“Play nice,” I mouthed.
When Faith had called to ask if Asher and I would meet her for drinks, I’d almost told her no. Things between us were okay, but I'd had no intentions of putting her and Asher in a room together anytime soon. But he’d overheard the call and said everyone deserved a second chance. So here we were, meeting Faith and... Rex, for drinks.
Odd, she hadn’t mentioned him in her original invitation.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” Rex said to Asher.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Listen, I hope there are no hard feelings about before. You guys are perfect for each other, and I was being a judgmental bastard.”
“No hard feelings.” Asher squeezed my hand under the table, his touch lingering on my finger.
We still hadn’t picked out a ring, but honestly, I didn’t need one. I had everything I could ever want. We were engaged, I turned twenty-one soon, and things at the center were going great since Asher got the team involved.
The session that day had gone so well, both Coach Johnson and Sally had wanted to make it a regular thing. She was currently looking at setting up the infrastructure to make it a permanent feature of the center’s program.
It had been such a great day, watching the kids interact and bond with the team. Hugo had followed Asher around like a lost puppy and the two of them had become fast friends. So much so, that Asher had signed up for the program’s in-house training sessions so he could be an official volunteer.
Life was good.
Perfect, even.
We’d celebrated our engagement over the weekend back in Rixon. Asher’s mom had invited my aunt for dinner and the five of us enjoyed good food and easy conversation, the tension of our past staying right where it belonged. Even Asher’s dad had managed to congratulate us, hugging me tight and telling me that the wedding was taken care of; all we had to do was let him know what we wanted.
But I didn’t want a big fanfare. All I needed was something small with the people I cared about most in the world.
“I like this place,” I said, glancing around the coffee shop Faith had picked. “It has character.”
“Right? We come here a lot.”
“You do?” I frowned, glancing between her and Rex. Guilt shone in Faith’s eyes.
“Actually, that’s why I asked you to come. There’s something I have to tell you... and I don’t want it to be weird, all right? But you’re one of my best friends and I know I was a total bitch at the beginning of the semester—”
“Faith take a breath. What is going on?”
“Oh, Boo Boo, just spit it out already. She isn’t going to care.”
Boo Boo? What the hell?
Asher almost choked on his coffee.
“Me and Rex, well, we’re—”
“Together. We’re together, okay?” He huffed dramatically. “Good. Now we can all move on with life.”
“I’m sorry, can we just back up a second, to the part where you just said the two of you are...”
“Together?” Rex smirked.
“I did not see that coming.” Asher let out a low whistle and I nudged him again.
“I know, I know.” Faith buried her face in her hands. “I’m a complete hypocrite.”
“How long has this been going on?” I asked.
“Officially, a couple of weeks.”