“No need to beat up teddy bears,” I assured Kyle with a grin. He and Adam had been best friends since middle school. Along with Skylar and Adam’s fiancé, Meg, the four had been a tight group up until Adam and his ex-wife, ‘bitch face’ Chelsea Sloane, had hooked up their senior year of high school. I had been the default younger sister to all of them, which afforded me their overbearing protectiveness and fierce affection.
“Then who were you talking about—?” Kyle began, but Skylar shushed him.
“Stop it, Web, Lena already has one nosy assed brother.” She gave me a conspiratorial smile, which I returned gratefully. “So, L, Adam says you two are working together. How’s that going?”
I lifted my drink into the air. “Needing lots of these, if that answers your question.” Skylar and I clinked glasses. “Honestly it’s great. I’m loving every minute of it. It’s just a lot of hard work. It’s a good thing I eat hard work for breakfast.”
Kyle whooped and gave me a high five. It seemed I wasn’t the only one needing to get a little trashed on Friday night. “How’s Katie doing, Kyle?” I asked, watching as his entire face lit up at the mention of his two-month-old daughter.
Josie Robinson had been Kyle’s girlfriend for years. They had broken up over a year ago and it wasn’t until after they had broken up that Josie told Kyle she was pregnant. It was no secret Josie hoped the child would compel Kyle to come back to her. It wasn’t that she tried to trap Kyle into staying in a relationship, but she was simply a woman who loved a man that had stopped loving her back. It was a sad reality for too many people.
Kyle didn’t stay with Josie, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a really good dad. Little Katie was his whole world and he doted on her.
“I have her overnight for the first time on Saturday. I’ve only ever stayed over at Josie’s—in the spare room of course,” he added quickly.
“Of course,” I nodded.
“Adam helped me fix up the nursery. Meg painted this awesome mural. It’s all flowers and unicorns and stuff. I hope she likes it.” Kyle seemed anxious.
“She’s a baby, Web, she’s not going to have an opinion about wall color,” Skylar noted.
“I get that, but I want it to be special for her.” Kyle drank his beer
“And it will be, Kyle. She’s a lucky little girl,” I assured him.
“Thanks, Lena. It’s only that things have been rough with Josie. And I’m trying to do the right thing, but it seems no matter what I do, I end up letting someone down.” I wasn’t used to seeing Kyle this downtrodden. For as long as I had known him, he’d always been upbeat and positive. He was the funniest guy at the party and the first person to help someone out. Seeing him sitting there, nursing on his beer with a weight on his shoulder was awful to see.
“Ow! You didn’t have to kick me, Sky!” Kyle griped.
“Then stop whining like a bitch and start getting drunk. You’re being a downer,” Skylar commanded.
Hannah pumped her fist in the air and shouted “Yes!”
We ordered more drinks. And more drinks.
Then we were singing bad karaoke. Somehow, I ended up belting out Celine Dion at the top of my lungs in front of a room of drunk locals who had all known me since I was in diapers. It should have been humiliating, but it wasn’t. Probably because I was too drunk to care.
Sure, I was now supposed to be an upstanding member of the Southport community, but I was also Lena Ducate, who liked to get tanked and have a good time.
“My heart will go ooon!” I wailed into the microphone, throwing my head back and holding my hand in the air as if I were giving the performance of my life.
When I was finished, everyone cheered. “Encore?” I asked and was only slightly disappointed when more than a few people called out, “No!”
I got off the tiny, makeshift stage at the back of Sweet Lila’s and stumbled toward the bar. A hand reached out to hold me upright.
“Thank you so much,” I exclaimed effusively.
“We have to stop meeting like this. It seems when you’re not working, you’re drunk. I’m wondering if this is a pattern I should be worried about.” Jeremy still held onto my arm.
“Only if the pattern involves you being an ass,” I snapped, leaning into him, though I wished I wouldn’t. But my body wouldn’t listen. I reached up and twined a piece of his dark hair around my finger. “It’s so soft,” I slurred.
Jeremy’s eyes widened in surprise. “Woah, you’re more wasted than I thought.” He steered me to a stool and carefully sat me down. “Sit here, let me get you some water.”