Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“Charlie was a dick.”
“Was he?” I asked.
Charlie had been my first love. I’d thought he’d be my first. Just when I would have said yes, he put the brakes on it. Told me we were going to different colleges, his parents were moving to Maryland to take care of a sick aunt, and it was unlikely we’d see each other frequently. Plus, he planned to attend school in North Carolina. I was staying in Montana. He said he loved me enough to not want to end up breaking my heart. He wanted us to end things on good terms so we could still be friends.
“He still broke your heart,” Avery said.
That was true. I had stopped going to bonfire parties in Mountainside so we wouldn’t run into each other. Then one night, Avery had convinced me to go to a bonfire party in Mason Creek. I’d agreed because I hadn’t expected to run into anyone I knew. Yet Charlie had been there with another girl.
Mitch Bowmen had come over and said all the right things. He’d called me beautiful, while Charlie had only ever said I was pretty. Not that there should have been a difference, but there was. Mitch had said he was fine just hanging out with me for the night, and we didn’t have to do anything more than that. It had been me, drunk and heartbroken over Charlie, who had decided to make Charlie jealous. And when things got heated, I’d decided Mitch, who was small-town royalty, could be my first with no regrets.
When I remained silent for too long, Avery said, “Charlie sucks. Let’s forget about him.”
“Hold on a second. I’ve got a text from Mom.” I swiped the screen and pulled up the message. “You won’t believe it,” I said.
“What?” Avery asked.
“Mom said she’ll watch Zoe tonight if I want to go out.”
“Seriously?”
Mom didn’t as a rule offer to watch Zoe. It was my punishment for getting myself knocked up. It was my bed, and I had to lie in it, per her.
“Yeah,” I mumbled, still stumped by Mom’s offer.
“We have to go out. Where do you want to go?”
“She said a couple of hours. But honestly, I don’t want to go to the bar in town.” I would know every guy there and none of them were worth a darn. “How about Pony Up in Mason Creek?”
Avery sighed. “There are other towns nearby.”
“Yeah, but we know Mason Creek better. It’s less likely we’ll run into any creeps there. I just want to have fun. Maybe they’ll have karaoke, and you can dazzle the town with your vocals.”
Avery could go on one of those reality singing shows and have a shot at winning.
“I’ll leave that to you,” she teased, knowing I couldn’t hold a tune if my life depended on it.
“I guess I should get dressed and get Zoe ready. How about an hour?”
“Am I driving?” she asked.
“Your car is more reliable than mine.”
“Okay,” she agreed.
An hour later, Avery was at my door. “You look gorgeous as always,” I said.
“You too.”
We both twirled before giggling, as we wore jeans and tops, nothing fancy. “Let’s go. If I’m not back before midnight, Mom will turn me into a pumpkin.”
The drive to the Creek wasn’t long, around twenty minutes. Then we were parking, and the lot was nearly full. Inside, it was standing room only, and we had to wait at the side for an opening at the bar.
“I’ve never seen it this packed,” I said, having to speak directly into Avery’s ear to be heard.
“Look,” she said, and her gaze landed behind the bar.
I couldn’t see at first until one person shifted and the man in question stood upright as if he’d been talking to a patron and wasn’t anymore.
“Nate Bowmen,” I mumbled.
Nate Bowmen was an MLB pitcher, born and bred here. Mitch Bowmen, my daughter’s father, was his brother.
“Are you sure you want to stay?” she asked.
“Screw him. He’s washed up and now works at a bar,” I said, feeling the frown on my face.
Okay, “washed up” was a stretch, but the news didn’t cast him in a favorable light. But Mitch hadn’t ended up being the stand-up guy I’d thought he’d be, because he and his family refused to acknowledge my daughter as one of theirs. I didn’t have warm feelings regarding any member of their family.
“I doubt it. He’s probably doing the owner a favor. No way he goes from making millions to being a bartender. Let’s just find a table.”
That seemed highly unlikely, as it felt like everyone who lived in Mason Creek was here.
We didn’t find a table, but Avery flagged down a server and ordered us some beers. “Just this one,” Avery said after she paid the server, who’d come back quicker than I expected. “Round one is on me.”