Page 11 of Spurred On

“She came to arrange my bachelorette party,” Hanna said, though her tone was slightly bitter.

“Oh, how fun!” Porsche’s eyes glittered. “Which site did you choose? Not the Moose Lodge, I hope.” She leaned in. “It smells musty.”

“Old-man-fart-musty,” Sidney corrected her.

“Nope.” Hanna rolled her eyes. “The Stud Ranch.”

Porsche went preternaturally still. “Oh really?” Her sharp gaze sliced at Sidney’s nonchalance. Her eyes narrowed. “Claire’s out of town.”

“Is she?”

If those eyes narrowed any more, Porsche would be blind. “Indeed, she is.”

“Huh.”

“So is Cade.”

“Is he?”

Tension rippled around the table. “Who did you meet with?”

Sidney cleared her throat and studied her sweet potato fries as though they held the secrets of the universe. “I . . . um . . . Cody was there.”

“Really?” She could tell Porsche was trying to maintain her aplomb, but she was failing. The shredded napkin was a dead giveaway.

How could she assure Porsche she had nothing to worry about? Sidney wanted nothing to do with the man. Nothing.

Honestly, getting together with Cody would be a monumental mistake in and of itself. But beyond that, Porsche was head over heels in love with him. Dating Cody would be a bold-faced betrayal of their friendship. Sidney could never do that to Porsche.

Chicks before dicks, right?Or something like that.

“He was very helpful,” she said in a blasé voice, “But Claire would have been better.”

Hanna, bless her, felt the tension too and nodded. “Claire is much better at the administrative side.”

“Right?” Sidney glommed onto this conversational thread. “Men just don’t get parties. Details mean nothing to them.”

Porsche glanced from one to the other and eventually, she relaxed. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Yeah. When Claire gets back, I’ll have to go over all the details with her again.” She hoped her heavy sigh punctuated her utter disinterest in Cody.

Or at least her pretense of it.

Because, if she was being honest—with herself at least—she wasn’t disinterested at all. In fact, she was still shaking with the effects of his kiss.

Stupid.

Stupid, stupid girl.

How could she have let him overtake all her defenses so quickly?

How could she have forgotten all her heartbreak, all her pain just because he pulled her into his arms and put his mouth on hers?

As Hanna and Porsche chatted on about the bachelorette party and the upcoming wedding, Sidney found her mind in a whirl.

Maybe she should have opted for the Moose Lodge, man farts notwithstanding. Maybe it had been a mistake to put herself in Cody’s path again.

She’d thought she was strong enough, resolved enough, bitter enough to utterly ignore him, but that kiss proved she was wrong.