Page 103 of We Drank the Dawn

Jackie and Andre moved to the ground level to dance while I worked on my food and watched from my place on the bench. The way he looked at her…a shiver of disgust climbed over my skin. He was a man in lust. I lost my appetite.

Jackie waved me down a couple times to dance with them and it took all my self-control not to lift a middle finger as my answer. Determined to choke down my last few bites of food for calorie’s sake, I took a big forkful. But something long and stringy stopped my chewing, and I grimaced as I pulled a long black hair out of my mouth.

I gagged, officially done.

Stomping over to the trash can, I relieved myself of the oily container. I wound my way through the crowd to a condiments bar and wiped my hands with a napkin. Not wanting to wander through the crowds by myself, I meandered back to our place on the bench and plopped down.

Bored, it didn’t take me long to pull out my phone.

Meadowbrook Ranch had a new story posted.

Tapping it revealed a selfie of Bea, a woman with black curls who I was ninety-percent sure was Meadowbrook’s vet, and the new foal, Nutmeg. The text read, “Baby Nutmeg’s meconium impaction is all clear. Thank you @pennyhall_dvm!”

Recently, all the stories had been about little Nutmeg.

Not Peter, obviously.

On our brief phone call today, Bea had said he struggled the first couple days Tag forced him to work but that he was doing a little bit better now. I was thankful to Tag and wondered what a “little bit better” looked like, but maybe it didn’t matter anyway.

In moments of weakness, I considered unblocking him. But then I remembered the disgusting picture on his phone and realized he’d must’ve given his number out at the bar. And I thought of the “naughty” comment. And the stack of napkins. And the kiss.

That zapped my compassion faster than it could materialize.

A while later, when I was practically falling asleep sitting up, Jackie and Andre came up from the dance floor and urged me to walk around the venue with them. I was fairly certain Andre wanted another drink and Jackie just felt bad I was sitting alone. So I heaved myself up and followed them through the maze of stands, food trucks, and attractions.

Andre purchased two beers from a vendor right as Jackie spotted a mechanical bull in the middle of an inflatable. She turned to me with a wild look in her eyes—all fire and mischief behind her dark brown irises.

“Sarah, let’s do it!”

Peter’s snotty response when I suggested riding a mechanical bull flooded my mind. I thought about all the notifications he was probably getting from our Google Sheet as I checked off adventure after adventure. Did they bother him?

A smile curled into my cheeks as I said, “Hell yeah. Let’s do it.”

I couldn’t say I enjoyed riding the bull. It was slightly terrifying, and I lasted a pathetically short amount of time before being hurled into the air. And thank goodness I had leggings under my skirt, because I got tossed—head over heels.

Of course, Jackie was a natural and creamed me in the spontaneous challenge. But, after that, I politely asked Andre to take me home. Even though he smiled and said yes, I could see the annoyance in his eyes. He wasn’t ready to leave.

He put his hand on the small of Jackie’s back, aggressively urging her toward the gate of the venue. Jackie tried to laugh it off, but I could tell he made her uncomfortable. When they pulled into my driveway, Jackie was forced to get out of the car and push her seat forward so I could make my escape. By default, she walked me to the door.

Fishing my house key out of my purse, I turned to her. “Do you want me to take you home, Jackie?”

She frowned with a laugh. “Why would I want that?”

“I don’t know…I just thought you might not want Andre to know where you live?”

“He picked me up.”

“Oh. Right. That makes sense, I guess.”

She asked, “Do you not like him or something?” My insides iced over. Even though I loved Jackie like a sister, she could be very…intimidating.

Swallowing down my fear, I decided to tell her exactly what I thought. Maybe a family member’s opinion would protect her from doing anything careless. I glanced toward the car, happy to see him looking at his phone. “He doesn’t have good vibes, Jackie. I’m kind of worried about you.”

She scoffed, rolling her eyes a little. “Okay. Thanks for worrying, but I’m fine. It’s not like I’m gonna marry the guy.”

“Still, Jackie. He seems…” My words trailed off.

“Seems what?” She bit out.