The Wright Brother(98)

Jensen grabbed my arm. “How the hell did you get away with that?”

“Give it a rest, Jensen.”

He sighed and dropped my arm. “What happened?”

“Look, we had a fight, and I left without her. The end.”

“Must have been a pretty big argument for her not to come with you,” Jensen prodded.

Jensen, like the rest of my family, hated Miranda with a fiery vengeance. He might think he was able to keep his distaste for her under wraps, unlike my sister Morgan, but he didn’t fool me. Only my youngest sister Sutton was any good at pretending she liked Miranda.

“I’m leaving her, man. Is that what you wanted to know?” I spat at Jensen.

He stared back at me stunned. Maybe he never thought I’d actually do it. Miranda had pushed and pushed and pushed, and I’d never broken. There were reasons for all of that. Reasons I’d handled the Wright way with no one else knowing about them. But she’d crossed the line, and I’d had enough.

“Landon, you know that I just want you to be happy.”

“Yeah, well, I need a drink not a lecture.”

I stumbled over to the bar and ordered that drink, making sure to angle away from Emery. We were on all right terms now, but since this was all about high school, I didn’t want to dredge up those awkward memories. Maybe I’d just find some of my old football buddies.

Or the blonde at the pool table in the back of the bar.

My eyes found Heidi Martin, Emery’s best friend, as she stood up to her considerable height. She was surely making a fool out of her opponent since I’d personally seen her hustle more than her fair share of unsuspecting victims.

We’d known each other for years. She’d been a cheerleader when I was the starting quarterback in high school. We’d hung out more times than I could count while I was dating Emery. But when I’d come back over Christmas, it was like seeing a whole new Heidi. She oozed confidence and power, she made everyone smile, and she did it all effortlessly. Heidi Martin had completely come into her own.

A fact that I had felt increasingly guilty for noticing.

And so, I had cut off all contact with her.

Time to fix that mistake.

I strode down the bar and straight to the pool tables. Heidi’s blue eyes lifted from the table and landed right on me. Her smile grew, but warily. She hadn’t forgotten how abruptly I had stopped talking to her.

“Heidi,” I said, taking her in like a breath of fresh air.

“Hey Landon,” Heidi said. Her eyes looked over my shoulder as if she were trying to figure out if I was alone. “Where’s your wife?”

“She’s not here,” I answered for her.

“Oh,” she said. Though she didn’t seem upset by that notion. “Sorry she couldn’t make it.”

“Are you?” I asked curiously.

She laughed and shook her head. “Are you drunk?”

“I might be a bit inebriated, yes.”

“Ah. Inebriated, are we?” she asked with an eye roll. “Guess you can’t be too drunk then.”

“Never know. I’m still an intelligent drunk.”

“Sure, you are.” She pushed her blonde hair out of her face and smiled as she seemed to be warming up to my presence. The next person missed their shot, and she proceeded to run the table. “Another round?”

The guy shook his head. “No way in hell. Find someone else to embarrass, Martin.”

She shrugged and leaned on the pool stick as she turned her attention to me. “So, what’s new with you?”

“A lot actually,” I told her. “Can we go somewhere to talk?”

“Somewhere not being here?”

“Somewhere…more private,” I said. Then I dropped my voice. “I just…don’t like the way we left things.”

“Oh Landon,” she said with her characteristic laugh as if nothing bothered her. Even though I knew it did. “Don’t even worry about it.”

“Heidi,” I said softly, stepping closer to her. Her body tensed as I drew near, and she took a shallow breath. “Please.”

“All right,” she said, stumbling backward a step. Her eyes were wide and desirous, but she quickly shuttered them and got herself back under control. She put on a big smile and nodded. “Sure, I’d love to catch up.”

She placed the pool stick back in its slot and then nodded her head to the side. I followed her to a booth in the back of the room. There were already a group of people at the reunion   from our senior class plus their dates. I knew right away that talking in a booth in the back of the room was tantamount to announcing that something nefarious was going on. I didn’t want anyone to overhear us. I didn’t want anyone to see us.