Page 24 of Reckless (Adventures in Love 3)
“He’s a smart guy.”
“He is.” She comes over to where I’m taking the meat, cheese, crackers, and veggie tray out of the bags.
“Did you get my message about being pulled over?” I ask her while she opens the veggie tray, takes one of the baby carrots out, and eats it.
“No, you got pulled over? I didn’t even check my phone when I picked it up to come over here.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“For going too slow,” I say, and she blinks at me. “I know, right? I couldn’t believe it either. I mean, who gets pulled over for going too slow.”
“I didn’t even know that was a thing.”
“I didn’t know, either, but apparently it is.” I take one of the trays and start laying out the cheese, crackers, and meat in rows.
“Did you get a ticket?”
“No, but I did get a number.”
“Shut up. The cop that pulled you over gave you his number?” She laughs, letting her head fall back on her shoulders.
“He did.”
“Was he good looking?” she asks, wiggling her brows.
“He was.” I leave out that Maverick is better looking, since she doesn’t even know that I have a weird one-sided crush on the guy.
“Are you going to call him?”
“I don’t know, maybe. I haven’t really decided.” I shrug, setting the tray aside and going to grab a cutting board. “You know I have the worst luck when it comes to men, and I’m kind of enjoying my drama-free life right now.”
“Not all guys are assholes.” She leans into me. “I think that you should call him. I mean, if nothing else, you could use a night out. Also he did pull you over, so that means he has a job.”
“I guess there really always is a positive,” I say, then hear her phone ring. “That’s probably Tanner asking if you’re drunk yet and ready to come home.” I laugh as she puts it to her ear.
“Hey, honey,” she says, then laughs. “No, we don’t want pizza. We are being fancy tonight and eating finger foods.” She shakes her head. “Okay, well, tell him hi, and I’ll see you in a bit. Oh, wait.” She stops him before he can hang up. “Can you believe that Jade got pulled over for driving too slow?” She pauses. “I know, right, but the funniest part is the officer gave her his number.” She laughs. “Right? So crazy. Okay, I love you. Kiss Claire for me and tell her I will be home soon.” She hangs up, then takes her cell to the counter and sets it down. “Mav and Tanner are ordering pizza and wanted to see if we wanted some.”
“Mav is there?” My heart does a little flutter. The stupid thing really doesn’t know any better.
“He is,” she says while gathering the bottles of wine and placing them on the counter. “He’s been around a lot more lately, which is nice. I know Tanner was worried about him for a while; really we all kind of were.”
“Why?” I ask, feeling way more curious than I probably should.
“He kind of pulled away from us around the time I had Claire and Blake got together with Everly.” She smiles. “Personally I think he has a girlfriend that he’s not telling us about for whatever reason and has been spending time with her.” She shrugs. “Hopefully this new leaf he’s turned over means that we will get to meet her soon.”
“Hopefully,” I agree, even though the thought of him having a girlfriend makes me feel nauseous.
“All right, enough about the guys.” She fills two glasses with rosé and brings them over to where I’m standing. “Let’s have a glass of wine and toast to tonight. Hopefully when this evening is over, we will be ready to move forward with signing off on the store.”
“I will for sure toast to that.” I clink my glass against hers, and we both take a sip before we finish getting everything ready.
Around forty minutes later, the girls we invited over start to arrive, and by the time they all leave three hours later, I’m a little more convinced that we need to do this.
Heather, a single mom in town, makes a living selling her handmade jewelry online, and every piece she brought with her is something I would buy for myself. Lonnie, a girl who grew up here, makes and hand paints pottery, which she also sells online, each mug, plate, and bowl going for over sixty-five dollars, which at first I thought was insane until I saw them in person and realized they really are like pieces of art that you use every day. And then Mary, an older woman who reminded me of an elegant bohemian goddess, designs hand-painted signs and plaques with cute little sayings on them, and the book ones she brought me as a gift are something I will gladly display. Not only was each woman talented in her craft, but I could tell they love what they do, and seeing that made me realize that if we go through with this, we will not just be making one of my dreams come true; we will be making that happen for them too.
