Swing and a Mishap (Summersweet Island 2)

When I reach for another dart from the pile on the high-top table next to me inside Dockside Eddy’s, Palmer quickly reaches out from his barstool across the table and swipes them all out of my reach.

“No more sharp objects for you.” When I narrow my eyes and growl at him, Palmer just laughs at me. “Sit your ass down, hotshot. I’m not afraid of your bark, when you were sitting here crying into your beer when we got here.”

“Fuck off,” I mutter, slamming my ass down on the barstool and finishing off the last warm, disgusting swallow of beer in my glass before smacking it back down.

Yes, I was sniffling back fucking tears when he and Bodhi decided to show up here to give me shit when I didn’t fucking invite them. I just want to be left alone, because I’m pissed.

And sad. And hurt, goddammit. I can’t believe after everything that’s happened between us and everything I’ve said to Wren that she would honestly think I was anything like that piece of shit Kevin. It rocked me right to my core when she accused me of making her feel like what she did wasn’t good enough, and it fucking hurt that she thought so little of me when I thought she was my entire universe, and I was just trying to do something nice.

“Listen, man, you overstepped, and you’re just gonna have to suck it up and deal with it.” Bodhi shrugs as he takes a seat at his stool.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? All I did was something thoughtful for Owen. Something nice. I didn’t do it to be an asshole flashing my money around, and I definitely didn’t deserve the shit she said to me,” I remind him, getting angrier by the second the more I replay the words Wren said to me last night, and everything I was forced to tell Bodhi and Palmer when they got here and wouldn’t leave me alone until I spit it out.

I thought for sure when I looked up from my beer a few hours ago and saw them standing next to my table that they’d gotten an earful from their women and they were here to kick my ass. I was positive there had been a Sip and Bitch last night after Wren walked away from me that had lasted well into the night and maybe even possibly was still happening. Color me surprised when they were completely clueless about what was wrong, Birdie and Tess hadn’t even spoken to Wren since the festival yesterday, and Ed was the one to call them and tell them to come up here, because he was afraid I might start flipping tables.

I have no idea why in the hell she didn’t tell them. Why she didn’t complain all night long about what a douchebag I am, just like fucking Kevin Stratford. And that’s what keeps putting a chink in the armor of pissed off I’ve surrounded myself with. And that’s what keeps making me feel like the douchebag Kevin is that I haven’t gone to her and made her talk to me, but I’m too hurt this time.

“You didn’t deserve being compared to Kevin; I’ll give you that. But you definitely deserved to get your ass handed to you.” Bodhi nods.

Palmer and Bodhi have kept their mouths shut and let me bitch for the last two hours while I broke half of Ed’s darts, but clearly they’re finished keeping them shut.

“You wanna tell me how I fucked up too?” I ask Palmer with a humorless snort.

“Don’t look at me.” Palmer shakes his head as he grabs his bottle of beer. “I fucked up with Birdie, and I still don’t know why she forgave me. Looks like Bodhi really is the voice of reason.”

“Right on.” Bodhi nods again with an easy smile as Jimmy Buffett starts playing from the sound system.

I usually love nothing better than coming to Dockside Eddy’s to relax at the best fresh seafood and oyster bar in the world. With its low-key vibe right on the dock of the permanent resident end of the island and nautical artifacts hanging on the mismatched clapboard walls, it’s always a great place to hang out and chill. But nothing can make me feel chill at this moment in time, not even Jimmy Buffett and the view of the sun setting out over the ocean through the windowless walls that lead out to the deck.

“Look, I know you don’t want to hear this, man,” Bodhi continues, resting his arms on the table and leaning closer to me. “But you did overstep just a little. I know you love Owen and you want the best for him; we all do. But Wren is his mom. You made a really big decision about him without her, and you set up a video conference that she didn’t even know about, with a man she’s never met and knows nothing about, at a college on the other side of the country.”