Page 42 of Finding Hayes
“I try,” she said with a laugh. “He makes it easy.”
Wow. We were so convincing, even I was buying our bullshit.
“How is Clara?” Savannah asked.
“She’s doing great. She’s here, and she’ll be thrilled to see you. Let me go find her, and I’ll bring her over. She still talks about you all the time. I swear that winter you spent with her was one of her favorites.”
I didn’t remember Savannah spending a winter with Clara Cook.
“I didn’t realize your captain was Clara Cook’s husband,” she said, after he’d walked away.
“How do you know Clara?”
“She loves to cross-country ski. Remember that little stint where I wanted to be an Olympian, and I decided cross-country skiing was my best chance to get there?”
I just stared at her. “I faintly remember your interest in cross-country skiing, but I didn’t realize it was all that serious.”
“That’s because you had just started dating that heathen, Kate. You were all sexed up and distracted, and I was out there chasing my Olympic dreams.”
“Sophomore year? I was hardly sexed up.”
“Well, it was the first time we’d dealt with a third wheel in our relationship, so we didn’t spend every waking minute together.”
“You were never a third wheel,” I said, pushing the hair away from her face.
“Oh, I know. I was referring to Kate. She was definitely the third wheel.”
A loud laugh escaped my mouth. Damn, she was funny. “Are you claiming I wasn’t present, Shortcake? Because from what I remember, you started dating that boy-band-wannabe, Scotty, shortly after I met Kate, and you were suddenly busy all the time.”
“First off, that’s incorrect. You lost your virginity and your mind all at the same time. And all over that snake of a woman.”
“For the record, I lost my virginity to Carol Parker when I was fourteen. You know that. Kate was just my first serious relationship.”
“Po-tate-o, Po-tot-o. I don’t count Carol Parker because she was older, and that lasted all of thirty seconds,” she said over her laughter.
“Shots fucking fired. I’ll have you know my first time was not like most hormonal teenage boys. I went three rounds and stayed in control. I remember bragging about it to you, but you were completely uninterested.”
“Yeah. I was fourteen. I didn’t even know what you were talking about at the time. Anyway… this is all to say that Clara and I skied together for weeks, and she thought I had real talent.”
Beebs came walking over, looking sheepish. “So, this is your girl, huh? You let me act like a jackass when you knew exactlywho she was?”
“Eh, don’t be so hard on yourself. You might be responsible for all of this starting up, because when you mentioned Sav was in town, I went straight to Whiskey Falls bar to see her.” Savannah glanced over at me in surprise.
That part wasn’t fake.
“So that means you snaked my girl. I had my eye on her first.” He winked at her.
“You had your eye on me? You barely told me your name. We’ve got to teach you how to hit on a lady, Beebs,” Savannah said, as her head fell back in laughter. She’d met all the guys a few days ago when she’d surprised me and brought us all cookies from Magnolia Beans to the firehouse.
She impressed the hell out of everyone.
“How did Rambo possibly land you?” the smartass said, and I just flashed him my cockiest smirk.
“I’m more appealing than you’d think,” I said, as Savannah’s hand moved over mine.
Cap came walking back over with Clara, and she and Savannah acted like long-lost friends. A few of the guys joined us, and we’d formed a half circle on one side of the room.
“Since when do you attend social events?” Stinky asked, holding a small plate loaded with meatballs.
