AllFreeNovel
Share Us
SHAWN
“It happened again,”I say, shaking my head.
“Of course it did,” Jo replies. “I told you. You just have to believe.”
A nerd and a TV star. Who would have thought?
Gayle gave me the rundown at the end of trivia night. I shake my head, still surprised. Maybe I’m jaded since everything in my life went up in smoke when my car did. Maybe I’m the one who has things all wrong. But I doubt it.
“They were just lucky,” I mutter. “That kind of love doesn’t exist for everyone. That kind of spark—finding the person who completes you—it’s all bull.”
When I raise my eyes, I find Bridget staring at me, her face pensive. Shit. Now I’m bringing everyone down. This was supposed to be a celebration. The bar’s been open for two years. The ladies have created a place everyone loves. It’s their silver lining just as much as these wishes are for others.
Lottie, another one of the owners, shoots me a look, and I grimace. She knows me better than anyone else in this room. She’s the reason I’m standing at this bar. Years ago, I met her while I was playing for the Dodgers. My stress level was through the roof, and anxiety was killing my game. Jo’s brother, Ryan Daily, and I played together, and Jo brought Lottie with her to one of our games. Jo, being the life of the party, kept us out late, and Daily was telling them all how I’d choked while on the mound. I wanted to fucking kill him. Then, while I was in the bathroom, Lottie snuck up behind me and pushed me against the wall. But I wasn’t about to screw around with the friend of my teammate’s sister. To be honest, I never screwed around during the season period. But what she offered me wasn’t that. Instead, she told me about something she’d stumbled upon that helped her with anxiety…and she offered to teach me.
I’d been using ropes as a stress reducer ever since.
Right about now, she looks like she wants to tie me up though, and not because either of us is stressed. She looks like she wants to kill me.
I’ve got to turn this night around, or she just might.
“Eh, what do I know? I mean, maybe it is real. Maybe we’ll all find our forevers,” I say, pasting on a smile and hoping to pull Bridget out of whatever spiral she’s falling into.
Jo squeals. “Oh look, another dollar fell! Let’s see who’s getting their wish!”
Summoning my inner talk show host, I pick up the wish and read it out loud. “I wish for something more…”
“More what?” Jo says, taking the dollar from me.
“That’s all it says,” I reply.
“That’s it? Just more? More love, more sex…more money? Don’t we all want more of a lot of things? This person should have been more specific.”
Across from me, Bridget looks up and meets my eyes, her cheeks a rosy pink. “Maybe they didn’t know exactly what they wanted…maybe they just wanted something more. More than the day to day…more excitement, more love…more of everything.”
The ladies all continue talking, but Bridget holds my gaze. I think we both know who made that wish. And if anyone deserves more, it’s her.
1
“I hate Corey Matthews,”Bridget huffed, avoiding the eyes of the other two people at the table. This was maddeningly embarrassing. How had she let Corey talk her into this dumb bet?
It was one pitfall of her new philosophy. Since her only child had gone off to college earlier this year, Bridget had made a promise to herself to have more fun. She wanted more than what the grind of working full time while single parenting offered. Her life had revolved around raising her son for eighteen years. And she was damn proud of how he turned out, but now it was her turn to live.
However, she hadn’t counted onlosingthe bet. Corey had never beaten her at pool in the past. Surely he hadn’t been letting her win all this time.
Corey might be an all-star pitcher, but he’d been in an especially bad mood all night. In typical Corey Matthews fashion, he didn’t even realize his funk had nothing to do with his crappy pitching. It had everything to do with how deep he was in with the woman currently standing at the table with Bridget.
“Part of the bet is that I have to talk to you and Ryan, Taran,” Bridget assured the petite dark-haired woman standing next to the man Bridget was avoiding eye contact with at all costs.
Ryan chuckled, and it vibrated deep in her stomach. This was ridiculous. At thirty-seven, she was acting like a nervous teenager standing in front of the young, tattooed playboy of baseball.
They were at Bridget’s bar, the Silver Lining, celebrating his baseball team’s win—which should be enjoyable. Owning a bar with a group of women had never been her dream. It was definitely more her best friend Jo’s thing. But in following her plan to make life fun, she had taken the risk, and it was one of the best things she’d ever done. Bridget was a silent partner, so she didn’t deal with the day-to-day monotony of owning the bar. Her only job was joining the bi-monthly meeting with her four co-owners, although that could hardly be called work. It was more like happy hour with friends.
Jo hosted the meetings, and she could make a root canal exciting. It was in her DNA to be the “big fun”—she was the polar opposite of Bridget. Their differences had drawn the women together after meeting while dropping their sons off on the first day of kindergarten. And in the thirteen years since, the two had been through so much together. Jo had become like family.
“Matthews made a bet involving us?” Ryan chuckled.
The humor in his voice finally forced Bridget to glance up at the gorgeous baseball star. Not only was he lusted after by half the female population, but he was also Jo’s baby brother.
