Unfortunately, bravery was contagious. All it took was one slightly tipsy girl to set a cascade of events in motion. A grandfatherly gentleman stopped by on his way to the bathroom. “Is your house haunted?”
They took a shot.
Ted Mason, the guy who ran the farmer’s market, leaned on the table. “I heard you have a ghost…”
They took a shot.
A table of soccer moms tittered their way over. “Is Sugar Maple Hill really…” The spokesperson asked in hushed tones, unable to finish the sentence.
They took a shot.
On and on it went until Evie’s eyes met mine and she silently begged for help.
Okay. There was no begging, silent or otherwise. My writer’s brain was a little drunk on excitement, but Evie? Evie was a lot drunk. And if something didn’t happen soon, she would be on her way to bad news drunk. Jude and Austin had taken to loudly discussing the ghost, laughing like assholes whenever someone new took the bait and seeing as how I was to blame for all of this, I couldn’t let it go on any longer.
“All right, guys,” I said after their fifth shot. “Something tells me Evie isn’t having as much fun as you.”
She laughed, blinking furiously to focus her eyes. “I’m having fun. You guys are the besht! Who knew I loved tequila so much?”
I glanced at Izzy who didn’t look much better, then at Jude and Austin in turn. They zeroed in on the women, then grimaced.
Jude ran a hand through his blonde hair. “Maybe I didn’t think this one through.”
“You think?”
Evie stumbled to her feet, staggering a little as she detached from her chair. “I’ma gonna commune to the bathroom.” She giggled. “Commune. Communism. Compute. What is it with that word when I drink?” she muttered as she wandered away.
“Thank God I opted out of the game.” I practically growled. “Now I have two drunk women to take home.”
Jude leaned back and threaded his hands behind his head. “Sounds like a problem we all wish we could have.”
“One of them’s my sister, you dip-shit.”
Izzy lifted her hand and twiddled her fingers. “Alex’s sister. At your service.”
“Why don’t I take Izzy home so you can take Evie home?” Jude asked.
My sister panicked. Her hormones screamed yes while common sense said no. Me? I wondered how no one else at the table picked up the fact that she’d been in love with him for years.
“No, no, no.” She waved him away like the bad decision he was. “That’s okay. You’re just as drunk as me. I can get myself home.” Her sentence came out as one long word.
“I am nowhere near as drunk as you.” Jude guffawed. “I have the constitution of a moose. You are a delicate flower who looks like she might blow chunks all over everything.”
“Neither one of those things are true,” I said. “Izzy is not delicate. Nor will she throw up in my car when I take both women home. Will she?” I gave my sister a pointed look and she practically vomited her agreement.
Chapter Ten
Alex
With much stumbling and staggering, I got Evie and Izzy out of the bar. My sister slid into the backseat of my car like a baseball player stealing home and Evie briefly met my eyes before stumbling into the fender. “Whoops. Sorry.”
I couldn’t tell if she was apologizing to me or the vehicle, but I wrapped an arm around her shoulder to steady her anyway. She breathed deeply, her eyes sliding closed as she leaned a cheek to my chest.
“Did you just smell me?” I asked the top of her head.
She bolted upright. Eyes wild. Nostrils flared. “Yes. I mean no. No. I did not just smell you. I mean. I did. I was close enough to get a whiff of your cologne…” Panic tangoed across her face.
I laughed and patted her arm. “Easy, now. Don’t hurt yourself.”
Seeing as she had just smelled me, I felt it only fair to return the favor. As I guided her into the passenger seat, I took a whiff of her hair. Underneath the heavy dose of tequila, I caught something spicy. For someone so delicate, I expected lavender, or apple. Something popular and easy to name.
Guess I didn’t have her quite as pegged as I thought I did.
Izzy chattered away on the short drive to her house, a cute two-story complete with a white picket fence. All she needed was the husband, dog, and two-point-five kids to complete the American dream. After she extricated herself from the backseat, she leaned in through the window and planted a sloppy kiss on my cheek before sashaying up to the front door and disappearing inside.
Evie leaned out her window, smiling and waving. “Bye!” she called to Izzy’s porch, then pulled herself back into the car and to me. Her mouth worked as if she had something to say, but then she stared at her fingers, worrying the hem of her shirt. I threw an arm on the back of her seat and reversed out of the driveway.
“You hungry?” I asked.
“Perpetually,” Evie murmured. “Hungry for validation. For connection. For…” Her eyes went wide. “You meant food. Am I hungry for food.”
“That is the most expected reason to ask that question, yes.”
Evie laughed. “That’s the thing about me. I’m never what you expect.” She threw her hands in the air like she was tossing confetti and mumbled something about exclamation points.
I was finding that to be more true with each passing moment. The woman beside me was nothing like I expected. As I waited at the end of Izzy’s drive, Evie leaned back in her seat and let her head roll my way. I smiled, waiting for her to tell me if she wanted something to eat before I took her home. She stared into my eyes for an extraordinarily long time before a sweet grin teased her lips.
“Yeah,” she breathed. “Connection like that.” Her grin widened and her
