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“I hear ya.” Hunter sighed and tilted his head back for another swallow of beer. “Then there’s the makeup. The lip gloss. The hairbands. The underwear…though I don’t mind that too much. Oh, and the healing crystals in every single room.”
“That’s just Aria.” Grant smirked.
“What, Rory doesn’t leave her girl stuff all over the place?”
“Rory doesn’t have girl stuff.” Grant set the glasses on the shelf. “She leaves gummy worm wrappers and dirty clothes everywhere. Then she always ends up stealing my shirts.”
He, too, didn’t seem particularly bothered by this.
“What about when they hog all the blankets?” Jake tossed another peanut into his mouth.
“Or take forever to get ready to go out,” Hunter said.
“Or eat the food you were saving for the playoffs.” Grant began wiping down the counter.
Or make you build a blanket fort.
Sam finished off his whiskey. He felt prickly and irritated. “So why do you bother?”
All three of them jerked their heads to stare at him.
Hunter looked faintly baffled by the question. “Man, I love Aria more than anything.”
“Being married to the woman you love,” Jake said, “is the greatest thing in the world.”
“Whywouldn’tyou bother?” Grant shook his head in disbelief.
Sam broke apart a peanut shell and reached for another. If Brooke were here, she’d be glowing and dreamily telling him about how these three couples were all each other’sOne True Lovesor whatever, and how they were destined to beLifelong Flings.
Right, well…he could admit now that kind of thing happened for other people. The moony slobs in front of him were evidence enough.
“You staying for pool?” Jake asked.
“No, thanks.”
Sam dug into his pocket for his wallet and tossed enough bills on the bar to cover the round of drinks, plus a few more for Jake and Hunter. He shoved off the barstool and grabbed his jacket from the wall rack.
A sudden, feminine laugh almost made his heart stop.
It was the sound that light would make.
He turned. His heart almost pounded out of his chest. Brooke was standing by the fireplace booth, talking to Max Weatherford, the local veterinarian. Whatever the guy was saying had Brooke smiling. Her eyes twinkled.
A knot tightened in Sam’s chest. He wasn’t stupid enough to think she’d moved on that fast, but the sight of her with another man was a cold dose of reality. Because Max Weatherford—an all-around good guy who was beloved by the entire town—was exactly the kind of man Brooke should be with.
Hell. Max was the kind of man Brookewanted. Her ideal romance-novel hero with his easy sociability, all-American chiseled good looks, and probably a crap ton of “sweet nothings” in his repertoire.
Pulling on his jacket, Sam stalked to the door. The Romance 101 class had been unlike anything he’d ever imagined, but it was time for him to get back to both work and reality.
Class was over.
