TATE: Harlow owes me forty bucks. She totally bet on Con going to the minors.
HARLOW: FU Tater Tot! Liar. I only bet ten bucks!
TENLEY: Living with the Captain? Abbott Barlowe? He’s hot.
GRADY: You’re not his type.
MAYHEM: See you when you’re back in Maine. Can’t wait to go to a home game!
I actually smile at that and respond to Mayhem.
Can you bring Mac? If she’s not working.
There's a moment of silence, which is a lot for this gaggle of unrelenting chatterboxes. I know there are other family chat groups I'm not a part of, like one for just the female cousins and one for all our parents. I wonder if they're all off on those now, gossiping about me and Mac. I decide to add another text even though I really just want to sleep.
Forget it. I’ll ask her myself.
Tenley: Look at you, big boy!
Her snarky praise, along with three clapping hands emojis, is a bit much, even for her sarcastic ass. I send her a middle finger emoji, and then silence my phone and put it face down on the night table so I can finally grab some shut-eye.
Chapter 21
Mac
Ishouldn’t have come anyway. It’s pure stupidity on my part. I can’t believe that I’m wasting a night off, alone, at a party I didn’t want to come to in the first place. I sip my wine but it’s like acid on my tongue. I give up on the small plate of charcuterie I have in my hand too and place it on one of the empty tables in the corner of the room by the fireplace, which is roaring and making my back sweat.
“Can we move?” Shelby asks, her blue eyes looking pained. “I’m too hot on this side of the room. Maybe we can lurk by the windows.”
“Or we could go stand in our own apartments,” I suggest with eager eyes. “How about I go stand in my bathroom, while I draw a bubble bath and you go stand in your living room, watching the rest of that series you told me you had started marathoning.”
Shelby smiles. “I understand why that seems like a good option to you, but let’s give it at least until midnight. It’s only twenty minutes away. Then we can sneak out.”
“Fine. Whatever.” She takes my hand and pulls me over by the bay window that overlooks the ninth tee. “It was nice of youto come with me. As much as I hate being here I would have been in the seventh layer of hell without you.”
“As opposed to the fourth layer with me?” Shelby questions and grins. “Don’t thank me, when Con called and told me he was trapped by a cyclone bomb I couldn’t say no. He literally threatened my life if I didn’t help. But don’t worry, I would have never left you hanging.”
I take another sip of wine at the mention of my fake boyfriend. Conner had planned to be here, as he promised, and had texted me, the day after leaving me that note in the middle of the night. His team had a game in Minnesota on the thirtieth, but he told me he would be flying back to Maine that night, right after the game. His texts were brief and almost business-like, but they still took the sting off the way he'd disappeared in the middle of the night.
And then the doorbell rang as I was getting ready for this party and I just assumed it would be him. Between my shift at work and getting ready, I had been too busy to reach out. And I didn’t want to appear too desperate. But it was Shelby on the other side of my front door, not Conner. She was wearing a sparkly red dress, heels, and a sympathetic smile. “Conner sent me.”
And that's how I learned what a cyclone bomb was and that I should have probably looked at the weather in the Midwest. I tried to cancel and just stay home but Shelby insisted we go. Conner texted me and told me I had to do it, and that wherever he was, he would FaceTime me at midnight so TP could see how happy we were whether he was actually there or not.
I wanted to tell him not to bother, that this was getting ridiculous. We should just let the charade go, but Shelby was dressed up and well, it kind of felt like I had to play this out. But I’d spent the last two hours unhappy about it.
“Oh my gosh, why are you two hiding over here?”
And I was about to get unhappier. I look over to see Heather coming up to us with the biggest fake smile I’ve ever seen. Tenley’s Christmas tree looks more authentic. She stops dead in front of both of us. “You guys should be on the dance floor, like everyone else. The DJ is killer!”
Why does she have more enthusiasm than a cheerleader at a pep rally? Shelby sips her wine. “We’re good.”
I love the casual coolness Shelby always has. Nothing ever seems to get under her skin. I wish that was me. Heather turns to be, her brown eyes inquisitive. “Where’s Conner?”
“Stuck in a blizzard in Minnesota,” I tell her and her face drops into a frown as exaggerated as her smile was.
“Aw! That sucks,” she says in a way that is too upbeat and perky to get me to believe she thinks it actually sucks.
"Babe! There you are," Beckett's voice hits my eardrums and I have to bite back a groan. He sidles up to Heather and nods at Shelby but I get nothing more than the stare. He turns back to Heather, reaching for her hand right in front of me. It doesn't hurt to see like it would have months ago, but it's still awkward. "I need you upfront with me, I have to make an announcement."