Page 20 of The Best I Never Had

I pause with my hand on the door, looking at the group over my shoulder. “Harrison. No.”

A sense of dread floods my body when Harrison wiggles his eyebrows. “Yes.”

Is there anything more uncomfortable than being stuck in a car with a group of people and not knowing how to behave? Are Thea and I friends? Keeping a respectful, cautious distance? Should I pretend like we never dated? That certainly would be the easiest option.

At least I have a bit of distance from her. Harrison’s up front in the passenger seat while the girls hang in the back. The ride so far has been full of Harrison’s chatter, telling Thea all about his history with Addy. The first time they met (“She was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen”). When he knew he loved her (“Ages before she loved me”). His proposal story (“I was so nervous”).

Addy’s usual forced smile has relaxed into something more natural. She still lets Harrison take the lead like she did at the welcome party, but she jumps in now and then with a comment or correction instead of standing to the side like a garden statue, pretty, but with none of the engaging energy of the plants around her. For the first time, I wonder if she’s more. Maybe a flower herself that can’t bloom in the shade of others.

I’ve always loved basking in the glow of Harrison’s enthusiasm, and from the glimpses I’ve gotten of Thea, she feels the same. Her shoulders are relaxed, her eyes bright, and every time he makes a joke, she throws her head back, her laughter bouncing around the car like it’s coming through the very best sound system.

“Tell me about yourself,” Harrison says to her, turning all the way around in his seat to face them.

“Um, well … I was a server at Cibare. This small Italian restaurant near downtown,” she says, stumbling over her words in a self-conscious way that doesn’t feel like Thea at all.

My mind snags on the past tense, a knot filling my throat. “Was?”

She loved her job. At Camila’s wedding, she told my family about helping one of her favorite regulars plan a massive surprise fiftieth anniversary party for his wife, complete with all their out-of-town grandkids. She practically glowed. I could have listened to her tell stories about Cibare all night.

Thea meets my eyes in the rearview, shrugging. She doesn’t want to talk about it in front of Harrison, but the idea of saying nothing feels wrong. I mouth I’m sorry, and she nods, blinking rapidly.

“I love that place!” Harrison’s face lights up, oblivious to the tension in Thea’s shoulders. “We went there all the time. It was our family’s special occasion restaurant. We haven’t been there since my senior year of college. Owen, why haven’t we…”

He puts two and two together. His senior year was three years ago, when Thea and I “broke up.”

A heavy awkwardness settles in the car. I want to turn this around, but my mind starts spiraling. This is going to be the most agonizing day, the most agonizing week. Everyone’s going to find out we faked our relationship, and Harrison’s wedding will be ruined. I’ll spend the rest of my life dealing with the fallout with Mom.

Like Thea can sense my panic, she leans forward, squeezing my shoulder and grounding me. “Pickup truck selling produce out of the bed.”

I swivel my head to spot what she’s talking about, and sure enough, there’s a truck on the side of the road with a small sign advertising their produce.

I click my tongue. “Not weird enough. You can find that all over Florida, too.”

“True,” she says. “But are those pickups also selling animal feed?”

We’re past it now, but I look over my shoulder as if I can see through the sign like Superman. “I didn’t see that.”

“Not my fault if you don’t look close enough.”

I catch her eye in the rearview mirror; she has a teasing smile on her lips and a challenging glint in her eye. “Fine, I’ll accept it, but barely.”

She rolls her lips together. “You know, this has turned into a very one-sided game. Why don’t you contribute if you’re going to be so judgy?”

My lips tilt up of their own accord. Even when she’s being bratty, she’s captivating. “I apologize for focusing on the road. I’ll prioritize the game over our safety in the future.”

She scrunches her nose, and a laugh bursts out of me. As the sound fades, the silence sets in. I glance to the side to see Harrison staring at me with glee, and I realize in our attempt to stop one type of awkwardness, we’ve just created another.

I flick on my blinker, breaking the moment. “We’re here.”

“Where exactly is here?” Addy asks, eyeing the woods around us.

Harrison’s face twists in a devious smile. “Sliding Rock.”

Chapter 7

THEA

“Nope,” Addy says, her fists anchored on her hips as she faces off with Harrison. “No fucking way.”