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Having one bar in town is both a blessing and a curse as I pull into the parking lot of
Calypso’s to meet Cami for lunch. Tamping down the highlight reel of my most recent visit, I stroll through the back door and find her already seated at a bar table. My gaze remains averted from the dark alcove Nathan and I occupied last weekend.
She wears her crisp white paramedic shirt and dark navy pants, dark hair pulled cleanly into two French braids.
“So your partner let you sneak away without him today?” My chair scrapes across the tiled floor, and I curse myself internally for mentioning Nathan first thing.
Cami glances at me with a raised brow before scanning her laminated menu.
“You could say that. He said he’d pick me up if a call came in. It is d-e-a-d today, as you know.”
As one of the county dispatchers, I do know.
“Small town living in the summer. With school starting soon, everyone is out of town enjoying the last of the warmth. Even if they have an emergency, most travel outside our jurisdiction.”
Cami nods. “Speaking of the end of summer, Evelyn wants to make one last trip to the amusement park with Maggie. I thought maybe you’d want to join us.”
A waitress sets down a water and another menu. “Thank you,” I tell her, waiting patiently for her to leave before giving my attention to my best friend. “I’m in. When are we going?”
“We thought this weekend would be nice. I’m off rotation after Friday. We can make a day of it Saturday, and you can keep me company while the girls run off and do their own thing.”
“Does that mean we can stuff our purses with mini bottles and spike our drinks all day?” I wiggle my eyebrows and smirk.
Cami groans even though I know she’s on the same page. Our friendship spans a decade, and I’d never suggest something like this to someone who wasn’t on board.
“I’ll have Law drop us off and pick us up.” The reluctance she injects in her tone is for show. She loves a good booze-a-thon nearly as much as I do.
“You’re the best.”
She lowers her menu and takes a sip of her own drink. “I know this. What I don’t know is how long you’re going to keep making me feel like I’m twenty-one instead of thirty-one.”
“Forever. Don’t even try to talk me out of it. We’ll be bribing Evelyn to sneak us alcohol into our group home when we’re eighty.”
“You’re so much trouble.”
“You just wait. When Evelyn is eighteen, things will get even crazier. We’re going to go skydiving and cave diving, and do all sorts of adventurous shit.”
Cami’s face pales beneath her summer tan. “No way in hell am I doing anything underwater. Heights are one thing, but you won’t even get me on a damn boat.”
The waitress interrupts to take our order, but I don’t let the conversation slide.
“Okay so maybe not underwater diving, but you’re a young mom. You’ll be, what, thirty-five when Evelyn graduates high school? If you and Law don’t make any babies of your own, you’ll have two-thirds of your life left and half the expenses. And I’ll be childless and husband-less until I die, so I’m free for the rest of our lives.”
“You might not be husband-less forever.”
Ignoring the incessant sting in my chest is tough. I shrug. “I also might be. I’m not looking for anyone, and clearly, no one is looking for me. I don’t have a ‘Law’ from the past to hunt me down and claim my heart.” I smile so she doesn’t mistake my words for bitterness. Their love story left me beyond thrilled. After I got over thinking he was a dick who didn’t deserve my best friend, of course. He proved himself in the end.
Cami stretches her arm across the table and places her hand on mine. “Hey, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. If anyone rocks the single life, it’s you. I’ve never met anyone so happy and secure with themselves and what they have in life. But Law walked back into my life after fourteen years apart and hit me like a freakin’ semitruck. You never know who’s going to show up and sweep you off your feet. It happens all the time.”
“I’m not a princess, and I am happy with my life.”
Her head bobs, and she draws her hand back. “I know. Just maybe don’t write him off just yet.”
“Him who?”
She leans back in her wrought-iron chair and folds her slim arms across her chest. “I don’t know. Could be anyone. Any promising conquests lately?”
I’m reaching for my drink and sucking on my straw before she even finishes her question. I dip my cup in her direction.
