Total pages in book: 16
Estimated words: 15575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 78(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 78(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
Kirsty stopped looking sad, and he felt he helped her to move on by being a dick. Tonight wasn’t about him being a certain appendage. There had been another dick intent on destroying her bar. He’d stopped the asshole from breaking furniture.
Shaking his head, he turned to Christopher.
“You’re wrong. There is no sexual tension between Kirsty and me. There is nothing going on with us, and nothing ever will. See if I come and drink here.” He climbed into his truck, and he already saw the doubt in Christopher’s eyes.
He probably shouldn’t have said the last part, because the truth was, he was totally coming back here. It was the best place a guy could drink.
But that was it. He didn’t believe, for even a second, there was any other reason to come to the bar. Not for the owner, certainly not for the owner.
****
“I mean, can you believe him?” Kirsty asked.
She looked toward her best friend, who had pressed her lips together and her eyes looked wide. Bethany had been her best friend her whole life. She absolutely loved her, and every fourth Saturday of the month they would meet up, grocery shop, and then go back to her place to prepare a whole bunch of make-ahead meals for the coming month. Not to mention snacks.
The reason they went to her place, and not Bethany’s, most of the food would be attacked before it even got in the freezer. Her best friend had four kids, and was completely in love with her husband, who she’d been dating since high school, Randall. Even to this day, they couldn’t keep their hands off one another.
“Can I believe that Ward Hildreth played the perfect gentleman and kept you from having a cleanup bill this morning?” Bethany asked.
Kirsty opened her mouth and closed it. “I still have a chair to replace, and I thought you would take my side.”
“Oh, believe me, I do take your side, and I’m not going to forget that Ward can be a dick. I remember that Halloween, when he told you no one was dressing up, for, well, you know, Halloween, and you didn’t dress up. You were in those cute little dungarees.”
“I didn’t care that people laughed at his joke. It wasn’t funny.”
“I know it wasn’t funny, but what I’m trying to say is, Ward is known for being … well, Ward, and this time he wasn’t doing anything at your expense. He was trying to save you money and a messy cleanup, and all that nonsense.”
They stopped at the meat department, and Kirsty pointed to the ground beef, to which Bethany thanked her. They loaded up their cart with ground beef, pork cutlets, and lots of different kinds of chicken.
Kirsty didn’t have a big family. She only had to cook for herself, but her mother always did this, as did Bethany’s mother. It was a tradition they had passed on to their daughters, and Kirsty always looked forward to the make-ahead Saturday.
Admittedly, by now, at thirty years old, she had hoped to have found a family of her own, but that hadn’t happened. Dating was a nightmare for her, and in college, she’d never been attracted to any of the guys who asked her out.
The biggest problem with guys in town was, first, they were her own age, and, well, if she wasn’t a big fan of them through high school, she wasn’t going to fall for them now. Most of them came to drink in the bar and at times acted like children.
“You’ve got that sad face. Tell me why you have that sad face?” Bethany asked.
“I’m not sad.” She couldn’t help but look at her own cart, and then over at Bethany’s.
“I know what this is, and I’ve told you what to do.”
“I’m not just going to randomly throw myself at any man.”
“I haven’t told you to, but you won’t try online dating. You certainly don’t like guys attempting to pick you up in your own bar, and there is nothing else to do. You’ve already given a firm no on all the guys in town. Unless, of course, you take things to the next step with Ward.”
This made Kirsty pause. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Come on. You guys have been dancing around each other for years. Ever since you were in high school. You know, I think there is even a bet going on as to when one of you, or is it both of you, realize you’re secretly in love, or at least in lust with one another.”
“What?” Kirsty couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“You don’t know about this?” Bethany asked. “It’s not like it’s a secret.” Her friend nibbled her lip.
“I don’t know about any of this. What? When? Huh?”
“Oh, it’s probably just a silly thing.”
“If it is just a silly thing, how do you know about it?”