Man, he’s dense, I thought.
“You told your ex-wife’s best friend that she was looking hot in front of your ex-wife? Are you insane? You’re lucky you still have an eye.” Baker sneered.
“She’s not my ex-wife. Yet. And are you kidding me? She left me. Why the hell does she care who I pay compliments to?” We didn’t have an answer for him, so I found him a bag of peas for his eye and then cracked him open a beer.
“Women are damned complicated,” he said once we were all back in my living room.
He wasn’t wrong.
“Women are nuts,” Baker remarked. “We’ll never understand them for as long as we live.”
“I’ll toast to that,” I said. We clinked our bottles and each of us took a long swallow. “So what’s up with you and Rainey, anyway?” I asked Baker.
“I don’t know. That woman is something else. She seems interested, but then she keeps telling me she’s going back to LA soon. I don’t know what to think.” He sounded deflated. “But I want to know what happened with Wolfe and Gabby.”
Wolfe groaned. “Can we please not talk about me and Gabby?”
“No way. Spill it,” I insisted.
“We were young when we got married, you guys know that. Hell, she was barely eighteen and we only waited a few weeks to have the wedding. Everything was great at first, but then I missed Florida. So I told her I wanted to go down and spend a few weeks there for vacation and she flipped out. She said I didn’t want to live in Casper anymore and once we got down there, I would try to trap her into staying. It was insane.
“I finally convinced her I didn’t want to move down there permanently, but I don’t think she ever really believed me. For months, she would mention moving to Florida and I always ignored it, because I didn’t want to fuel the fire. It made things between us tense, but we worked through it. Even if we never actually got over it. Last Christmas, I told her I wanted to spend Christmas with my parents in Florida and she dropped the bomb on me. She told me she wanted a divorce. I never saw it coming.”
“Damn, dude, that sucks. Did she give you a reason?” Baker asked.
“Not really. She did explain that the court system demanded a one-year separation before they’ll grant us a divorce, so we’ve been separated. I moved out of the house two weeks before Christmas,” Wolfe said.
“That’s a downer,” Baker said. “Women are crazy.”
“It’s after six. Let’s head to the bar,” I suggested.
I couldn’t believe their marriage had fallen apart in this town and yet I’d never heard a single story about it. They were both good at keeping the details close to home, apparently.
The Landing was full of people when we arrived. We found a table in the back and ordered hot wings and three bottles of beer. The Red Sox were playing on the TV, so conversation was limited. Our server kept our plates full of hot wings and brought us fresh bottles of beer as soon as we were close to being out.
Before we knew it, there was a lot more breathing room and the three of us were buzzed. The conversation picked up again and immediately went to the women in our lives.
“What’s with Rainey, anyway?” Baker asked. “She leads me on and then backs away. She’s a tease.” He grunted then took a swig off his beer.
“Mallory isn’t any better,” I said. “I almost kissed her and then for both our sakes, I pulled back. Then she went and told my girlfriend. How fucked up is that?”
“At least you guys have the chance to make a move! Gabby is gone and I don’t think we’ll ever get together again!” Wolfe said.
“What a bunch of Sallys we are,” Baker said. “We need to swear off these damn women. They’re screwing up our lives and we don’t need them.”
“Yeah.”
Wolfe and I cheered. Our beer bottles clinked.
When the bar manager approached our table, I knew we were in trouble. Baker might be the owner, but the manager on duty had the authority, especially when the owner was drunk.
“Who’s driving you home, guys?” he asked us.
None of us had an answer. We were all pretty drunk at that point.
“Well, then, who should I call?”
It was after eleven and The Landing was getting ready to close.
I gave the owner Mallory’s home number without a second thought. One of the girls would be willing to drive us home, wouldn’t they? It wasn’t like all three of them hated all three of us. Rainey would bring us home, I was sure of it.
Chapter Eleven
Mallory
The girls spent the entire afternoon getting things ready for the slumber party. Or, at least, that’s what Rainey said when she called around four.
“Hey, we’re going to pack a bag for Gabby and then hit up the video store and the grocery store. We won’t be over until about six or so. You’ll be okay, right?”
“Of course. My dad is an easy patient,” I said as I looked in on him.
He was asleep again.
Rainey hung up and I went into the kitchen and tried to busy myself. The one thing I couldn’t get accustomed to was the quiet. In Boston, there was noise at all hours of the day, even in the middle of the night. But in Casper, you had to create noise if you couldn’t stand the quiet.
The silence weighed heavily on my shoulders. It drove me insane until I flipped on the radio. I grabbed some supplies from underneath the sink and began to clean every surface in the kitchen. Every time I needed to think, really think, I would scrub the kitchen in Boston. Eventually, my roommates learned to leave me alone during those times. Although they pretty much left me alone whenever they could. I liked to brood and they perceived it as moodiness. I sighed as I pulled on the bright yellow gloves and sprayed the counters with the cleaner.
Boston wasn’t as much fun as I remembered. Now that I wasn’t living in the crazy city, I could see how much I’d been missing in my life. Friends like Gabby and Rainey were nowhere to be seen in the big city. A possible love interest like Luke was out of the question. Even a funny guy like Baker was hard to find. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I missed Casper and the people in it. I’d missed my dad the most, though, and he was on his deathbed. Why did I have to be so damn stupid and refuse to come home? I should have been here for him.
Thank God for Luke. He’d stepped up and been a caregiver to Dad whenever Dad needed him. Despite the feelings he had for me, Luke was a good man, just as Dad had told me that morning. There was no denying his morals or convictions. He would give someone the shirt off his back if the other person were in need.
I smiled as I thought about Luke without his shirt off. The years had only enhanced his good looks. He was even more attractive at twenty-three than he’d been at sixteen when I met him. He’d filled out through the torso in a very appealing way. His chest and stomach muscles were well defined. I felt color rush my cheeks.
Then Dad called out to me. I switched off the radio and shucked the gloves in the sink. I made my way to his bedroom. Several hours later, Rainey and Gabby showed up with pizza, movies, and three bags of junk food. I laughed when it took them two trips to bring everything inside.
“Are you expecting a crowd?” I asked them.
“You never know,” Gabby replied. “We figured your dad had been doing the shopping before you came home, so there wouldn’t be much to eat here. This way, you’re all set for a while.”
“Well, thanks, I guess,” I said.
A full pantry in Boston meant cans of vegetables and fruit, not bags of potato chips, pretzels, and cookies.
“So, you’ll never guess what happened at the grocery store!” said Rainey, practically gushing.
“Do we have to tell her?” Gabby asked.
“Oh, now you must tell me,” I said.
Gabby stubbornly closed her mouth and shook her head, so I looked at Rainey.
“Sorry, Gabs, I have to tell her. We ran into Luke and Baker. And Baker told me they were headed to the bar tonight. Good thing we’re staying in—
I do not want to run in to them again. So they left and we continued our shopping spree and ran into Wolfe,” Rainey said.
“Your ex-husband?” I asked Gabby.
“Not yet. We’re still married because Maine demands a one year separation before the judge will grant a divorce.”
“Yeah, yeah, but that’s not the best part,” Rainey said with a grin. “When he said hello, Gabby punched him. Right in the face!”
“What! Why?”
Gabby became defensive. “He was hitting on Rainey right in front of me. He deserved it.”
Rainey laughed. “He did not. He said it was nice to see me, and ignored Gabby completely. And so Gabby lost her mind.”
“Oh, shut up,” Gabby said. She grabbed a few bags of groceries and made her way to the kitchen.
“You should have seen how jealous she was. If you ask me, that girl still has a thing for her husband,” Rainey whispered.
I smiled. “Well then, we’ll have to see about setting them up again, huh?”
We gave each other a conspiratorial grin and followed Gabby into the kitchen.
“What kind of pizza did you get?” I asked.
“Hawaiian. Your favorite,” Rainey said from somewhere behind me.
I couldn’t believe they thought my favorite pizza was Hawaiian. Hawaiian was Luke’s favorite pizza. My favorite was pepperoni. Had Luke and I been so absorbed in each other that people couldn’t even tell us apart?
“I’m not very hungry,” I said.
“Sure thing,” Gabby said as she unpacked the junk food.
She and Rainey found a place to put everything while I made the excuse to go check on my dad.
“Hey, Mal,” Dad said from his spot on the bed when I entered his room. He saw the look on my face and patted the space beside him. “What’s wrong?”
“Were Luke and I the same person?” I asked without a thought.
“What? When you were together? A little bit, yeah. That’s part of the reason I encouraged you to go to Boston. I knew he wouldn’t want to leave Casper. As much as I liked Luke, I also knew you needed to figure out who you were.”
I took his hand. “You knew Luke and I would break up?”
“I figured it was a likely possibility. Time apart has a way of making people truly realize what they want out of life. I never suspected you wouldn’t want to come back at all, but that was part of the risk I took. I wanted you to know who you could be without Luke so that if you were with him, you would recognize your own potential. And hopefully, so would he.”
“My dad, the philosopher,” I said.
It was true. He knew so much more about me than I knew about myself. He’d known I would need to separate myself from Luke in order to figure out who I was and what I wanted. For a while, I thought I wanted my life in Boston, but now I was starting to see how much I wanted to be in Casper.
“Dad, I’m going to start looking for a job here,” I said with resolve. “I think one of the girls I went to high school with is one of the managers at the bank. Maybe they’ll hire me.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” he asked.
“Yes.” I was surer of the decision to move home than I’d been about anything in my life. “I want to move home. Permanently.”
His eyes lit up and his smile was wide. “I’m glad to have you back, baby girl.”
He pulled me into a hug. I blinked away tears, but I didn’t mind. They were tears of happiness. I was finally moving on with my life instead of running away from it.
“I’m happy to come home,” I whispered into his T-shirt.
When he finally begged me to let him sleep, I meandered back into the living room and found Rainey and Gabby with an open bottle of wine watching reruns of Friends. They both stared at me.
“What’s wrong?” Rainey asked.
“Nothing. In fact, I guess I should tell you guys. I’m moving back to Casper for good.” I smiled.
They both shrieked and jumped off the couch to envelop me in a hug. It felt right.
“What made you change your mind?” Gabby asked once we were settled on the couch.
“My dad. He wanted me to be able to really choose this life, much like he did when he was my age. And being back just makes me realize how much I’ve missed it. I want to spend the rest of my life here.”
Another round of shrieks and hugs had me laughing hysterically. Once we calmed down, we watched Sixteen Candles as if we were all fourteen again.
Several movies later, we were somewhat passed out around the living room and on the verge of sleep. When the house phone rang, we all jumped.
“Who the hell is calling this late?” Rainey asked.
She was curled into a ball on the floor while Gabby and I shared the couch. I rolled off the couch and managed to get to the phone on the fourth ring.
“Hello?” I muttered into the receiver.
“Mallory Wells?” a male voice asked.
I cleared my throat in an attempt to clear my head. “Yes, that’s me.”
“I have Lukas Bates, Christopher Baker, and Wolfe Landon here at The Landing. They’ve given me your number in hopes you’ll be willing to give them a ride home,” he said.
I groaned. “Tell all three of them to go to hell,” I said, then hung up.
Rainey sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Who was that?”
“Luke, Baker, and Wolfe want a ride home from the bar,” I explained.
“They’re with Wolfe?” Gabby perked up. “Since when do they hang out with Wolfe?” She sounded incredulous.
“I hung up. I’m not giving them a ride,” I said. “One of you is more than welcome to, though.”
“We can’t, Mal. We’ve both had several glasses of wine. You’re the only one who stayed sober,” Rainey said.
She was right. I sighed. The phone rang again and I picked it up on the first ring.
“Yeah, I’ll pick them up,” I said and slammed the receiver down. I felt just a pinch of satisfaction, but it wasn’t a lot.
I checked on my dad, who was fast asleep, and then grabbed the keys to Rainey’s minivan. If they were going to puke, they could do so in her car, not mine. I drove to The Landing alone since Gabby and Rainey were already back to sleep by the time I left the house.
I pulled into the parking lot of The Landing and honked. The three men stumbled out of the front door and I watched, amused, as they made their way to the van. Luke was the slowest of the group and when he tried to maneuver the two steps down to the parking lot, he took a tumble. His face landed in the dirt and I realized I was going to have to help him since Wolfe and Baker were laughing hysterically.
I got out and walked to Luke. “Want some help?”
He looked up at me from the ground.
“Mallory? You came.” He sounded amazed that I would show up.
I helped him up to his feet. “Yeah, I came. But only because I’m the only sober one tonight.”
He laughed but didn’t say anything. Once everyone was safely in the van, I asked Wolfe where he was living.
“Oh, I will just crash at Baker’s tonight. I live out on the peninsula and I don’t want you to drive that far,” he said.
He seemed nice enough and I wondered what his and Gabby’s issues were.
“To Baker’s we go then.”
I put the van in drive and headed toward Baker’s apartment. Luckily, the guys were quiet for the ride and there was no puking. When I pulled into the driveway, Baker sat forward and put his hand on my shoulder.
“You’re alright, Wells,” he said with a slight slur. “It’s too bad Bates here can’t get his thumb out of his ass and ask you out again. Tell Rainey I said hello.”
Before I could reply, he was out of the van. The door slid closed and he dragged Wolfe up the steps to his apartment. I turned to Luke. His head rested on the window and his eyes were closed. I waited until I saw the lights flicker on in Baker’s apartment window before I pulled out and drove the fifty-foot stretch to Luke’s apartment.
When I put the van in Park, he didn’t stir.
I nudged his shoulder. “Luke, you’re home,” I said.
He mumbled something but wouldn’t open his eyes. I turned off the van and went around to the passenger door. I made sure to open the door carefully so he wouldn’t fall out. His chocolate brown eyes fluttered open.
“Mal, why do I keep having dreams about you?”
Luke dreamt of me? I thought, quelling a surge of unexpected excitement. I smiled as I pulled him out of the van. He swayed on his feet, but didn’t topple over.
“Let’s get you upstairs, Luke,” I said.
He let me guide him to his apartment. Once we made it into his living room, he collapsed on the couch. I figured he’d be all right to sleep it off there. I didn’t want to try to haul him up and into his bedroom. I pulled off his work boots and tossed them by the door.
His eyes were closed but a huge grin spread across his face. “You can keep undressing me, Mallory,” he said with a seductive tone.
“I think maybe you should sleep alone tonight, Luke.”
“Just like every other night of my life. I have to suffer while you and Jason get to be together in Boston,” he muttered.
Again with the Jason thing, I thought, wondering where he’d heard the name. “How do you know about Jason?”
“You called me Jason last night when I put you to bed.” He slurred his words.
Ahh … That’s how he knew, I thought. He must be jealous.
“I have a secret to tell you, Luke,” I leaned down close to his face.
His eyes popped open and he looked into my eyes.
“I promise I won’t tell anyone, Mal.”
“Jason and I aren’t together anymore.”
I placed a chaste kiss on his lips but pulled away before I could enjoy it too much. There wasn’t a man on the planet who could kiss like Luke Bates, and I didn’t want to ruin it with a drunken kiss from Luke.
“Goodnight, Luke.”
Chapter Twelve
Luke
My head throbbed painfully. The sun was up and shining brilliantly through the living room window. I squinted my eyes against the bright glare and sat up slowly. Once my feet touched the floor, I rested my elbows on my knees. I ran my hands through my hair in an attempt to clear the fog that clung to my brain. Last night was the first time in a long time I’d passed my limit. Since my community college days, in fact, I hadn’t done more than get a good buzz on. I planned to blame Baker and Wolfe.
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