“If everyone is drinking, who’s driving?” I asked realizing I sounded like my mother. Exactly like my mother.
“Walking to my parents,” Micah said. He then sat on the sofa across from me. His parents lived on the beach. It was only a short distance away. “You know your dad owned one of these condos way back in the day. Dad said it was the one above this one.” He told me then pointed at the ceiling.
Of course, I already knew that. Eli’s parents had both lived with my dad back then. That was how they met. My dad and Eli’s mom, Willow, were best friends growing up. A lot like us. Eli’s dad, Marcus, had become dad’s roommate and fell in love with Willow.
“Yeah, we know,” Eli responded, walking to the fridge for the wine. He knew as well as I did no one was leaving anytime soon. As for myself, I was happy about that. This was what I’d missed. Living a life where friends came over and brought beer. They’d stay too late and we’d laugh and talk about things we’d never say in front of parents.
The doorbell rang. Eli looked towards it. “Who else is coming?” he asked. Eli knew that Micah knew the answer.
“I’d say that’s probably Saffron and Holland or possibly Crimson and Larissa.”
“My sister? Shit.” Eli muttered.
Crimson was the eldest of his two younger sisters and Larissa was his aunt, though only twenty-five years old.
Saffron and Holland Corbin were twins and although there was no blood relation they were still family. We were all family. A lot of kids that had been raised together in this small town.
The door swung open before Eli could touch it. “Let the party begin! I’ve arrived!” Saffron announced herself as she walked in the room hoisting two cheap bottles of wine. She was nineteen and had bought them. No telling how she did that. Larissa wouldn’t buy them for her.
“God help us all,” Jude mumbled.
I just smiled. This was it. What I’d been missing all this time.
Nate Finlay
I MADE UP an excuse to stay away from the shop and not complete Octavia’s “to do” list. My excuse would run the rest of the week. To compensate for my betrayal, I unpacked her things at the new house Octavia had purchased. It was beachfront property and massive. More house than she needed, even with me visiting, because she had no friends in the area. No reason to entertain. Octavia required luxury and apparently, this was it. She wouldn’t be your typical small business owner that struggled to make ends meet.
By Friday night I was ready to have a drink and relax. I had to face the shop again. While Bliss York wasn’t there. I’d work Saturday and Sunday to get it done. But tonight, I was going out. There was a club in town that played live music, a place where locals went. I wasn’t in the mood for the touristy shit, which was most of this town.
Octavia hadn’t called to check on things. She knew I would handle anything that came up and that should make me happy. Instead, it greatly annoyed me. Didn’t women normally text or call their fiancés? Wasn’t that fucking normal procedure? When did I become so needy?
I grabbed the keys to my truck and headed out the door. I should fucking be thrilled she wasn’t clingy. Matter of fact it was one of the things that initially attracted me to her. Suddenly that was an issue?
No it wasn’t. I needed a whiskey.
The lights outside the club flashed LIVE BAY repeatedly. This was it, the rumored spot, the place I’d heard all about. I could hear the music pumping through the speakers with my truck doors shut and windows rolled up. Hell, I already liked it.
Parking was easy since the usual summer crowd was yet to arrive in masses. We needed something like this in Rosemary Beach, or we’d needed something like this. Seeing as I wasn’t settling down there I don’t guess it mattered now.
I remembered seeing this place as a kid. Bliss said it was popular. Some friends of her father owned LIVE BAY. The guy had once played here or something. I couldn’t remember the details. They had whisky and that was my only concern.
While heading towards the entrance I tried not to think about Bliss, which meant I was thinking about her. That summer. Keeping my distance had helped, I think. Truth was, after a week of avoiding her, I wanted to just tell her the truth. Be done with the whole damn thing. That seemed like the best idea.
The only problem with that was that I was afraid I’d like what I was getting to know. What was now in front of me daily. That the woman she’d become would be twice as appealing as the girl she’d been back then. I didn’t have room in my drama free life for the chaos that would create. And I wanted to keep it that way.