Come Back for You

“No, it’s okay,” Avery says, walking over and wrapping her arms around Clarissa. “You’re right, they should be her responsibility and I’m pissed at her every day for making them mine. But I’m trying to make the best of our crappy situation. Seriously though, Whitley. I’ll never be able to repay him.”

I shake my head, “he doesn’t want you to repay him, Avery. He did that as a gift to you and your kids. He’d never ask for you to repay it. He’d also want you to use some of that money he put in your bank account on yourself.”

“What?” She whispers. Fuck.

“Sonofabitch. You didn’t know that was him, did you?” She shakes her head.

“No,” she whispers, pulling herself up onto one of the barstools and snatching the bottle of scotch out of Clarissa’s hand.

“Hey!” Clarissa snaps and Avery hisses at her. She holds her hands up in surrender. “Keep it, I brought more.”

“Oh my god,” Avery groans, dropping her head into her hands. “I’m going to have to apologize to Jaxson.”

“What? Why? What did he do?” Lainey asks and I’m just as confused as she is.

“I accused him of putting that money in my account! I thought he did it as some sort of Christmas bonus and I lost my shit. I told him I didn’t need his charity and stormed out of the office the other day. I haven’t spoken to him since.”

We all try to console her, and by console, I mean get her drunk. We go about starting some cookies and we’re five batches in and the girl is tipsy. She pulls her phone out and pulls up Jax’s name.

“Shit.” Lex says as it rings over the speakerphone.

“Avery, hey. What’s up?” He says when he answers the phone. She sighs.

“I just called to applegize.” She hiccups and I snort. This girl.

“To what?” He coughs out and then you can hear him talking in the background before the noise finally quiets and it sounds like he’s outside or something.

“Apologize,” she says, hiccupping again.

“Shit. Are you drunk?” You can hear the smile in his voice.

“Just tipsy,” she says, taking the call off speakerphone and leaving the room to finish the conversation.

“I wish those two would just date already,” Clarissa says, and we all echo our agreements.

“What about you, Lainey? Have you met anyone in Monroeville that’s piqued your interest?” Lex asks and Lainey’s cheeks turn red. I squeal.

“Oh my god, you have! Tell us who!” I hoist myself up onto the counter with my glass of wine and wait for her response.

“Not reallyyy,” she says, dragging the word out and avoiding making eye contact with any of us.

“She’s lying,” Lex says with a frown. “Why won’t you tell us?” Lainey sighs.

“Because then you’re all going to be trying to get me to ask him out and I don’t know if I can.”

“Do we know him?” Clarissa asks and Lainey nods her head. I wrack my brain, trying to think of who is still unattached that we know and suddenly, it comes to me.

“No,” I say, pressing my hand to my chest. Oh my god.

“What? Do you know who it is?” Lex asks, turning her attention on me and narrowing her eyes. “Tell us!”

“That’s it,” Clarissa says, walking over and smacking the back of Lainey’s hand that is holding her phone, sending the phone sailing into the air and Riss snatches it, turning her back on the rest of us. Lex gasps dramatically and Lainey screeches.

“Oh my god, Clarissa!” She shouts, launching herself at her back and trying to get the phone out of her hand. Clarissa has a good few inches on her so she holds it up in the air, scrolling through her text messages. Avery hears the commotion and comes back in the kitchen from the garage, pocketing her phone.

“What in the world?” She questions and I motion for her to join me on the counter. She hoists herself up beside me. “What’s happening?”

“Lainey has a crush and Clarissa is trying to figure out who it is,” I say over the commotion of Lainey trying to get her phone and Lex trying to convince Clarissa to tell us all what she finds.