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I pulled a brush through my rich brown hair. It was one of the things I liked most about myself and I took good care of it because I knew how. “I don’t care about a man either,” I stated plainly like I was hardly interested in the conversation at hand.
And I wasn’t. Not even a little bit. I hadn’t even thought about a man in years. I hadn’t batted an eye at a man since Andy’s passing. I’d had absolutely no interest and I didn’t plan on changing that anytime soon.
But Parker didn’t pick up on the vibes I was trying to put out. “Why not, Mom?”
I turned toward her and pulled my brush through her hair while I talked. “Because I don’t need a man. I have work and you, and that’s plenty.”
She pulled the brush out of my hand and looked eye to eye with me seriously. “I just want you to be happy.”
I knew my wild heart was still in there, damn it, because it did a flip at her words. She was the best, my girl. “I am happy,” I assured her, pulling her into me and kissing her dirty-blond hair. “I have you and that’s all I need, sweet girl.”
She pulled back, studying my face. “I know, Mom,” she said before turning away from me and heading out of the bathroom. “But make sure you wear your nude wedges; they make your ass and legs look phenomenal.”
“Language, ma’am!” I yelled half-heartedly, but I did slip those wedges on because she wasn’t wrong.
Even if I wasn’t looking for a man, I could at least look good while I wasn’t doing it.
I was finishing up some lip gloss and mascara when I heard the doorbell ring and felt the dread pool in my stomach.
I couldn’t back out now. Miranda and Parker were expecting me to go out.
So, I pulled up my skinny jeans and headed to the living room.
I opened the door to find Miranda looking like an absolute dream just like I knew she would because she was young and gorgeous and had the man of her dreams. She still had that the world is my oyster look about her and I envied it. Boy, did I.
“You look so pretty,” she said, coming in for a hug. Lord, she was a hugger, I was learning.
I pulled out of our hug and grabbed my small clutch from the entry table. “You do, too. I love your dress.” It was a gorgeous little black number that was off the shoulder and hit her in all the right places and elegantly accentuated her hourglass shape.
Me, I was all small and skinny everywhere. I could have never pulled it off so beautifully.
Hell, I was five-foot-one on a good day and damn lucky that these jeans weren’t too long for me. It had been sheer luck I’d found them in a petite.
The drive over to wherever the hell we were going in downtown Columbia was a quiet one as Miranda drove with the radio on low and I stressed about if what I was wearing was dressy enough.
I knew I was okay when we pulled up to a downtown area with a lot of different bars and restaurants. People milled about in different types of clothing, from casual to work attire.
We ended up parking in front of a place called Bitty’s. It seemed as if I was the type of girl to go to these places. This was exactly my speed. They had a dance floor with people out on it, but it wasn’t the college crowd that I expected this close to the university. The crowd was more thirties and forties, and it wasn’t so loud, at least not yet, that I couldn’t hear Miranda.
And it had a classic look inside that this older woman could appreciate.
But that didn’t mean I was completely comfortable. Not by a long shot. So, I was more than ready for a drink so that I could loosen up a bit.
“Let me buy you a drink,” I told Miranda, leaning against the bar and waving my hand to get the bartender’s attention.
“I’ll just have a Coke,” she answered back.
I raised my eyebrows. “You brought me all the way out here and you aren’t even going to have a drink with me?” I thought she wanted to cut loose.
She shook her head and smiled. “I’m not much of a drinker, really. Ya know, with Holden’s addiction problems after everything, we don’t partake.”
Oh, I’d forgotten about that. And now I felt like a total dick. They’d been so good to me lately and it felt like I was screwing something up at every turn. God, I needed a drink. I was making an ass of myself. Bring on the alcohol.
I gave her a soft smile. “I get it. You don’t mind if I do?”
She shook her head with a smile. “Go right ahead.”
My man didn’t come home.
