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She laughed. “I’ve got plenty of eye candy with this group.”
Clark chuckled from his spot tucked under Hunter’s arm. Joe lay with his head pillowed on Augustus’s lap. And Tucker and Laurie sat shoulder to shoulder, much like us.
It hit me then, as I looked around our friend circle, that this was what it was like to be a real couple. To be free to express your love and not worry about ramifications.
I turned to look at him and found his gaze already fixed on me, a small smile tilting his lips. He felt it too. I saw it in his face, in the easy way he smoothed his hand up my back, how he leaned into me, no tension in his body from worry or stress.
This is what it would be like for us once the truth was fully out. We’d be free.
Free to gaze at each other like saps. Free to touch.
Free to love.
“I’m happy for you two,” Laurie said.
“Me too,” Beckett and I said at the same time.
The rest of our friends laughed.
“They’re going to be even more insufferable,” Augustus muttered.
I wasn’t offended. I knew from him that was the same as congratulations.
I lifted my beer. “Here’s to us being insufferable for a good long time.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Beck said.
The rest of our friends murmured their agreements, but I hardly noticed. I was too busy gazing into Beckett’s eyes, wondering how I’d missed how very pretty they were for so long. How I’d overlooked those pink lips. The cute upturned nose. The freckles that made me want to devour him one speck at a time.
Wondering how I hadn’t noticed when friendship shifted to love, but feeling so damn grateful it had.
My phone vibrated in my pocket and I excused myself to answer it. Dad’s name flashed on the Caller ID, making my stomach somersault.
“Hey, Dad, how’s the vacay going?”
“It’s pretty much over,” he said. “I feel more tired now than I did when I left.”
“Uh-oh.” I laughed. “Are the fish biting too hard?”
He snorted. “No, but Carol and her sister are. They’ve had about all the family time they can handle. We’re going to be back Wednesday.”
“Oh, wow. That’s sooner than I thought.”
“Yeah,” he said dryly. “Try not to sound so excited to see me.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
He chuckled. “It’s all right. I want us to all get together for a family dinner as soon as I’m back though.”
“Well, we have the town hall on Wednesday,” I said. “Beck and I need to be there to answer questions.”
“Ah, right. I better show my face too or they’ll think I’ve already retired.”
I snorted. Half the town did think that because Dad was never out on the jobs with us anymore, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him that.
“We can have dinner the next night then,” he said. “It’s important we reconnect as a family and get on the same page.”
“Uh…okay,” I said hesitantly.
