AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I look over the three friends she doesn’t bother introducing me to. Each of their faces displays a different array of emotions. Intrigue and anger and skepticism. I can only imagine what Nova’s said about me.
Nova sighs. “What are you doing here?”
“Visiting my mom and Clem. Can’t miss Thanksgiving with my favorite girls. Oh, and Will.”
“Right.” She refuses the bait—C’mon Dimples, one real smile—as she reaches for her delicate wrist but stops when her fingers graze nothing but skin. “I forgot your mom moved here this summer.”
The hundreds of times she touched that paper plane charm haunts me. “No bracelet?”
Her hand drops from her wrist. “I lost the old one.”
“I’m sorry. I know how special it—”
My words are cut off by a small hand settling on my back, and Palmer, whose eyes are full of curiosity, glances around the table of women. “Our drinks arrived.”
“Cool.” Turning back, I clear my throat. Nova’s stare zeros in over my shoulder, and I step aside. “Umm, this is Palmer.”
“His girlfriend,” she adds.
“My girlfriend.” I nod, pasting a smile for Palmer’s benefit. She doesn’t deserve my wandering mind.
Nova swallows, and her smile stretches wider, but it still doesn’t meet her eyes as she offers a hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Nova, a friend of Devin’s family.”
Not a friend of Devin. No, just my family. That stings more than I realized it would, but it’s well deserved. I can hardly blame her for the cold shoulder. She’s being more cordial than I expected.
“Oh, it’s nice to meet you.” Palmer’s hand slides around my side, holding firm.
“Well, we’ll let you get back to your evening. Small world that we’d wind up at the same bar tonight. I just wanted to come over and say hi since it’s been a while.”
“A while, yeah.” Her hand latches around the sparkling pink drink in front of her, and the potent memory of her sitting across from me in Chicago, sipping on Shirley’s Sister while excitement flashes across her flushed face, blindsides me.
I drive the visual back. “Take care, Nova.”
Palmer takes my hand, tighter than before as we walk to our table. She slides in first.
“So, just a family friend?” Her hand settles on my thigh. “There seemed to be a weird tension there.”
I sip the Buffalo Trace our waiter suggested when I told him I’m a bourbon newbie, savoring the burn in my throat. “I haven’t seen or talked to her since before college. She was my ride to California.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Try as I might, I can’t keep my stare from landing on Nova. The laughter I witnessed earlier is gone, her spine a rod. One of her friends glances at me over her shoulder, while the one facing me has lasers for eyes. I should’ve gone with my second instinct and hightailed it out of here the moment I noticed her. She could’ve kept the smile on her face, the lightness around her.
There’s no way I could explain what happened on that two-week drive to Palmer. I still struggle to understand. And while she knows about Tara and Damian, I’ve kept Nova’s part in all that happened to myself.
Eyes lowering to my drink, I press my lips together in a stiff line. “It was just a road trip. We butted heads on a few things, so that’s probably what you were picking up on. It just felt rude not to say hello once she noticed me.”
Palmer hums like she doesn’t quite believe me, but I don’t have it in me to further reassure her. And she doesn’t need to know who Nova was to me. What’s in the past is the past.
A couple more minutes tick by when I notice Nova stand. Though I can’t hear what’s being said, the gestures and body language of her friends appear like they’re trying to convince her to stay. She attempts a placating smile and shakes her head, shrugging on her coat. With a wave, she hurries toward the front hallway exit.
“I’m sorry, Palm.” I pat her hand still on my thigh. “I need to apologize to her. I’ll be back.”
Dashing out the double doors, I search left and right and catch her retreating figure in a black peacoat at the end of the sidewalk.
Before she crosses the street, I call out, “Nova!”
She pauses, and even under the street lights, the tension in her spine is obvious. With a gradual turn, Nova meets my gaze as I close in.
