Role Playing(23)

“Well, it’s got to be soon. She’s getting worse. And you know how she is,” Aiden added. “She doesn’t listen, she’s stubborn as hell, and she thinks I’m full of shit.”

“All right. Tell you what . . . I’ll come back after Jason’s wedding,” Davy finally relented. “Does that work?”

“That’s two months away!” Aiden yelped. “What the hell?”

“Best I can do.” Davy could be stubborn, too, and he saw that this was as much leeway as he was going to get. “You can hold down the fort until then, right?”

Aiden took a deep breath. “Fine.”

“Speaking of. You’re not going to the wedding, are you?”

“Mom is insisting that I do,” Aiden said, rolling his eyes. “What? You think I shouldn’t? Because if you could tell her that, it’d be great.”

“Shit.” Davy winced. “Why does she want you there?”

“She thinks seeing me there, with a date, might smooth things out with all the gossip.” Aiden shook his head. “All these years. You’d think they’d be over it.”

“It’s because they don’t know the details,” Davy said, and to his credit, he sounded genuinely sorry.

“Do you honestly think that would help?” Aiden said, stunned.

“God, no!” Davy snickered, and in that moment, Aiden wanted to throttle him. “No,” Davy continued, more seriously. “Although—hmm. You know, you bringing a date might be a good idea. Let some people think you’ve moved on, that Sheryl’s cool with it, that everybody’s happy, and put the whole thing behind us. Hell, hire some woman if you have to.”

“This isn’t a Julia Roberts movie,” Aiden said, with a small smile.

“Not with that attitude,” Davy replied, grinning back. “So there isn’t anyone you’re even remotely interested in?”

Aiden hated when Davy, or anyone, said shit like that. Like it was his fault. Like there was something wrong with him. He sighed.

“Well, there is a woman who just joined our guild,” he finally said, setting the trap.

“Really? That could be perfect!” Davy seemed genuinely happy. “She’d have something in common with you. Have you met her? What’s she like?”

“She’s a badass. Has two level-hundred characters, fully kitted out.”

“Like I even know what that means,” Davy said. “What’s she like?”

“Funny,” he said, thinking of Bogwitch. He really did like her—what he’d seen, anyway—and was glad she’d joined the guild. “Snarky. She doesn’t take shit, but she isn’t mean if you don’t deserve it. Also super generous.”

“She sounds great. So why don’t you ask her out?”

Aiden finally burst out laughing. “Because I think she’s like eighty. Old enough to be Mom.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Davy said, and Aiden laughed some more. “Hey. Wanna go grab some breakfast? There is a diner I know that is amazing.”

Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “Is it a Sheryl special?” Sheryl had gotten onto a health kick lately, which as a nurse he agreed with—to a point.

“Not a scrap of kale in sight,” Davy said. “And some of the best bacon I’ve ever had, I swear. And pancakes the size of manhole covers.”

“You had me at bacon,” Aiden said. “Let’s go.”

At least he had a time frame, he thought as they drove off. He just had to manage his mother past Jason’s wedding. And get a date. And then his brother would come home, and the three of them would hash it all out.

Then . . . maybe, just maybe, he could move away from Fool’s Falls. For good.





CHAPTER 10


HILARITY ENSUES


Maggie showed up to Deb’s “First Home Game Party” just a few minutes late. All right, half an hour late. She’d considered wearing her T-shirt that said “Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Be Here,” but she felt it was too on the nose. She knew that there would be a good deal of other people there, and though the thought made her skin itch, she was determined. She hoped that Harrison was there so she could maybe nudge him to reach out to Kit, and also to back up that she had indeed left the house and been social.

That said, after seeing the book club’s style, she had a feeling there would also be eligible bachelors there, and frankly, she didn’t need that shit. So while she was showered and in clean clothes, she wore no makeup—which was pretty standard—and had her hair pulled back in a low ponytail that basically made her face look like a large moon. She also wore a bulky sweater that wasn’t ugly enough to be ironic or a conversation piece but was ugly enough to seem accidental and which should persuade people to avoid her. Her jeans and mostly clean UGGs completed the ensemble.

“You made it!” Deb said, giving her an awkward hug. Deb, on the other hand, was dressed to kill, in a Cougars V-neck shirt made of a thin material. Maggie realized that her pea-green sweater was going to get really hot, really fast, considering Deb had cranked up the heat.

“Thank you for inviting me,” Maggie said, handing her a tray of homemade cookies.

“Oh, aren’t you sweet,” she said. “Your cookies are always so good! Harrison always loved them.”