Page 126 of Now and Then

Hunter’s words float through my mind and all at once, I let the tight coil of trying to make everything “right” go.

Navy takes a bit of muffin. “Have you slept off all that Hunter-induced adrenaline yet?”

I laugh. “Getting there.” Greer and Navy don’t need to know that we’ve been making up for lost time and can hardly take our hands off each other. Not that I mind making up for lost time. Not one bit.

“How did your date go, Navy?” Greer asks. “What was his name again? Tim? Tom? Something with a T.”

“Wait, you had another date?” I ask.

Greer almost has the entire kitchen painted, so instead of getting in her way, I join Navy and grab one of her new muffin concoctions, the top coated in sparkling crystals of sugar. I take a massive bite from the top, groaning at the warmth and whatever magic she apparently baked into it this time.

Navy stares in horror. “Someday you’ll learn to savor food.”

I shrug and take another huge bite.

“You’re impossible,” Navy says. “But to answer your question, I did. And his name is Theo.” She passes me a mug of steaming coffee with the perfect amount of creamer. I’m not sure who I pleased in my last life, but having a best friend who’s a coffee expert is a dream come true.

“Okay?” Greer and I say at the same time.

“That about sums it up,” Navy says. “We went bowling.”

“Bowling?” I snort and end up choking on a morsel of muffin. I gulp down some water.

Greer laughs and moves to the far area of the dining room. I’m not sure where she learned to paint this well and this fast, but maybe I should hire her for future projects.

“Yeah, yeah,” Navy says. “Laugh it up.”

“You hate bowling,” I say.

Navy rolls her eyes. “Yeah, well, not all of us are lucky enough to have a best friend to fall in love with, and some of us have to do dumb shit in hopes of meeting a man.”

“But you hate bowling,” I say. “In fact, you hate most sport-like hobbies except one.”

Navy shrugs, grabs an edging brush, and trims around the countertops. “Theo didn’t know that, now did he? And I’m trying out the whole Don’t crush a man’s spirit on date one thing. You know, be more dateable.”

Greer snorts. “You’re already dateable. But it is a good thing he didn’t take you to putt-putt.”

“I would have annihilated him,” Navy says, dead serious. “I don’t play mini golf for fun. I play to win.”

We all laugh, the kind of laugh that soothes the frazzled pieces inside me. Maybe it’s the paint fumes. Or the sugar. Or the fact that, for the first time all week, I feel okay going with the flow.

“Are you going to see him again?” Greer asks.

“Maybe.” Navy drags the brush along the cabinet’s edge. “He’s very sweet. He listened. Asked questions that didn’t make me want to jump off a bridge. I know, the bar is very low.”

I nod approvingly. “Listening is a green flag.”

“So is being hot,” Navy says, “which Theo definitely is.”

Greer laughs. “What you’re saying is the date wasn’t a disaster. That sounds promising.”

“It was fine. Nothing earth-shattering,” Navy says, and points her brush at me. “Enough about my lame love life. How are you?”

I lift a brow. “How am I what?”

Navy gives me a look that makes me want to shrivel up and hide in a corner. Woman could earn a medal for her death glare. Greer pauses her painting too, like she’s waiting for my answer.

Oh. That.