Nicky took a long sip of her margarita, eyeing me over the glass, and I braced myself. “I’m thrilled to hear all the juicy details about you and Liam, and I definitely want more—a lot more. But first, let’s deal with the elephant in the room. How are you really doing after that shocker last night?”
“Um, I’m okay…”
“Jenna!” she scolded. “The truth!”
I leaned back and looked, really looked, at my friends attentively and worriedly waiting for my answer and decided to answer honestly. “I don’t know. If it was the park you went to every week, would you be okay? Am I supposed to be okay? I’m mad. I’m mad that now I never want to go back.”
“Are you mad or scared?” Juliette asked softly.
“I’m mad that I’m scared.”
“I think that’s reasonable. You don’t need to pretend to be okay,” Nicky said.
“Is pretending so bad?”
“You can try, but you can’t fool yourself,” Nicky said, “or Liam either.”
She was partly wrong. I was usually pretty good at fooling myself. But she was probably right about Liam. “What do I do about Liam?”
“Be honest with him?” Juliette suggested.
Easier said than done, especially when there was so much more I was worried about than anyone knew. “I’m scared his worries will make me more worried, and if I’m even more worried than I already am, how am I going to function?”
“Give yourself the credit you deserve,” Nicky said. “There’s nothing wrong with being cautious. Plenty of people are, with or without the crap you’ve been through. You’re still living your life, and doing an awesome job of it, while being cautious. This is just a little extra of that.”
“Yeah,” Juliette added. “You always push through. You’ll get through this too, and it’s all going to keep getting even better.”
“You’re right. Can we just forget all this and get back to the good stuff?” I tilted my drink toward them with a grin. “To friends, fun, and boyfriends.”
We raised our glasses—three margaritas and one Coke. Hayden wasn’t drinking because she wason duty.I tried to insist she wasn’t, but apparently guarding me counted. And then, as we clinked, Nicky crowed, “And to juicy, sexy stories, too.”
“Shhh!” I hissed, barely resisting the urge to glance over my shoulder to make sure those guys didn’t hear her.
But, of course, that just made her laugh harder.
“You don’t like the margarita?” Hayden asked, her tone suddenly sharp.
I snapped my gaze to her and found her eyes narrowed on me. “I do.”
“You’ve barely had a sip. Don’t force down a drink you don’t like. What do you want instead?” Hayden frowned, already looking for the waitress.
“No, I like this, really.”
Hayden crossed her arms and raised a brow. Man, I wouldn’t want to be interrogated by her.
“Really,” I insisted. “I like the salt.”
Her lips wavered, a tiny crack in her composure she couldn’t hide.
“It’s true,” Nicky said in my defense. “Juliette and I always get just one drink each if we’re driving, but sometimes we’ll have a little extra from Jenna’s, except for when she gets a margarita because she licks the freakin’ rim each time she takes a pretend sip.”
“It’s not pretend. I taste it!”
“Sucking the glass doesn’t count!” Juliette crowed.
They broke out in laughter, and I couldn’t help but join in.
“I agree. Licking salt doesn’t count unless you’re a cow,” Hayden said. “What do youliketo drink?”