“What’s going on here?” Stormy wondered.
“Fourth of July weekend,” Brooklyn said as she stomped her feet. “I wasn’t even thinking about that. People are probably out at the lake or on vacation.”
“It’s okay,” Stormy insisted. “Less people to gawk and point at me and call me names.”
Brooklyn’ strutted over to the bar, all 5’9’’ of her, and ordered two Cosmos.
“Happy birthday, Stormy,” she said as she took a sip of her drink and stared around the room. The music was too loud for them to have any real kind of conversation and the lack of other patrons gave them nothing else to talk about.
Stormy sipped her drink and looked down at her watch. It was barely nine, and it was going to be a long night. She didn’t want to bail early on Brooklyn, but she didn’t want to hang out in an empty bar the rest of the night.
She couldn’t help but wonder what Hayden was up to. He was probably out on the lake with his family. They owned a lake house about an hour north of Coleville. She had been there many times in high school, and she knew it was a Goodwin family tradition to spend Fourth of July weekend up there.
“I slept with Hayden,” Stormy blurted out to Brooklyn. She couldn’t help it. He’d been in the forefront of her mind the entire day.
“You did what?” Brooklyn said with her jaw dropped. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“It just…sort of…happened,” Stormy said with a sheepish smile. “I think you’re right. He’s totally in love with me. He’s trying to change. He wants to make it up to me. He wants another chance.”
“And you’re not going to give him another chance, right?” Brooklyn pleaded. “Stormy, how many times do we have to go down this road?”
“People change all the time,” Stormy defended him. “He was crying, Brooklyn. Real tears. Streaming down his face. Begging me to give him another chance.”
“And the second he has you back, he’s going to drop you like a sack of potatoes all over again,” Brooklyn jabbed. “He only wants what he can’t have. Haven’t you figured that out by now?”
Brooklyn rarely got annoyed with Stormy, but Stormy could sense the conversation was getting ugly fast.
“Okay, okay,” Stormy surrendered. She didn’t want to get Brooklyn any more riled up about Hayden than she already was. Brooklyn had been a saint throughout the years, and Stormy had cried to her about Hayden more times than she could count. She understood why Brooklyn was so upset.
The girls sat, once again, in the loud bar, not saying a word to one another. They finished their drinks and exchanged looks of pure boredom.
“Well, should we call this night a bust?” Brooklyn asked, eyebrows raised. “I’m so sorry your birthday night was so lame.”
“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Stormy said with a smile. “You got me out of the house. That’s all that mattered.”
Brooklyn closed her tab, and they walked back outside to her car.
“I should probably just go home now,” Stormy sighed.
Brooklyn squinted at her for a minute before saying, “You just want to go home so you can call Hayden.”
She knew Stormy all too well.
“That’s not true,” Stormy said, though her wrinkled nose gave it away.
“Liar,” Brooklyn snipped. “Whatever. Get in the car. I’ll take you home.”
As they drove the streets of Coleville and turned onto Stormy’s road, she couldn’t help but notice a black car with bright red tail lights sitting in her driveway.
“Is Hayden at your house?” Brooklyn huffed.
“No, that’s not Hayden’s car. I don’t know whose car that is?” Stormy was perplexed. “Wait here.”
She climbed out of Brooklyn’ car and walked up to the driver’s side of the black car. It was just a Toyota, nothing special. The windows were a little dark, but she could see the outline of a man sitting in the seat. She rapped on the window and as it slowly rolled down, she knew immediately that it was Ryder.
“Ryder?”
“Hi,” he said as he studied her reaction. He shut off the car engine and climbed out.
Stormy saw Brooklyn staring hard to figure out who that was. She was probably making sure it wasn’t Hayden. Stormy waved her away until she finally got the hint and left.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I hadn’t heard from you since you left L.A.,” he explained. “You weren’t returning my calls or texts. It’s been weeks. I was worried.”
“So you came all the way here to check on me?” Stormy was bemused and flattered at his bold move.