Now I just want to go home, plop down in front of the T.V. with a beer or six, and wait for Saturday to begin.
Saturday is my favorite day of the week, a day to take my time with my workout, have a big breakfast afterward, then head out to the park to catch a pick-up game with my buddies or take my friend Mason’s boat out on the lake when he doesn’t have plans to use it.
I’ve enjoyed having a boat around this summer way more than I thought I would. If Mason decides to move out of his condo and into a place with ample parking, I’ll have to save up to get one of my own. But until he does, I’ll be logging as much time on the lake as I can. There’s nothing like fishing to get your mind off of things you’d rather not think about.
Like ex-girlfriends getting married and lies about a fiancée who doesn’t exist.
“Fuck me,” I mutter as I shuffle through the gates with a fistful of tickets I’m not sure I’ll use and move off to one side of the entrance.
I pull my phone from my pocket and dial Mason’s number, mentally making a deal with myself. If he says I can use the boat tomorrow, then I’ll go home, get a good night’s rest, and plan to hit the lake as soon as I’m done with my work out tomorrow. If he’s taking the boat out himself, I’ll head into the fair and try to have fun with my family.
Better to drown my sorrows in cotton candy and niece and nephew giggles than a six pack, though the risk of running into Rachael and Lee again does cast a certain pall over option two.
Mason finally picks up after the fourth ring. “Hey, Nash, what’s up?” he asks in a loud voice, shouting to be heard over something roaring in the background.
“Nothing much, just wondering if I can use the boat tomorrow.”
“What?” Mason shouts. “Sorry, man, I can’t hear you. We’re at the fair, by the rollercoaster.”
I laugh. “I’m right outside the entrance,” I shout back. “I’ll be over in a few and we can talk in person.”
“Oh. Yeah. Great,” Mason says, but he doesn’t sound particularly pleased by the coincidence. “But Aria’s here, just so you know,” he adds, explaining the hesitation in his voice.
Mason doesn’t know all the dirty details—we weren’t close back when I got tangled up with the eldest March sister—but he gets that Aria and I have a past, and that we don’t care for each other. The disastrous BBQ he invited me to earlier this summer, back when he’d had no clue I knew Aria and thought setting me up with his girlfriend’s sister would help me get over Rachael, made that pretty damned clear. Aria and I barely made it through the meal without biting each other’s heads off.
She’s the original bad news redhead, the first girl to rip my heart out, still beating, from my chest and toss it to the ground like a peanut shell she’d already plucked clean.
“She’ll be getting off the ride soon,” Mason adds.
“Then I’ll be quick. See you in a second.” Ending the call, I make a beeline for the rollercoaster’s graceful skeleton at the far right of the fairgrounds.
By the time I reach the corn dog stand halfway down the line of thrill rides, I’m jogging, weaving my way through the slow-moving crowd.
I could really do without seeing Aria tonight.
She gets to me even more than Rachael.
But then, Rachael and I never talked the way Aria and I did. We didn’t connect on that soul-deep level that felt so real, so right. I never believed Rachael was “the one.” If I’d proposed to her, it would have been because I’d decided to compromise in the name of getting out of the dating rat race and finally settling down and starting a family.
With Aria, there was no compromising involved. I’d been head over heels for her. I’d thought she was the prettiest, funniest, most fascinating person I’d ever met, right up until she’d made it clear she was just slumming for the summer and I’d never been anything to her but a passing distraction.
Yep, definitely don’t need a reminder of that. I’m already full-up on feeling like a fool tonight.
Thankfully, when I finally reach the small group of people waiting outside the exit to the rollercoaster, Mason is still alone.
“Hey there, good to see you, man.” I jog the last few feet across the dusty ground, taking Mason’s offered hand and clapping him warmly on the back.
Mason and I fell out of touch for a while, but he was one of my best friends back when we worked construction together in the summers after high school. When he came back to town a few months ago, we fell back into a close friendship without a hitch. Not even the fact that he’s marrying Aria’s sister can come between us, though I’m sure it will make the wedding party awkward.