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Avery was right. And though I loved my mom, at times I hated her too. “After he left, I thought about Charlie.”
“Blast from the past,” she said.
“Right. I kept wondering if he hadn’t broken up with me, or if he’d been my first and not Mitch, would my life be any different? At the same time, I wouldn’t change a thing if it meant I didn’t have Zoe.”
“Charlie was a dick.”
“Was he?” I asked.
Charlie had been my first love. I’d thought he’d be my first. Just when I would have said yes, he put the brakes on it. Told me we were going to different colleges, his parents were moving to Maryland to take care of a sick aunt, and it was unlikely we’d see each other frequently. Plus, he planned to attend school in North Carolina. I was staying in Montana. He said he loved me enough to not want to end up breaking my heart. He wanted us to end things on good terms so we could still be friends.
“He still broke your heart,” Avery said.
That was true. I had stopped going to bonfire parties in Mountainside so we wouldn’t run into each other. Then one night, Avery had convinced me to go to a bonfire party in Mason Creek. I’d agreed because I hadn’t expected to run into anyone I knew. Yet Charlie had been there with another girl.
Mitch Bowmen had come over and said all the right things. He’d called me beautiful, while Charlie had only ever said I was pretty. Not that there should have been a difference, but there was. Mitch had said he was fine just hanging out with me for the night, and we didn’t have to do anything more than that. It had been me, drunk and heartbroken over Charlie, who had decided to make Charlie jealous. And when things got heated, I’d decided Mitch, who was small-town royalty, could be my first with no regrets.
When I remained silent for too long, Avery said, “Charlie sucks. Let’s forget about him.”
“Hold on a second. I’ve got a text from Mom.” I swiped the screen and pulled up the message. “You won’t believe it,” I said.
“What?” Avery asked.
“Mom said she’ll watch Zoe tonight if I want to go out.”
“Seriously?”
Mom didn’t as a rule offer to watch Zoe. It was my punishment for getting myself knocked up. It was my bed, and I had to lie in it, per her.
“Yeah,” I mumbled, still stumped by Mom’s offer.
“We have to go out. Where do you want to go?”
“She said a couple of hours. But honestly, I don’t want to go to the bar in town.” I would know every guy there and none of them were worth a darn. “How about Pony Up in Mason Creek?”
Avery sighed. “There are other towns nearby.”
“Yeah, but we know Mason Creek better. It’s less likely we’ll run into any creeps there. I just want to have fun. Maybe they’ll have karaoke, and you can dazzle the town with your vocals.”
Avery could go on one of those reality singing shows and have a shot at winning.
“I’ll leave that to you,” she teased, knowing I couldn’t hold a tune if my life depended on it.
“I guess I should get dressed and get Zoe ready. How about an hour?”
“Am I driving?” she asked.
“Your car is more reliable than mine.”
“Okay,” she agreed.
An hour later, Avery was at my door. “You look gorgeous as always,” I said.
“You too.”
We both twirled before giggling, as we wore jeans and tops, nothing fancy. “Let’s go. If I’m not back before midnight, Mom will turn me into a pumpkin.”
The drive to the Creek wasn’t long, around twenty minutes. Then we were parking, and the lot was nearly full. Inside, it was standing room only, and we had to wait at the side for an opening at the bar.
