Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
He wasn’t sure what Sawyer’s approval meant, but he was willing to use it to test some boundaries. “So you grew up with Brooke?”
“I was a few years older,” Sawyer said, relaxing against the bar. “I always kind of felt for her. Not that I have feelings, per se, but it must have been hard on Brooke since she was the only kid in town. Ty lived in Bliss. River was closer to Creede. Lucy and I lived on this side of the mountain, but honestly, even if we had been in the valley, she was years younger than us. She was a freshman when we were in our senior year. All of her friends were at school, and she was alone during the summers.”
He didn’t like the thought of that. He and Shane had been alone a lot since his mom didn’t like having anyone in her home. But they’d had each other. He looked toward the party room. Brooke seemed like the life of the party. She was laughing at something a ridiculously handsome guy said. He studied the man for a moment and then relaxed. That dude was gay. He’d been in the art world long enough to recognize the signs. Well dressed, perfectly groomed, and he was not looking at her chest. Also, he’d briefly held hands with another guy as he passed him a glass of wine. “She looks like she has friends now.”
Sawyer glanced behind him. “Oh, I think she’s about to discover her old friend Cleo is in a bit of a bind. Wyatt overheard them talking about how the costume designer for this season up and quit two days ago because she fell in love with… It was either a squatcher or the big guy himself. Wyatt needs to learn to listen better if he’s going to gossip.”
Shane sat forward. “That sounds like she’s hanging around for a while.”
“I heard she was here for a couple of weeks. She’s on some kind of sabbatical with that job of hers, but I’m not so sure that’s going to work out.” Sawyer nodded to his waitress and started pouring out a beer. “I’ve seen her a couple of times since she started there. She and Lucy have gotten to be good friends since she graduated from college. River, too. It’s funny how that small age gap that meant she was left out of most things as a kid doesn’t mean that much now. We’re all on the same playing field, if you know what I mean. I think those three get along because they’re invested in their careers.”
“Why do you think it’s not going to work out?” Bay asked, trying to keep Sawyer on track since for a dude who didn’t talk much, he was chatty as hell this evening. Normally he preferred companionable silence, but they were talking about the one thing he liked to hear. Brooke Harper.
Sawyer passed the waitress the glass and began filling another. “She doesn’t seem like she’s happy. Even when she’s here she’s always calling back to the office. From what Lucy can tell she doesn’t have friends in New York. She works all the time, and she doesn’t feel like she’s getting anywhere. If I was a betting man, she’s stuck and doesn’t know how to get out.”
“So no boyfriend?” Shane asked.
They had come to that conclusion back at Christmastime, but it had been months and she could have met someone.
“Not that she’s mentioned to the girls,” Sawyer replied, finishing up the order, and then his whole face lit up. “Hey there, Teach.”
Sabrina Leal slapped her bag on the bar and hauled herself onto the stool next to Shane. She was a pretty woman in a yellow dress and a matching cardigan, her dark hair in a bun. She was the quintessential schoolteacher, if one forgave the whole engaged to two men thing. “Wedding planning with my sister is going to drive me insane. I need tequila.”
Sawyer winked her way. “I told you. We should go to Vegas.”
“No Vegas.” Wyatt had walked in after Sabrina. He gave Bay and his brother a wave. “Hello, Bay. Shane. You two doing okay?”
“If we went to Vegas, you wouldn’t have to wear a tux,” Sawyer insisted. “I kinda thought we would be able to outvote Teach here since I can’t imagine Van or Hale in a monkey suit.”
“I think a tuxedo is appropriate, and so does Van.” Wyatt managed to sound oddly prim for a dude who used to run with one percenters. “It’s Elisa who thinks she should be able to get married in her deputy uniform.”
Sabrina laughed at the idea. “She’s joking. I mean not about wearing a frilly dress, but about the polyester uniform as wedding wear. My sister is not as into elegance as I am.”
“She called her bougie,” Wyatt explained.