Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Lu
"She was a total bitch about it. So we broke up. That doesn't mean she needs to keep calling me and key my fucking car."
I stared in horror as my date continued his play-by-play of his recent breakup around open-mouthed bites of mozzarella sticks. "We were only together for four years. It's not like we were married."
Leighton's phone buzzed on the table, and he rolled his eyes before snatching it up. "There she is again." But his thumbs tapped out a reply for—I checked my phone—two minutes and twelve seconds.
"I told her I had a date tonight," he groused, reaching for a cheese stick as our server delivered another Jack and Coke. "That's definitely why she's texting. Trying to get under my skin."
I tried to make eye contact with the young twentysomething server to, I don't know, commiserate or signal that he should maybe stop serving this guy, but no such luck.
"Breakups are hard," I offered weakly, feeling dread pool in my stomach.
I hadn't wanted to be here in the first place. It had been over a week since the kiss with Noah. I hadn't heard from him or seen him at all. Cody had encouraged me to hit the dating scene again and let the thing with Noah go. It had sounded reasonable at the time.
The guy I'd agreed to meet tonight, Leighton Brody, had seemed pretty innocuous on paper—well, on the dating app. Sandy hair and big brown eyes gave him a boyish look, but his beard was giving eighties stockbroker vibes along with the white blazer he wore. He was employed at a bank and worked in Balfour, the next town over. In our brief texting exchange a few days ago, he hadn't seemed like a complete douchebag who'd just gotten out of a long-term relationship. But here we were.
Leighton ignored me and kept up the steady stream of complaints about his ex. "I told her I wasn't ready to get married and have kids. I mean, come on. I'm only thirty-four."
Well, his profile said he was twenty-eight, so I felt like I was misled in the relationship as well.
The server returned with an impatient stare and asked what we'd like to order.
"No rush, my man," my date replied cheerfully and then held up his glass. "Grab me another on your way back while we browse the menu."
The server took off with a sigh, and my eyes nearly bulged out of my head as Leighton drained his second drink.
There was no way I would make it through dinner with this asshole. On the other hand, he'd need the food to absorb some of the alcohol so we could eventually leave this restaurant. Inwardly, I cursed myself for agreeing to let Leighton pick me up. I sure as shit wasn't going to call for a Huber and have to see Noah again when he clearly didn't want to talk to me. The text he'd left on read three days ago proved that.
Maybe I could just drive Leighton's car and take him home to sleep it off. And then grab a ride from my dad or Cody back to town. My friend should be off work by then, even if my dad was busy. I'd have to figure it out because I didn't want Leighton driving drunk.
His phone continued buzzing and lighting up on the table. Between polishing off his third drink and the remaining mozzarella sticks, my date engaged in a heated exchange with his former girlfriend that required all of his attention and focus.
Thank God.
This was by far the worst first date I'd ever been on. I'd take the no-shows and the ghosting midmeal to this horrible experience any day. Hell, even that guy and his mom had been better company than this. No one wanted to listen to someone complain about their ex for—I checked my phone again—forty-eight minutes and counting. And I hadn't even gotten one of those mozzarella sticks.
"You know what, Leighton?" His gaze stayed fixed on his phone.
I tried again. "Leighton."
The jerk had the nerve to hold up a finger and mumble, "Give me a minute here."
Huffing an angry breath, I imagined myself shooting a fireball out of my nostrils. Nothing was worth this. I'd be single forever. Get some plants and an army of cats before I ever settled for this guy.
Leighton reached blindly for another mozzarella stick but he'd already eaten them all and looked up in confusion when his hand came up empty.
"So," I said, drawing his attention away from the appetizer plate in the middle of the table. "I think we should call it a night."
His dark eyes narrowed in my direction. "Yeah, that's probably for the best. I'm not feeling this. You're not really my type."
I put my hands in my lap to avoid lunging for the butter knife sitting on the tabletop.
"Right," I gritted out. "So if you want to just hand me your keys, I'll drive you home and catch a ride back to Cozy Creek."
Leighton scoffed. "You can't drive my baby."
I wanted to roll my eyes. He'd picked me up in a two-seater red sports car that was completely impractical for living in the mountains. It had been so low to the ground that if I hadn't been wearing tights under my dress, I would have flashed innocent bystanders while I climbed out of the car.
"Listen," I replied calmly despite how tempting that butter knife still looked. "You just pounded three drinks in less than an hour. If you try to drive out of here, I'll call the sheriff's office. You can let me drive, or you can call for a ride for yourself. But I'm not getting in a vehicle with you behind the wheel, and I'm not letting you endanger other motorists."
"Other motorists," he mimicked in a high voice. "Listen to you. You're still not driving my car. You probably can't even drive a stick. We can call for a ride."
God, he was infuriating.
I paid the bill just to move things along.
It wasn't until we stood on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant that drunk Leighton seemed to realize he couldn't just request a ride-share from his phone app. "There are no drivers nearby. How is that possible?"
Because Cozy Creek is too small and out of the way to warrant popular ride-share chains. But I didn't say any of that. I had my phone up to my ear, praying my dad hadn't already turned in for the night. My hopes didn't immediately sink, though. Not until Cody didn't answer either, instead, he texted me to say he was still at work at the Lodge and would call me in two hours when he finished the prep work for the following day.
Cody: I can't wait to hear all about your date!
A growl might have left my throat.
I swallowed uncomfortably when I realized we didn't have a lot of options. "Can you get a hold of anyone to come get you?" I asked, my voice losing hope the longer we stood out in the frigid night air. "Maybe your ex?" Since she was apparently available to keep up a constant barrage of text messages.
"I am not calling that bitch for anything."
Okay then. Once a douchebag, always a douchebag.
I could walk home. It was a couple of miles, but I could do it. However, I didn't really trust this guy to get home without wrapping his midlife crisis mobile around a tree or hurting some innocent person in the process. It was a twenty-five-minute drive to Balfour, at least. A lot could happen on the dark roads between here and there.
"Give me your address," I said sharply enough to get Leighton's attention. He obliged and then went back to ignoring me.
With a resigned sigh, I navigated to my recent call list and found the number I was looking for. After relaying the pertinent information, I sat on the curb and tucked my skirt around my legs. It was nearly October, and the nights were crisp and cold. About a million stars twinkled in the sky, but I couldn't enjoy the sight. I wished I had a hot chocolate. I wished I was at a bonfire with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders. I wished I was home on my couch. Basically anywhere but here with Leighton the Douchebagface? while I awaited my depressing fate.
"Our ride will be here in a few minutes," I said after Leighton dropped to sit next to me. His attention was already back on his phone.
This was quite literally the last place I wanted to be.
Noah
I stared at the ride request from Jimmy and then stared some more.
The pickup location was the same restaurant I'd taken Lu to weeks ago—our very first ride. But the destination was not Lu's apartment nearby. It was an address over in Balfour. Navigation said it was twenty-eight minutes away.
With my mind spinning and dread gathering, I pulled into the parking lot of the upscale restaurant, and everything became a whole lot clearer. Lu waited outside with another man, and suddenly, all my disappointment solidified into something bitter and resentful.
I'd been beating myself up for over a week. And then when Lu had texted me a few days ago, I'd stared at it like a moron. I'd kept staring at it. Looking at my phone randomly and wishing I was braver or smarter or someone she deserved.
Can we talk?
That was it. Unexpected after the way I'd freaked out on her but there it was—a lifeline cast out in the middle of the ocean. Three words that had me simultaneously spiraling and hopeful. She hadn't written me off.
Every time I picked up my phone and stared at Lu's text, I thought about replying, telling her I was sorry. That I never should have said I regretted kissing her. She hadn't deserved that. Kissing her had been amazing, life-changing, perfection. And she was perfect, too. I was the one who was so fucked up.
I was too scared to trust myself and too scared to trust her either.
But as I stopped in front of the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, I thought I might have made the right decision after all. Whatever this was, it made me feel foolish to have been mooning over her text message. It made me feel spiteful and angry, too. It was clear that Lu hadn't been staring at her phone, hoping for a response. She'd been making other plans instead, and I had no one to blame but myself.
Lu rose gracefully to her feet, but the guy beside her wobbled enough that my eyes darted to hers in surprise. She was ignoring him, though, already on her way to my window as her companion stumbled toward the Bronco.
I hit the button to lower the barrier between us, and she rushed out, "Noah, I'm sorry to make you come here. But this whole thing is not what you?—"
Whatever she wanted to say was lost in the sounds of pretentious asshole as her date struggled into the back seat. "Man, not much room back here."
I nearly rolled my eyes. The guy was maybe five feet eight inches. He'd survive the lack of legroom.
"Noah—" Lu was interrupted again by the guy who I assumed was her date.
"Let's get this show on the road, sweetheart!"
Even in the dimness of the parking lot, I could see her face flush scarlet. So I turned my gaze forward and set up navigation to take us to the address I'd been given.
Lu stood beside my window for another eleven seconds before giving up and getting in the back seat.
I resisted the urge to glance at her in my rearview mirror.
What was she doing here with this idiot? And why was she calling me—the guy she'd kissed a week ago—to come and get her? Was she trying to make me jealous?
I didn't like games, and everything about this scenario gave me a bad feeling.
Pulling back out onto the road, I turned the Bronco in the direction of Balfour. The interior of the vehicle was painfully quiet. The vibe was all off, and I had no idea what was happening. Nothing about Lu and this mystery guy felt like they'd been on a date or even knew each other. But I had to assume I was driving them somewhere together—possibly his house.
Why was Lu going home with this guy? They weren't even talking. His face was illuminated by the phone in his grip holding all his attention. Lu was staring out the window at the view rushing by on the two-lane highway. Maybe he was someone in her family—her stepfamily that treated her like garbage?
But that theory went out the window when I heard Lu pipe up from the back seat a moment later. "What—what are you doing?"
"Shhh," the guy whispered and then giggled like the drunk dumbass he was. "Come here."
"Um, no." Shoes shuffled on the floorboard. "What are you—no, stop it." My eyes flew to the mirror, but it was dark. There were sounds of clothes rustling and more scrambling.
I sat up straighter. "Hey."
But Lu was already screeching, "Leighton, Jesus, get your hands off me."
Well, that was clear enough. The bright lights of a gas station were fast approaching on my right. I made sure there was no one behind me and slammed on my brakes to slow us enough to swing into the lot of the convenience store.
Throwing the Bronco in park, I jumped out and went around to the asshole's door. Wrenching it open, I grabbed the back of a ridiculous white blazer and pulled the guy out of the back seat and away from Lu.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" He stumbled back, arms windmilling before he landed hard on his ass.
"She told you to stop, dipshit. Now you can walk home." I peered over my shoulder and saw Lu standing near the back of the SUV, arms crossed and features as closed off and angry as I'd ever seen them. "Unless you want to press charges, Lu? We can call it in."
"No, I want to go home."
"You have got to be kidding me," he snarled from the ground.
"You're lucky I'm leaving you here instead of the side of the highway."
"Fuck you," he spat, still making no attempt to get off the ground.
I heard Lu's door close and gave the asshole one more look that said I will back over you with my car and not feel bad about it before I returned to the driver's side and climbed in.
After I shifted into drive and directed us back toward Cozy Creek, I cleared the residual anger from my throat and asked into the quiet between us, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. He was just drunk and handsy all of a sudden." I watched Lu tug the ends of her coat tighter around herself before focusing back on the road. "This wasn't how things were supposed to go tonight. I just want you to know that I didn't mean?—"
"It's okay," I said, interrupting whatever explanation she felt like she owed me. The truth was, Lu didn't owe me anything. She'd had a shitty night with another loser first date. But she had gone on another date.
Yes, I was the idiot who'd kissed her and then said it was a mistake. I'd initiated something I had no business following through on.
I didn't expect Lu to sit around and pine for me. That would have been selfish and hypocritical. But seeing her waiting on the curb tonight with that guy had done something to me. Knowing that she'd called for a ride, knowing it would be me who showed up . . . well, it hurt. Thinking I was taking her back to his place made me remember that I didn't like being toyed with.
When women got bored and decided to play games with me, I ended up the loser, every time.
"It's okay?" Lu repeated my words, voice incredulous. "That's all?"
My hands tightened around the steering wheel reflexively. "I don't know what you want me to say, Lu. I'm glad you're okay. I'm taking you home. That's my job."
"Your job," she replied quietly. I could see her nodding to herself when I glanced in the rearview mirror.
I forced myself to loosen my grip on the wheel and reposition my hands.
Silence stretched between us, and I had no one to blame but myself. I didn't feel any better when I pulled into Shady Peaks.
For once, Lu had cash ready and waiting. She didn't need to dig around in her massive purse. She laid the folded bills for the cost of her ride on my center console. "Thanks for tonight."
And before I could reply, she was out of the Bronco and striding toward her building.
Hitting the button, I lowered my window on instinct. A word rose in my throat but never made it past my lips.
Lu kept her head down and marched into her building as regret crept in along with the night air.
I didn't tell her to stop. I let her walk away instead.
My phone buzzed with an incoming text from Jimmy, but I didn't drive away until I saw the light click on in the apartment I knew was Lu's. I knew because I'd been in there. We'd spent time together. Become friends. And then I'd fucked it all up by kissing her, thinking about possibilities and a future in this tiny town.
Maybe we could have made it as friends for a while. Ignored the attraction we both felt. I could have pretended I didn't notice that string that connected us—the one that made every encounter feel like a sunlamp was warming me from the inside out. Maybe I could have disregarded all the complicated feelings I had for Luanne Billings. For a while at least.
But I wouldn't get a chance to test the theory. I'd pushed her away and run her off. Friendship wasn't even in the cards for us anymore.
It was better this way. We could stop before anyone got really hurt. And before the pretending became impossible.
I knew it was for the best, but as I sat there watching that rectangle of warm golden light, I felt the loss of her like a wound—my reality going cold and numb.