AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Cody was starting to wonder. The rest of us figured you’d let us know if you weren’t going to make it.” Noah jabbed Cody in the ribs with his elbow.
The other guys chuckled.
My face heated. I could take the ribbing, but sometimes it hit a little too close to home. I had almost decided not to come. In fact, I’d sat in my car for a full five minutes before finally giving in and getting out. These were my people. Just because I was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with my life—for no discernible reason I could put my hands on—didn’t mean I should shut them out. “Yeah, yeah. Some of us work for a living.”
Chuckles turned to laughter. Eventually the absurdity sank in, and I laughed, too.
I held up my hands. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry, all right?”
“Maybe.” Scott picked up the deck of cards and started to shuffle. “Depends on if you’re going to tell us what’s going on.”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know.” I took a handful of chips. Rather than gnaw on them straight from my fist like Cody, I selected one and popped it in my mouth. Just because we were a bunch of guys didn’t mean we had to act like animals. “I’m just antsy.”
Noah and Cody exchanged a knowing look.
I frowned. “What’s that look for?”
Cody shook his head. “Think it has anything to do with Kayla dating the youth pastor?”
“What? No. Why would it?” I bristled and ate another chip. “Kayla can do what she wants. We’re best friends. I don’t own her.”
That was a point she’d driven home very clearly this week by her absolute refusal to eat lunch with me. If I stopped by the lab, she was busy with students. If I tried to catch her eye in the hall before class or make conversation in the staff room, she was cordial but inevitably on her way somewhere else to do something much more important than talk to me.
I sighed. “I’m not even sure we’re best friends anymore. It’s fine.”
“What? That’s crazy.” Tristan flipped up the two cards he’d been dealt and looked at them. “You two are inseparable.”
I shrugged. “Were.”
“Because she’s dating Luke?” Wes frowned. “That doesn’t seem like her.”
I didn’t think we could really say one way or the other. She’d never been serious about a guy in the time that I’d known her. “Maybe. But it’s not like she dates a lot.”
Scott drew in a breath like he was about to speak, then stopped and shook his head.
“What?” I pointed at him. “Spit it out.”
“I have it on good authority that there are reasons for that.” Scott stared at his cards and wouldn’t look up.
What did that even mean? I looked at my cards and wanted to grimace. In fact, I probably did. The guys all said I had a terrible poker face. Maybe there would be some way to redeem them, but I wasn’t optimistic.
“Good authority means Whitney, right?” Tristan glanced at Scott.
Scott beamed. “It does, indeed, mean my wife.”
I groaned. “Save us from newlywed goop.”
Cody laughed. “Preach.”
“Amen.” Noah frowned at his two cards. “I’m honestly surprised we get to keep having poker nights.”
“I offered to stop.” Scott shrugged. “But she likes hanging out at the bookstore with Megan and Kayla.”
“Where’s Beckett?” Wes glanced around. “I’m used to having a movie on in the background.”
“Whit took him along. He likes books and there’s that little couch if he wants to sleep. He does pretty well shifting from place to place when he’s out, so she figured why not. I didn’t argue.” Scott dealt three cards in the center of the table.
I pressed my lips together. Those cards weren’t going to help me any. “You have learned the importance of the words, ‘yes, dear’ I see.”
