A Kiss For You

“We need more of these,” I told Heidi when she handed me two glasses of champagne.

I had no shame as I double-fisted the drinks.

Heidi laughed and nodded toward the tables. “Let’s find where we’re sitting.”

We wandered over to the table with the list of names elaborately tacked up on a rustic window.

Heidi plucked her name off the distressed clothespin. “We’re table twelve. My lucky number.”

“That’s because Brandon McCain wore that number on the football team all through high school.”

“Okay, fine,” Heidi said with a shrug. “It’s my get-lucky number.”

I snorted. “That’s rich.”

“Here we are.” She dropped her purse down right in front of her name. “Heidi Martin and guest. That’s you.”

“Who else are we with?” I asked.

Heidi and I scanned the names.

I shrugged. “I don’t know any of these people.”

“Work people,” she said. “But at least we have Julia. Julia Banner. She’s cool. You’ll like her.”

“I’ve never heard you mention her before.”

“She’s new. You know how it goes with the newbies,” she said with a wry expression before downing half of her glass of champagne. “I like to make sure they’re going to stick around Lubbock for more than a year. So many burned friendships with people who move here and then relocate immediately. We’ll see if she survives, and then I’ll decide if we bring her in.”

“You act like we’re in a gang,” I told her with a shake of my head.

Heidi leaned over and conspiratorially whispered, “We are.”

I laughed despite myself. God, I had missed her so much. My life had not been the same without her. No matter that I’d spent all those years in Oklahoma and then Austin, I never found a friendship to rival Heidi’s. I was certain I never would.

We spent the next forty-five minutes downing glasses of champagne and eating as many of those little crab cakes as we could get our hands on. By the time the family and bridal party were announced into the room and Sutton and Maverick made their big appearance, Heidi and I were each one drink away from wasted. It was good that we immediately launched into dinner so that I could pad my drinking belly with carbs to survive the rest of the night.

By the time they were finished with the regular bouts of wedding festivities, including—God help us all—a choreographed dance with the bride and her sorority-sister bridesmaids for the groom before launching into a rehearsed first dance, I was ready to hit the bar again. If I ever had to sit through something like that again without another drink, I was sure I would drop dead.

“Bleach.” Heidi giggled into my ear. “I need bleach for my eyes.”

I laughed hysterically, probably louder than necessary, as we walked back to the bar. Other people had gotten up to join in on the dancing, and that meant one thing—more champagne. I was going to have a killer headache in the morning, but whatever. It would be worth it.

Heidi meandered us back over to her work crowd, and I stood with my back to the dancing catastrophe going on behind me. Julia did seem pretty chill. She was almost as tall as Heidi with mahogany-brown hair to her shoulders, and she had on a pretty green dress. I was figuring out more about her job as the head of HR when Heidi’s face broke into a smile in front of me.

Not good.

“Landon!” Heidi called.

She waved at him, and I wanted to bury my face in my hands and disappear. Sometimes, my best friend was the worst.

“Hey Heidi,” Landon said, appearing at my side. He leaned forward and pulled her into a hug. “Good to see you as always.”

“Congratulations on your latest PGA win,” Heidi said with a smile.

“Thanks. I appreciate that. I’ve had a pretty good year.”

And there I stood as they talked about his normal year, as if I didn’t exist. I was less than a foot away from him, and he hadn’t said a word to me. He was engrossed in his conversation with Heidi.

With a deep breath, I chanced a glance at him. He looked…exactly the same. Except not.

Same tall body with chiseled features. Same clean-cut look with the dark hair and puppy-dog eyes. But he looked drained and downtrodden. The last time I’d seen him was at the stupid five-year high school reunion party that Heidi had forced me into going to because she had been the student body vice president. I’d gone in protest and reverted to my Vans skate shoes and oversize T-shirt. Heidi had hated it. But Landon had looked as sharp as ever. He hadn’t lost his luster then. I wondered what had happened.

I seemed to have missed part of the conversation while staring at him…or maybe it was due to my buzz. But Landon was now holding his hand out to me. I furrowed my brows and stared at it.