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“Hi. It’s good to see you. I got you your regular.”
I sat down, a steaming vanilla latte placed in front of my chair. “Thanks. What did you get this time?” I asked, pointing at her cup.
“I got a cinnamon dulce latte with extra caramel.” She shrugged when I raised my eyebrows at her. “I have a bit of a sweet tooth today.”
I let out a light laugh. “Hey, no judgment here. In fact, I could use a little more sugar myself. It’ll make me feel better.” I twisted to look behind me where the pastry case was. “Do they have any more of those yummy blueberry muffins?”
“Here, try this.” Deva slid half of an almond scone my way. “I think after this coffee, I’m going to be fighting off a bit of a sugar high.”
“Ooh. That’ll work.” I snatched it up and took a huge bite, the flaky, sweet dough melting in my mouth. “Oh, that’s good.” My words came out garbled, and a few scone crumbs fell out of my mouth.
Deva looked at me with concern and curiosity. “Everything okay?”
I blew out an obnoxious raspberry and rolled my eyes. “Deputy Clarke wrote me a ticket earlier today,” I grumped. “Stupid jerk.”
Her forehead puckered with a frown. “What did he write you a ticket for?”
“Speeding. God, he’ssuchan asshole,” I declared before stuffing another bite of scone into my mouth.
Her brows shot up, humor dancing in her eyes as she sipped her diabetes-inducing coffee. “Well, were you speeding?”
My mouth opened to answer, then snapped closed, my eyes narrowing at her as she giggled at me from across the table. “That’s beside the point.”
She snorted. “I’m not so sure about that. I think it might be exactly the point.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “So much for best friends. Whose side are you on here?”
“Yours. Always. But I know from experience that your foot tends to get a little heavy when you’re cruising and blasting your music, which I’m guessing is exactly what you were doing when you got pulled over.”
Damn her and her logic.
“Whatever. He’s still a jackass.”
She looked at me quizzically over the rim of her coffee cup as she drank, and I got the feeling she was seeing a lot more than I was putting out there. “What’s your deal with him anyway?”
I cast my gaze off to the side and drank from my cup, unable to look my friend in the eyes as I lied. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She frowned skeptically. “You were putting off weird vibes that night at Wynn’s. Did something happen between you two?”
My gut reaction was to keep up the lie, but I’d been walking around for weeks, pretending nothing happened and that everything was just fine, when really, carrying that hurt around all on my own was starting to get uncomfortable and really freaking heavy. What was the point of having close friends if you didn’t allow yourself to lean on them during the hard times? Wynn had done it, and we’d been right there to help lessen her burden and take up some of that pain.
“Yeah, you could say something happened,” I admitted, staring down at the table and tracing the grooves and scars in the old wood with my nail. Someone had carved a heart, inside it read TS + VR 4 ever. I wasn’t sure who TS or VR were, but I hoped they were enjoying their 4 ever as I drew over the heart and initials with the tip of my finger. “We kind of hooked up a while back.”
Deva let out a squeal that drew the attention of everyone around us. “Why haven’t you told me before now?”
I leaned in and whisper yelled, “Jeez, Screaming Sally. Keep it down. I don’t want the whole café knowing my business.”
She made aneekface and leaned in closer as well, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Sorry. You just caught me off guard. But...” Her head cocked to the side, the confusion evident. “I don’t understand. If you guys slept together, why are you so mad at him?”
Oh, my sweet, innocent friend. There was still so much she didn’t know, especially when it came to the nuances of men and women.
“Let’s just say, it didn’t end well.”
Deva’s eyes darted around the café before she leaned even closer and lowered her voice even more. “Was he bad at, you know...sex?”
At her unexpected question, I choked on the sip of coffee I’d just taken. “Oh, Deva. I love you,” I wheezed once my lungs were clear. I wiped the tears from my cheeks with the backs of my hands and laughed. “You’re too stinking cute.”
Her cheeks flushed and she smiled adorably. “Thanks. And right back at you. But I don’t understand. What happened that was bad?”
