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Rayma didn’t have to respond, she knew her eyes did the talking for her.
“Well, I’m not hellbent on sticking around,” Peyton said. “We can go somewhere else if it’ll be easier on you. The night is young and so are we.”
Rayma forced a smile.
They moved forward again and the grumble from the woman behind Rayma said that she wasn’t convinced Peyton wasn’t going to cut in and grab a stall ahead of all the other cross-legged women in line.
“One more drink and then we’ll go somewhere else,” Rayma said. “Go get in line at the bar, order me my usual and I’ll come find you after I break the seal.”
“Sounds good,” Peyton said, blowing Rayma a kiss before disappearing into the crowd.
The woman behind Rayma made a whimpering sound and she shuffled back and forth on her feet.
“Really need to go?” Rayma asked, turning to face the blonde.
She nodded and her hazel eyes went wide in panic as she crossed her legs and grimaced.
“Go ahead of me. I’m next and I’m not that close to peeing my pants.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, although, she was already stepping around Rayma and toward the stall door that was just beginning to open.
Rayma chuckled. “Go, before you ruin those gorgeous shoes of yours.”
“Thank you,” the woman said, relief in her eyes as she closed the door behind her.
Rayma took a deep breath and leaned against the wall, waiting her turn. She cast her eyes around the bar, but it wasn’t aimlessly. She was looking for a very specific tall, brown-haired, green-eyed cop with one dimple and a strong nose. Jordan was over six feet tall, and he just had that presence that drew Rayma to him like a single flame in a room of swallowing darkness.
He was shy until you got to know him, then he was … a shiver wracked her as memories of their whirlwind year together took hold of her brain and body.
No man had ever made her feel so protected before. No man had ever been so possessive but also possessed her like Jordan. And it wasn’t in a creepy, controlling kind of way. He reminded her every single day, every single moment that they were together that she was his, and he wouldn’t do anything to ever fuck that up. He made her body sing, made her heart swell and her mind start planning for happily ever after. She actually saw herself married with kids, a dog, and a guinea pig with Jordan.
Or at least she used to see those things.
Emotion formed a thick, spikey ball in her throat, then one of those spikes pricked her and she gasped from the pain when she spotted Jordan, laughing and smiling down at Laura with all the love in the world glittering in his eyes.
“Stall’s open,” the woman behind Rayma said. “Your turn.”
Nodding, but unable to say anything, Rayma smiled a thank you to the woman behind her and entered the stall.
She hadn’t even sat down to do her business before the first tear fell.
***
“I mean, it’s not like you don’t have each other’s numbers, right?” Peyton said—well more like yelled—before she sipped her vodka soda as she and Rayma leaned against an old red brick wall, watching people dance in front of the stage. “He could have called you just to let you know he was back in town.”
Yeah, he could have.
“Didn’t you guys text back and forth while he was in Tofino?”
Rayma nodded and hitched her black purse higher up on her shoulder. “We did for the first six months or so. Almost every day. Then those texts turned weekly, then monthly, and I honestly don’t know if I’ve heard from him at all in two years.”
Peyton’s mouth dipped into a pout. “Let’s find you someone super-hot to chat up. Make Jordan crazy-jealous. Is he even still here?”
Oh, he was still there. Rayma had kept her eye on the door and knew for a fact that Jordan had not walked out of it. She also knew that he was over by the corner bar with his arm around Laura’s shoulder laughing animatedly with a shorter dark-haired guy.
“We can’t let this outfit go to waste,” Peyton continued. “You look really hot. Let’s find you a new Jordan.” She finished her drink and placed it on an empty table. “Drink up.”
Rayma rolled her eyes, but did as she was told, then followed her friend back toward the bar.
