A Reunion And A Ring (Proposals & Promises 1)

“Yes, of course. As I was leaving,” she added.

“As you were leaving? Seriously? What did you talk about until then?”

“Mostly about the storm and the damage it did. He told me a little of what’s going on with his family. His sister has two little boys now, and I could tell he’s crazy about them. Then his friends showed up and there wasn’t a lot of time for personal talk. Um, Avery was with them. Did I mention that?”

“No, you just said some of his friends came to help clear the road.” Stevie eyed her speculatively. “How’s Avery?”

“He looks pretty much the same, too. Maybe his temples are a little higher, but he’s still got red hair.”

“How’d he act toward you?”

“Let’s just say I’m still not his favorite person. He wasn’t actively hostile...” Well, with the exception of the one low dig she saw no need to mention now. “But he wasn’t overly friendly, either.”

“He was always kind of a jerk.”

Jenny bit her lip. She hadn’t forgotten an unfortunate attempt at a double date when she and Gavin, who had been a new couple at the time, had invited their friends to join them in an unsuccessful bid at matchmaking. Avery and Stevie had not hit it off, to say the least. As she recalled, they’d argued about whether Nickelback “sucked”—Stevie liked their music; Avery hated it. A petty disagreement, but it had quickly escalated until they were hardly speaking by the end of the evening.

It was after that night when Avery had turned cool toward Jenny. She’d never known whether he’d blamed her for setting him up on an unsuccessful date, if he just didn’t like her or maybe if he’d thought from the start that her relationship with Gavin had been ill-fated. Nor did she know why he disliked her now. Surely he didn’t believe she still had any power to hurt Gavin.

“Had to be weird sleeping in the same house with Gavin again.”

“I didn’t sleep much,” Jenny agreed, candid with Stevie in a way she didn’t feel comfortable being with most other people. “Weird is pretty much an understatement for the way it felt to be there with him.”

“I guess it brought back a lot of memories.”

“Yes.”

Stevie nodded thoughtfully. “It would be strange for me to spend the night with one of my exes. Though it’s not like my past relationships were as epic as yours with Gavin. It took you a long time to get over him. For months you couldn’t even talk about him. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to suddenly be alone with him again.”

Jenny squirmed a little on the couch and protested, “Come on, Stevie, there’s no need to be so dramatic about it. It was a college romance, not a tragic love story. Yes, I was hurt when it ended, but obviously I got over it. I’ve dated since. Now I’m in a serious relationship with someone else. It’s not as if I’ve spent the past ten years pining over Gavin.”

“Hmph.” Without pausing to expand on the enigmatic murmur, Stevie asked, “Did you tell Gavin you and I are still friends?”

“Your name came up. He asked if you were still dating the drummer.”

“Who? Oh, him.” Stevie laughed and shook her head. “I’d almost forgotten about him.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I’d figured.”

“Sticks was seriously cute. But sooo dumb.”

“I remember.”

Setting aside her plate, Stevie drew her bare feet beneath her and nestled back into the sofa with her wineglass cradled in her hands. “So what did Thad say? About Gavin being there, I mean. I assume you feel the need to tell him, too, since you’re planning to tell the family.”

Slowly swirling the liquid in her own glass, Jenny cleared her throat. “I haven’t told him yet. I will, of course. It just wasn’t the sort of thing to mention during a phone call. I figured I’d wait until he gets home so I can assure him face-to-face that it was all a perfectly innocent mix-up.”

“Do you think he’ll be mad?”

She chose her answering words carefully. “He won’t like it, of course, but I doubt he’ll be angry. Thad understands that mistakes happen. This particular mix-up was certainly awkward and unexpected, but he knows he can trust me. He’ll be civil about it.”

“Civil,” Stevie murmured. “Yes, Thad is certainly civil.”

Jenny frowned. “You make that sound like a criticism.”

“Do I? Huh.” Stevie sipped her wine, then asked, “So, I’m the only one you’ve told about your weekend adventure?”