Page 87 of If I Didn’t Have You

“I have to win my husband back.”

“I think we both realized tonight that you don’t actually have to win him back.”

I spun around and gripped Georgia’s forearms and smiled at her. “What are you waiting for?”

“Pardon?”

“Pardon?” I mocked. “You know exactly what I’m talking about, Georgia Bennet. There is a man waiting for you⁠—”

She scoffed, shaking free of my grip. “There is no man⁠—”

“He’s never going to make the move. He thinks he has no chance with you. Think of all that’s happened!”

“How do you even know?” she asked in horror, her face draining of all color.

“Best kept secret, right? Georgia, I’ve known since it happened. But that was years ago. You’re in the prime of your life! Go get him!”

Her jaw dropped open, but the words didn’t come out. I couldn’t make her see what was right in front of her face. She had to want to go for it.

“You won’t get another chance. We have one life, Georgia. Just one, and time is slipping away. Go get your man before you’re too old to find love again.”

She blinked away the tears forming in her eyes, and then she leapt at me, hugging me tightly. “You’re such a pain in the ass, Clara Parker.”

“Language,” I chastised, though my words held little heat.

She spun away and jogged down the street with more pep in her step than I’d seen in years. Maybe I wouldn’t get my happily-ever-after, but I’d be damned if I’d sit back and watch my friend languishing in the shadows for any longer.

As for my own dear husband…

He had no idea the fight I was about to bring to his doorstep.

The door opened and I sauntered through, my red high-heeled shoes clicking across the hardwood floors of The Beaver and Boot. Everyone stopped to look at me, but that was the point.

Donning a slinky red dress with a slit up the thigh that rivaled Jessica Rabbit’s, I sauntered over to the bar, sliding onto one of the stools. With a flash of thigh, I crossed one leg over the other, giving everyone something to chew on.

But one man in particular.

I was showing way more cleavage than I ever had in my life, but Lizzy assured me that I looked hot.

I’d never looked hot in my life. Well, maybe when I was younger, but I never dressed even close to anything like this. I was always the homemaker, the good girl who waited at home for her husband.

But tonight?

Tonight, I was here to show my husband exactly what he was missing. He’d rue the day he winked at River Ainsley.

Lizzy strolled over, smirking at me as she grabbed a wine glass. “Hot, Momma.”

“No wine tonight. I need something more adventurous.”

“Okay, and what is adventurous to you?”

I had no idea. “Give me something that will attract every eye in the place.”

She snorted, grabbing a different glass. “And how many men were you planning on going home with tonight?”

“If I play this right, only one.”

Smiling, she mixed a drink for me while Maverick took the stool beside me.