it or not, he’s not into me.”
She laughed, and I didn’t have to look to know that Henry clocked everything. “Hard to believe, Holden. Go, then. He’s going to get all kinds of wrong ideas, and I’m not out to fuck up relationships.”
“He shouldn’t be the one jumping to conclusions, but thanks.”
She leaned out of the booth and snagged the sleeve of my hoodie. “Can you let Stetson know that Krystal is harassing Sienna? She won’t tell him, but Krystal is getting weird. Sienna thought she saw her drive by her place twice.”
I didn’t want to get dragged into Stetson’s shit, but he was too much like me. He’d weather it all without telling anyone. “Can you let me know what else Sienna thinks Krystal’s doing, and I’ll pass it on? Also let her know that if she needs to involve the police, we’ll support her.”
She bobbed her head. “I told her the same. We’re too old for this shit, and the sooner she cuts it off the better. But if Stetson doesn’t hear it from me, she’ll be okay with that.”
“I’ll talk to him.”
I approached Landon’s booth, but Henry’s glare wasn’t exactly welcoming. Landon was gone, probably at the table with ten boys surrounding it watching another kid play a video game. But Afton was scooting out with her plate. “Is there more pizza?”
Jenni was sliding out to go with her, but she stopped and glanced from me to Henry.
“Let’s go see.” I didn’t bother to look at Henry. He’d interpret anything he saw in my expression as challenging him, and the last thing I wanted to do was to make Emery regret meeting me.
* * *
Emery
“And then what happened?” I curled my fingers through Holden’s. We were both on our backs, but my head was on his shoulder, and I stared at the shadows on the ceiling. It was technically Sunday, but we were still awake.
We’d tried to get through a show, but I’d ended up naked and on his lap. Then we moved to the bedroom, and now we were postcoital and just talking. This was something I had taken for granted when I was married. The moments we could talk late into the night. Our schedules had gotten in the way. Kids waking up at all times of the night. We’d let it slip. But instead of finding our way back to this, Henry had just found someone else.
I couldn’t believe how neutral the thought had become. If I went looking for the anger, for the hurt, it’d still be there, but it was weak and fading. It served no purpose.
He folded his long fingers around mine. “I helped Afton get more cheese pizza and didn’t have to talk to Henry the rest of the time. That guy doesn’t like me.”
