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I gulped more cider.The sweet, sugary alcohol buzzed on its way down.I was beginning to feel a bit looser.“Apparently, he was doing it for my own good.”
“Of course he was.”
“I couldn’t listen after that opener.I didn’t even want to know what had gone through his mind.I demanded that he get out, and I started flinging things into my suitcase without really looking at them.He couldn’t believe I’d still come here with that all between us, so I laughed in his face and told him there was no us, not anymore.”
Jenny stared at me, her mouth agape.
Swallowing back the bad taste the retelling put in my mouth, I added, “He begged me to stay, to hear him out properly, so we could fix it.So we could save what we had.But to me, he’d almost literally chucked everything I wanted for myself in the bin.I didn’t see anything saving.I threatened to call the police if he didn’t leave.He did, then I called my mum, and two days later I got on the plane here.”
Jenny reached across the tiny table between us and squeezed my knee.“What anabsoluteass hat.”
“I still don’t fully know his reasons.”
“I’m sorry,” she soothed.
“No,I’msorry,” I blurted.“We hardly know each other and you didn’t ask for a full-on sob story.”
“Donotapologise,” Jenny commanded.Her eyes blazed brown fire.“Maddie, Rick was a Staff Sergeant in the US Army.He hastwomedals.He could make it look like an accident.”
I laughed for what felt like the first time in an age, and I felt lighter inside.“I’ll think about it.”
Imagining Rick in combat mode was a hell of a distraction, and now I’d started imagining him in uniform, too.I tried to surreptitiously glance over my shoulder to catch a glimpse of him, and was rewarded when I saw him bent over the pool table, eyes narrowed in concentration, the low-hanging lights picking out the gold in his hair.
“Do that.”
“Thank you so much for letting me vent.”I drank the last of my cider and set the bottle down, then stood up.“This round is on me!What’ll you have?”
“Another mojito.Why not?A hangover will be Tomorrow Jenny’s problem.”
“Coming up!”I strode to the bar, feeling warm inside, and a little freer now that I’d unloaded on Jenny.I hoped we’d be friends even after I crossed the ocean.Okay, long distance was tough, but that was what the internet was for, after all.
I leaned on the bar as Molly served another customer, but she gave me a little nod to let me know she’d seen me.
“How’s your first night at Molly’s treatin’ ya?”
I jerked in surprise at Rick’s words.His voice was really something, the sort that rumbled low inside you until all you could think about was how he’d groan your name during sex.
Or perhaps that was just allIcould think about.
“It’s good.Jenny’s wonderful.”
He held my gaze, and I got the strangest sense that he could see right into the heart of me.Finally, he said, “Yeah, she’s the best.Has a huge heart.Can be a pain in the ass to live with, though.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.She’s the messiest person I have ever met.I don’t love seeing my sister’s bras lyin’ all around the house.”He grimaced.“There’re some things a guy doesnotneed to know.”
I laughed.I really liked him.And that was becoming a problem.
He studied me for a long moment.On the overhead speakers, the music changed before Rick spoke again.“Did you live with him?”
“Who?”
“The guy on the other side of the ocean.”
My stomach turned.“I told you about that?”
Rick smiled slightly, crossing his arms over his chest.He had excellent forearms, showed off to perfection in tonight’s shirt.“You said, “who crosses an ocean to avoid someone?”Before you fell asleep in my truck.”
