She nearly choked, she started laughing so hard. “That’s not what I meant!”
I rolled my eyes. “I know. You’re so gullible.”
Poppy rode with me to the pub, so she could wait for Ford to finish his shift and go home with him. When we got in my car, I noticed the time was only 5:38.
“Why are we going out so early? I just ate lunch like two hours ago.”
Poppy shrugged. “Leah told me to be there by 6:00, which means I have five hours to hang out until Ford gets off work.”
“I’ll keep you company,” I offered. Anything to keep me away from my house and a possible run-in with Adam. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to avoid him for the rest of his one year lease, but right then I was only worried about taking it one day at a time.
It only took us a few minutes to drive to downtown Penn Yan, and Leah and Lindsay weren’t there yet. So I grabbed a big table in the corner while Poppy went to say hi to Ford. I’m sure it had only been a few hours since they’d last seen each other, but when she walked over, Ford grabbed her around the waist and hauled her up against him. They kissed for what seemed like forever, until a couple of guys at the bar started banging their beer bottles and whistling.
Poppy walked over to the table looking a little dazed. If she wasn’t one of my best friends and the sweetest girl on the planet, I would be jealous. Okay, maybe I was a little jealous, but I was also happy for her. She and Ford had been through some rough times, but in the end they were together. In all of my past relationships, I had been the only one to go through rough times.
The bell on the door jingled as it was pushed open and a noisy crowd poured in. I smiled when I saw it was our crowd - Leah and Josh, who was holding their almost one year old daughter, Maddy, and Lindsay and Grady, who had their two month old daughter, Brie, strapped to his chest in a Baby Bjorn. The green tinge of jealousy bubbled up again, but quickly vanished when they all came over to the table. There were hugs all around between the girls, while the guys immediately went to the bar.
Leah dropped into her chair and blew a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. “I’m exhausted. Getting Maddy out of the house is exhausting.”
Lindsay brushed her long blonde hair behind her shoulder and shrugged nonchalantly. “I didn’t have any trouble with Brie. Now getting Grady to put her down long enough to strap her in the carseat…that’s another story.”
Leah shot her a look. “Yeah, that’s because she doesn’t move yet.”
“Is Maddy walking? When did that start?” I asked. As far as I knew she was still just crawling a week ago.
“She skipped walking and went straight to running,” Leah said sarcastically, though I could see the pride in her eyes.
From across the room, Josh yelled, “What are you ladies drinking tonight?”
“You know what I like,” Leah yelled right back.
Josh wiggled his eyebrows. “Yeah, I know what you like, baby.”
Leah rolled her eyes and flipped him off.
Lindsay and Poppy didn’t bother to give their drink orders, because, like Leah, their guys knew what they liked to drink. I wished I had someone who knew what I liked to drink.
“Brooke?”
I shook my head. “Just a Diet Coke for me, please,” I shouted. All three pairs of female eyes swung to me.
“Why aren’t you drinking?” Poppy asked, genuinely puzzled. “Oh my God! You’re pregnant! That’s why you’re so weepy.”
“What? No!” I exclaimed. I might need to rethink my drinking habits if my friends thought the only way I wouldn’t drink was if I was pregnant. “I had way too much tequila last night. I don’t need a repeat tonight.”
That seemed to appease their curiosity, and talk turned to how well Brie was sleeping at night and how much Maddy weighed at her last check up. I relaxed back in my seat and let my mind drift to last night. My bare arms got goosebumps, and a shiver ran down my spine when the door bell jingled again. It was the same feeling I had last night - my last memory before the tequila took over.
Chapter Six
Adam
After Brooke ran from my bed this morning and my failed attempt to talk to her through her kitchen door, I left her panties on the doorknob and went back to bed. Many hours and two trips to pray to the porcelain goddess later, I felt steady enough to get out of bed for the day. At 5:30 in the evening.
My stomach growled, reminding me it had been almost twenty-four hours since I had ingested anything that wasn’t alcohol. A quick survey of my fridge turned up two pieces of leftover pizza, a half gallon of milk and a lime. The sight of the lime started my head pounding again.