Page 59 of Thirst For Me
I start cleaning up my painting supplies. “Look. We’ve both seen Mason and his friends going in and out of that bar all week long, and according to the many rumors you’ve already gathered and delivered to my ears, Mason and his brother and their buddies are all single. Bachelors.Playboys.Even if I wanted to go to his stupid bar, I don’t need a reminder of how painfully singleIam by watching everyone else hook up with the town hotties at the local watering hole.”
“Great. Then come with me to this book club meeting.”
I mutter something about social butterflies that she definitely hears.
“And don’t think you can fake sudden food poisoning or something,” she says, unbothered. “You’re going.”
“Okay, okay. Just let me get ready.”
“Yay! Let the awkward forced socializing begin!”
She’s way too happy about this.
“I’d rather eat sushi from a dumpster than do this,” I inform her grumpily.
“I know, sweetie. That’s why youneedto do this.”
“Whydo I need to do this again?” I inquire as Soph and I walk along a quiet country road, carrying our copies ofMurder in the Barnyard. I’m clutching three big bottles of cider—Saskatoon Berry, Rhubarb, and something called Farmhouse Scrumpy—from a cider company over on Salt Spring Island, which I hope is a respectful nod to the craft cider industry in these parts and not sacrilege among the locals.
I’ve got one eye peeled for any sign of Mason, since I keepalmostrunning into him all over town.
Sophie has the gargantuan wood platter we found in the Cozy Cottage kitchen, piled high with finger sandwiches. “Because you need to makefriends,” she insists, “given that Kyle took all your so-called friends except two in the breakup.”
I’m afraid he did. Though to be fair, other than Sophie and Pete, they were his friends first.
“And since you might stay here a while,” she adds, “the sooner you make friends, the better.”
“I am so regretting telling you that I’m considering staying in this one-horse town,” I say distractedly as I hold up my phone, trying to catch a cell signal.
No luck.
“For the record, I haven’t seen even one horse.”
“And how do you know for sure that he took themall?”
“Honey. Name me one person who checked in on you after that meme went out toeveryonein Kyle’s contact list, because they were actually concerned aboutyouand not just hungry for the drama of it all.”
I open my mouth to answer, but she cuts me off with “Other than your mom. And your sister.”
I shut my mouth.
“And now name me one person from his contact list, or yours, who didn’t reach out, that you actuallycareto hear from again.”
I think about it for a moment. “Fuck. I really don’t.”
“Then why are you dreading this book club thing so much?”
“Because I’m terrible at making friends. As evidenced by the fact that I have none.”
“We’ve been friends for years.”
“Only because you started it.”
She rolls her eyes. “So, I’ll help you get started with some new ones.”
She will, if I let her. The woman knows no shyness. I actually met her at a Dirty concert when she was working. I was standingin the lineup to buy a T-shirt, and when I got to the front she said,No, you get a hoodie, then tossed one at me, charging me only for the much less expensive T-shirt.
When I got home, I discovered that she’d scrawled her phone number on the tag with a sharpie. I actually thought she was trying to pick me up, but I called anyway because she seemed cool. We had a laugh about it and we’ve been thick as thieves ever since.
