“And speaking of girls…” said Penny. “You have a date tomorrownight.”
I blinked. “What?” The last thing I wanted to do was go onsome stupid date with some woman who wasn’t Brooklyn. Not after tonight. Notever. Penny wasn’t an idiot. She could tell I was hurting. But she was way off basefor thinking this was going to help. “I’m not going on some random date.”
“Actually, you are. Because I already made a reservationunder your name at Giordano’s.”
“Then cancel.”
“But I think she’s exactly what you’re looking for.”
“What does that even mean?” She had no idea what I waslooking for. Because despite her asking repeatedly while swiping through randomchicks for hours, I hadn’t ever answered her seriously.
“You told me what you wanted. I found her.”
I’d only joked about wanting Penny. No one else. I didn’twant any of this. “Penny…”
“I know. You’re welcome. You can thank me when you two hit itoff.”
That was not at all what I was about to say.
“And before you ask any more questions, I’m not telling youanything about her. No stalking her before the date and backing out. And shedoesn’t know what you look like either, because I used that picture of the teayou swore you wanted for your profile.” She looked happier and happier as shetalked. “It’s the perfect blind date. I swear I have a really good feelingabout this. I just need you to trust me.”
Damn it. I did trust her. Which made my stomach churn.Because she probably found someone really great. Someone in another life thatmight have been a perfect match for me. But there was no way in hell it couldwork.
“She’ll meet you there at 8.”
I found myself nodding. I couldn’t say no to Penny. Not whenshe looked so happy.
“And what are you doing in here in the dark anyway? Come on,we’re all going out to celebrate your win.”
I was just exhausted. I didn’t want to go out drinking withmy friends. But as I rejoined everyone in the hall, I realized maybe we allneeded this.
Sixteen years ago, we’d ruled this school. We were all happy.We were fucking untouchable. And now? Rob was staring at me seriously and hadabandoned his jokes. Mason looked like he literally wanted to run out of theschool. And James was staring off in the distance, looking almost as depressed asme.
Coming here was like stepping into a time capsule. And yes,there were a lot of good memories at Empire High. But they were tainted withwhat had happened. And the secret I’d made them keep. They’d promised not toever talk about Brooklyn again. Not until I was ready. And they’d kept theirpromise. They’d kept the secret from all their wives. And I was pretty sure itwas eating away at them almost as much it was eating away at me.
And the worst part? Brooklyn would have hated seeing us likethis. She would have wanted all of us to be happy. I took a deep breath. “The firstround is on me.”
Chapter 14
Friday
I took another sip of my beer. I needed to talk to James inprivate. It was bad enough that I’d waited this long after Poppy’s threat. Butnow everyone was having so much fun. Even I was enjoying some of the stories aboutus in high school. I hated to break up the party when everyone was smiling andlaughing so hard. And I was pretty sure Bee was more than tipsy. Which washilarious because she always laughed at everything when she was drunk.
But as tempting as it was to just crack jokes all night forher…this Poppy thing was serious. I was just about to ask James if we couldtalk for a second, when Tanner slid into the empty stool beside me.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said. “What did I miss?” He somehowalready had a beer in his hand.
Had he been here for a while? “I didn’t realize you werecoming,” I said.
“Yeah, the gang invited me.”
The gang? I looked over at my friends. Honestly, agang would be the least likely phrase I’d used to describe this bunch.
“Robert,” Tanner said and nodded to him.
Rob sat up a little straighter. “Tanner.”
I cleared my throat before they could start making jabs ateach other. “We were just talking about the four of us in high school.”
“Ah,” Tanner said. “All the fighting?”
Bee laughed.
“No, we were actually talking about all the good times,” Isaid.
“Interesting.” Tanner took a sip of his beer. “From aslightly outside perspective, maybe it would be better if we did dive into allthe fighting though, yes? In order to move on?”
“We have moved on,” Rob said. “Or else we wouldn’t all besitting here right now hanging out.”
“Have you though?”
Rob stared at him. “Yes, I just said that.”
“But haaaaave you though?”
“We have,” James said. He looked over at me.
I pressed my lips together. I knew James wasn’t really adick. Yes, he’d acted like one when we were teenagers. But he’d had my backever since. It was fall though. And I was always more likely to snap on him inthe fall. Because it reminded me so much of Brooklyn. So yes, we’d moved on as bestI was able to. I couldn’t offer any more.
“Hmm.” Tanner put his glass down on the table. “If you wereall really over it, why did Matt drug you during your bachelor party, James?”
Bee started laughing harder.
“You what?” Penny said.
“It’s not a big deal…” James started.
But Penny cut him off. “Yes it is a big deal. Why the hellwould you do that, Matt?” She was using her authoritative mom voice that alwaysmade me feel in trouble but also slightly aroused.
I opened my mouth and closed it again. I wanted to say I didn’tknow why. But I did. It was because James had been about to get married. And Iwas jealous. I felt like he’d robbed me of that with Brooklyn. Like he had thelife I was supposed to have. And I had been drunk myself that night. And maybea little high. And maybe a
