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“Shit. Took them long enough.” Davis emits a nostalgic huff of laughter, the tension in his shoulders loosening a touch.
Meghan and Cash first met when Davis and I started dating in high school, always forcing them to tag along. The two of them beat around the bushes for years, stubbornly claiming to only be friends. Then on the night of my wedding to Davis, they ‘jokingly’ made a pact to marry each other if they were still single at age 30.
Well, long story short, they both turned 30 a few months back. At that point, they were forced to revisit their marriage pact. They finally had to admit to themselves that they’d been crazy about each other all along.
Now, here we are, preparing for their wedding.
“Remember all those afternoons in Grammy’s basement? They’d sit on the couch opposite us and pretend like they didn’t like each other, when we all knew they wanted to be making out, too.” He gets this faraway look in his eyes, and it takes me back.
“Gosh. Yes.” I nervously brush my bangs away from my eyes and emit a measured laugh. “The way your brother was always stealing peeks at Meghan was so obvious.”
“But he’d go out of his way to avoid even the slightest physical contact with her…” Davis chuckles.
“And she was always trying to take pictures of him with her disposable cameras. Making bunny ears over his head. Which only got on his nerves.”
Davis’s head wags side to side in disagreement. “Oh, deep down, he freaking loved it…”
“Remember the night that water main broke?” As the memories flood in, I feel my grin growing uncontrollably.
“Oh, right. We couldn’t drive down Meghan’s street so Cash offered to walk her home…” My ex-husband’s eyes are now twinkling with his growing amusement.
My skull bobs vigorously as I break into a laugh. “And then they disappeared together for so long, and he…”
My eyes catch Candace standing nearby looking quite uncomfortable. It snaps me out of our reminiscent moment.
I clear my throat. “And the rest is history,” I say, putting an end to the discussion.
Neither of us needs to be thinking about those afternoons we’d spend kissing in the dark instead of doing our homework.
“Hey, Alana!” Simon calls out to me, and I couldn’t be more thankful for the interruption. “The new wipers are all set, and you’re good to go.”
I turn to him with a smile. “Thank you again,” I say, accepting my car keys. I wave goodbye to everyone just as Jasper strolls back in our direction.
Before I can get behind the wheel, Davis’s voice sounds again. “Uh, I heard the bachelorette party is going to be at that new wine bar tonight…”
“Sure is.” I nod.
Davis smiles. That smile still makes my stomach dip. Just like the first day he walked into my English class back when we were sixteen.
“Well, you girls have fun.” He hesitates, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. “And if any assholes bug you guys, just give me a call.”
My brows furrow, surprised that my ex-husband would even make the offer. When I signed the divorce papers, I gave up the right to expect him to be my superhero. “No way,” I say ruefully. “You’ll be at the bachelor party. You guys just focus on enjoying yourselves. We’ll be okay.”
Davis looks skeptical, and I can tell he’s getting ready to argue. But then he glances at Candace and clamps his mouth shut.
I feel another unjustified twinge of jealousy in my chest. So I say one final friendly goodbye to the both of them, excuse myself from the awkward conversation and drive the heck out of there.
2
DAVIS
Ican’t tear my eyes away as Alana drives out of the shop. The animal lover sticker on the left side of the bumper of her silver Volkswagen SUV almost makes me smile.I heart anything with paws, is what it says.
She bought it at a gas station on our drive home after a weekend getaway in Sin Valley. I remember arguing with her about marring her vehicle with that damn sticker. But the argument had been pointless—her love for animals is greater than her concern for maiming her car.
If I’m being brutally honest, her devotion and attention to all four-legged creatures is one of the things I always admired about her. It was one of the countless reasons I fell in love with her. Her ability to love so fiercely and so unconditionally.
At least when it came to animals, I guess.
