That was a lot of angry faces. Maybe I should have requested my meal to go.
The door opened and a blast of light flashed from outside as two women entered, a blonde and a brunette. I turned back to my beer, ready to finish, then did a double take.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I cast my eyes to the tall, wooden ceiling. Definitely should have gone to the brewery.
It was a small world. Whoever said otherwise hadn’t been to Calamity.
Years ago, in Nashville, I’d dated the brunette. Everly Christian was beautiful, but it hadn’t taken long to realize there’d been no spark. Maybe I hadn’t been the nicest guy at the time. I might have ghosted her. Or maybe she’d ghosted me? Regardless, we’d gone our separate ways.
Until the weekend I’d shown up to stand as Pierce’s best man. Everly not only lived in Montana, but was married to some local artist and was tight with Kerrigan.
The blonde was Lucy Ross, a famous country singer who’d performed the national anthem before a few games. Apparently she was married to the sheriff.
Everly didn’t like me. Neither did Lucy.
No surprise, they joined Nellie’s table.
The heat from their glares intensified, like flames licking my skin. I drained my beer, then studied my coaster. Eyes down. Hat pulled low.
Maybe Calamity was a mistake, after all. Maybe I should have tallied the number of people who liked me and compared it to the number of those who didn’t. Though I wasn’t sure there was a town in America where the final score would be in my favor.
So what if the entire female population in this county hated me? I’d just bought a ranch. I’d rented a Winnebago. There was no going back. Somehow, we’d all have to coexist.
I risked another glance. The other women had turned away, but Nellie’s green eyes were waiting.
She looked stunning. She looked pissed. She looked determined.
She looked like I was about to suffer.
Fuck my life.
CHAPTER FOUR
NELLIE
“Why are the hot ones always jerks?” Larke asked.
“Great question.” I scoffed, my eyes glued to Cal’s spine as he tried to blend in with the bar. But he was too tall, too broad and too . . . Cal to blend. He stood out like a blob of white bird poop on a car’s otherwise clean windshield.
“For the record, not all the hot ones are jerks.” Lucy held up a finger. “I caught a sweet hottie.”
“I caught a grumpy hottie,” Everly said. “But he’s sweet to me, so that’s all that counts.”
“Okay, fine,” Larke said. “I stand corrected. But most of the hot ones are assholes.”
“Yep.” Melody, another one of Larke’s friends I’d met tonight, clinked her wineglass with Kristen’s.
“Total assholes.” I took another sip of my vodka martini.
It was my second tonight, and I was rocking a lovely buzz. It tempered the guilt that had plagued me since throwing coffee on Cal this morning.
Sure, it had been impulsive. In the moment, it had felt great. Better than great. It had felt like justice. But by the time I’d made it home from the hardware store, I’d had a knot in my stomach.
Cal was staying at the motel, so it wasn’t like he could just toss his shirt in the laundry. There’d been a lot of people standing by and someone might have videoed the exchange to post on social media. He was my sworn enemy, but I didn’t want rumors flying that he was a dick pics fanatic.
Fuck you, guilt. If I wouldn’t have committed to meeting Larke and the girls for drinks, I probably would have gone to the motel with an apology note and offered to wash his shirt.
There was something wrong with me.
I had this exasperating habit of feeling bad for Cal.
“I heard you dumped coffee in Cal’s pants today.” Everly laughed. “I really wish I would have been there to see it.”
“Me too.” Lucy giggled. “I bet the look on his face was priceless.”
My jaw dropped. “I’ve made the gossip mill already?”
“It doesn’t take much,” Larke said.
“Did he really send a dick pic to your mom?” Lucy asked, lowering her voice.
“No.” I shrugged. “It was just the first thought that popped into my head.”
“Brilliant.” Everly raised her glass. “To Nellie. Welcome to Calamity. You’re going to fit right in.”
“Thanks.” I leaned in and joined the cheers.
Kristen finished the last of her chardonnay and sighed. “This has been so fun, but I’d better get going. I’m opening the coffee shop tomorrow, and if I have one more glass of wine, I’ll want two and then I won’t get home until late and be hungover in the morning.”
“I’ll go with you.” Melody stood from her chair, tucking a lock of her dark hair behind an ear. “I need to finish my lesson plan.”
“Ugh. I need to do mine too,” Larke said. They were both teachers at the elementary school. Larke taught fifth grade and Melody third. “Later.”
“Great to meet you, Nellie,” Melody said.
“You too.”
“Come by for coffee tomorrow,” Kristen said. “Friends and family discount.”
“Thank you. I will.” I’d learned tonight that Kristen wasn’t just a barista but the shop’s owner.
So far, girls’ night had been a success. There’d been no awkward silences. No moments of feeling like the odd woman out. No forced smiles or conversation. Maybe making friends wasn’t as hard as I’d made it out to be.
“So where are your husbands?” Larke asked Lucy and Everly as we all shifted closer around the table.
“They’re on daddy duty,” Everly said, checking the time on her phone. “And I’ll warn you that I can’t stay long. Hux is scrambling to finish a commission piece and breastfeeding means I don’t get to stray far from the baby.”
“I’m just glad you came by,” I said.
Lucy put her hand over mine. “We’re glad you’re here.”
We spent the next thirty minutes catching up. I’d gotten to know Lucy and Everly these past couple of years thanks to Kerrigan. During my visits to Calamity, Kerrigan had made it a point to introduce us all.
They were at a different stage in their lives than I was in mine, both married with young kids. Everly’s daughter was a toddler and her son just two months old. Lucy’s baby girl was five months and her son nearly three. Kerrigan had Elias and now a newborn.
Meanwhile, I was married to my career with no relationship prospects. Thirty-three wasn’t old. There was time to meet the right guy. Why rush?
“Want to see pictures?” Lucy unlocked her phone and began swiping through photos. Everly joined in to do the same.
With every picture, my biological clock ticked louder. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. It was so loud by the time they put their phones away, the noise had drowned out the country music playing over the bar’s sound system.
That clock needed to shut the hell up.
I loved kids. I wanted kids. But I wanted what my parents had too. Love. Passion. Friendship.
Maybe I’d find a nice guy in Calamity. Maybe not. For tonight, I’d simply be grateful for friends. That seemed like enough of a hurdle to leap for one day.