Page 63 of Heartstrings & Horseshoes

I rush forward to ask if everything’s okay when I hear a laugh I’d know anywhere followed by a chastising “James!”.

Oh. My. God. Livy’s hooking up with James in the bathroom. That sneaky little bitch. Client meeting my ass.

I return to our table and Izzy slides out and links her arm in mine. I’m dying to tell her what I heard but for some reason, I don’t.

I know what it feels like to want someone I can’t have. And Olivia clearly wants someone forbidden. I’ll keep her secret—from everyone except Connor.

Lying in bed at the end of a long day is the pinnacle of relaxation. Clean skin against cool sheets, snuggled beneath a soft blanket is glorious. What makes it heavenly is curling up against my Greek god best friend and having pillow talk until one of us—me—falls asleep.

“You’ve got to be kidding? In the bathroom at the pub? They need to be more careful if they don’t want Greyson finding out. They aren’t exactly great at sneaking around if we’ve caught them multiple times. It’s gonna get back to Greyson,” Connor lectures.

“The heart wants what the heart wants.” I’m all too familiar with the sentiment.

“Yea,” he says sullenly.

I prop up on my elbow, my hair fanning out on his tanned shoulder. “What’s going on? You seem off tonight.”

Connor sighs heavily and rubs his hands up and down his face and through his long hair, bleached from hours under the sun.

“I popped by Quincy’s earlier to check on her. I haven’t seen her in a couple weeks, and she hasn’t been great about returning my calls or texts. She wasn’t home, and since she’s ignoring me, I tried to reach her another way.”

He gets a boyish glint in his eye that flips my stomach.

“I rang her video doorbell nonstop until she answered through the camera.” He chuckles.

“You did not!” I say, slapping his hard, bare chest.

“I did. Turns out she’s in Laramie visiting Lucas.”

“Lucas?” I question, struggling to place the name.

“Her and Sam’s best friend from college,” he says.

“Oh, right. That’s nice she has him to lean on. I can’t imagine how difficult the past year and a half has been for her.”

“Yea. I guess. I’m glad she has Lucas’s support, but isn’t it weird she’s spending so much time alone with her dead husband’s best friend? Shit, that was callous. You know what I mean. It’s not…appropriate,” Connor says, visibly uncomfortable.

“That’s one way to look at it. Or you could choose to look at it as Quincy getting the love and support she needs in her time of grief.

“Grief isn’t linear or logical. Like I said earlier, the heart wants what the heart wants—and maybe right now Quincy’s heart wants comfort and familiarity. Maybe she feels closer to Sam when she’s with Lucas. I’m sure they have countless stories to reminisce about.”

“Maybe. I have a gut feeling it’s something more,” he says.

We chat until my eyelids are too heavy to stay open. The last thing I remember is Connor pressing a kiss to the crown of my head and telling me he loves me.

If only he loved me the way I love him.

Biscuit’s back and I’m bubbling over with excitement for the session today. Tanya’s introducing a group of teenagers to Biscuit, and I’m standing beside a lanky boy with his hood pulled over his head.

“Isn’t he beautiful?” He glances at me like Why is this weird lady talking to me.

“Hi I’m Delilah. I appreciate you coming out, you’ll help me learn a lot today.”

The boy scoffs. “Good for you. I didn’t ask to be here.”

I let his saltiness roll off my back. Tanya explained this program is for kids who are at-risk of heading down the wrong path. Their parents, or a judge, enrolled them. She’s graciously invited me to participate.

Tanya asks for a volunteer and when no one offers, I raise my hand and guide the surly boy towards Biscuit.