“I don’t know. And really, for a little while, I didn’t care. Liam and I talked about my upcoming ride the next day and he offered me advice for how to take a little time off my turns. I was grateful for the feedback and when I told him that, he said that if I won, I could take him out to dinner with my prize money.”
“He asked you out?”
“I guess.” Even now doubt clouded Hadley’s tone. Even with Liam’s engagement ring on her finger, she had a hard time believing that he’d been the slightest bit interested in her. She’d been so plain and uninteresting compared with his other girlfriends.
“You guess?” Kori regarded her in bemusement. “Of course he did.”
Hadley shrugged. “Like I said, he was nice to a lot of people.”
“But you had to suspect he wouldn’t have tracked you to Lolita’s stall if he wasn’t interested in you.”
“I could barely hope he liked me. I was excited and terrified. His reputation was something I wasn’t sure I could deal with. He dated extensively.” She put air quotes around dated. “I was eighteen and I’d never really been kissed.”
“So did you win and go to dinner with him?”
“I won, but we never went out. Anna rode after I did the next day and had her accident.”
“You haven’t explained how that was your fault.”
“Anna overheard Liam and I talking about dinner and me agreeing to his terms. She interrupted us and told me she was leaving and if I wanted a ride I’d better come with her. Considering I’d been ready to go an hour earlier, her demand seemed pretty unreasonable. I was tempted to tell her I’d already made other arrangements, but she was obviously upset so I agreed to head out.”
“She was jealous that Liam had asked you out.”
“That’s what I figured, but on the way to the car I tried to explain to her that he was just helping me out with my riding.”
“And she didn’t believe you.”
“No. She’d figured out I liked him and accused me of going behind her back. When I denied it, she went ballistic. Said that the only reason he noticed me was because I beat his girlfriend and that I wasn’t his type. She insisted I would be the laughingstock of the barn if I kept believing he would ever want to date me.”
“Sounds like things she should have been telling herself.”
While Hadley agreed with Kori, at the time, each word had struck like a fist. “I wish I hadn’t been so surprised by her attack. If I’d been able to stay calm, I might have been able to reason with her. But what she was saying were the same things that had been running through my head. To hear them from my best friend... I was devastated.”
“So you didn’t tell her she was the one who was acting like an idiot?”
“No.” And now they’d arrived at the part of the story Hadley was most ashamed of. “I told her that if Liam only noticed me because of my riding she was out of luck. The way she rode, no wonder he had no idea who she was.”
“Ouch.”
Hadley winced. “Not my finest moment. And for the last ten years I’ve regretted those words.”
“But it sounds like she was asking to have the truth served up to her.”
“Maybe, but she was my best friend. I should have been more understanding. And because of what I said, the next day she pushed too hard and fell badly. So, now you see. If I’d not let my temper get the best of me, Anna never would have tried to prove she was the better rider and wouldn’t have fallen and broken her back.”
“And you haven’t ridden since.”
“No.” It was a small sacrifice to make for b
eing a bad friend. “Until today. And now I’m engaged to the guy who came between Anna and me with tragic results.”
“And I can tell you still aren’t guilt free over moving on. So, as your best friend of seven years, I give you permission to get on with your life and stop beating yourself up over something you said to your friend who was acting like a greedy bitch a decade ago.” Kori lifted her wineglass and held it out to Hadley.
Pushing aside all reluctance, Hadley picked up her glass and gently clinked it with Kori’s. The crystalline note rang in the dining nook, the sound proclaiming an end to living in the past and the beginning of her bright future.
She’d given enough time and energy to her mistakes. She deserved to be happy, and being Liam’s wife, becoming a family with him and Maggie, was the perfect way to spend the rest of her life.
* * *