Sidecar Crush - Page 18
It was ridiculous. She was just a girl I used to know.
That’s what I was telling myself, anyway.
I reckoned she had asked Scarlett about me. And here I’d thought I wouldn’t see her again after that encounter at the Pop In.
Taking a deep breath, and feeling mighty foolish that it was necessary, I took out my phone. Kept walking down the street in case one of my nosy siblings came out.
Me: Hey Leah Mae. Yeah, I’d like that. When are you free?
Leah Mae: Really? Oh good! How does lunch sound?
Me: Lunch sounds great. Moonshine at noon?
Leah Mae: Perfect. I’ll see you then.
I found myself almost typing it’s a date, but I stopped. It wasn’t a date. Just two old friends catching up. I reckoned she’d be leaving town soon anyway. Her life wasn’t here. It was off being famous. Marrying someone else.
Still, it would be nice to spend a little time with her. Find out how she was really doing. Maybe I could figure out why her eyes didn’t sparkle the way they once had. Get that image of the girl in a cage out of my head so I could focus. Because right now, it was all I could see.
6
JAMESON
T imes like this, I wished I had a little more Gibson in me. Or even Bowie. I couldn’t imagine my brothers being nervous the way I was. Not over a girl, anyway. Especially one that was just a friend.
Of course, they were both older than me, and neither of them showed any signs of settling down. So maybe they weren’t the ones to emulate after all.
Still, I felt foolish for the way my heart thumped and nervousness unsettled my stomach. I parked down the street from Moonshine and looked out to see if Leah Mae was here yet. A few people wandered up and down the street, but no sign of her.
I got out just as a car parked across the street. My heart sank straight to the concrete below my feet as I watched Leah Mae and her fiancé get out of the car. Damn it, he was here too?
The thought that I might be able to get back in my truck and leave without her seeing me crossed my mind. But I dismissed it as quickly as it had come. I had better manners than to stand her up, even if I’d thought it would be just the two of us. It wasn’t the same, but I’d make the best of it.
I looked up and our eyes met. She smiled, and I knew I was in some trouble. Damn it, she was pretty.
Shoving my hands in my pockets, I walked down the sidewalk to meet her. Or them, as it were.
“Hi, Jameson,” she said. “Thanks for meeting me.”
“Sure.” I glanced at Kelvin. He was glaring at me, his arms crossed over his chest.
His eyes flicked to the ground behind me. “What is that?”
Mona Lisa McNugget, Bootleg’s town chicken, was pecking her way up the sidewalk. She stopped near my foot and scratched, looking for some little tidbit on the ground.
“It’s a chicken,” Leah Mae said, her voice amused.
“I know it’s a chicken,” he said. “What is it doing here?”
“It’s Mona Lisa McNugget,” I said.
“There’s a chicken just… walking around town?” he asked.
As if she could sense his disdain, Mona Lisa charged toward Kelvin and started trying to peck his ankle. He jumped backward, like she was a giant spider or something, not a regular old chicken. Mona Lisa kept after him, her head bobbing, beak thrusting.
“What the hell?” he asked. “This chicken is trying to attack me.”
Leah Mae started to laugh and covered her mouth. I just kept my hands in my pockets, watching. I’d never seen Mona Lisa go after someone like that. I probably could have coaxed her away, but I wasn’t so keen on interfering.
“Hey y’all,” Bowie said from behind me and smacked me on the back. “What’s going on?”
“Not much,” I said.
“Somebody get this chicken off me,” Kelvin said, hopping from foot to foot.
“Kelvin, just move out of the way,” Leah Mae said. “She’ll leave you alone.”
“Is that Leah Mae Larkin I see?” Bowie asked.
“Hi Bowie,” Leah Mae said.
Gibson came from the other direction. He spared half a glance for the chicken, still trying to peck Kelvin, and stopped in front of the rest of us.
“Leah Mae,” he said with a nod, as if it wasn’t unusual for her to be here. Or maybe he just didn’t care. Hard to tell with Gibs. He looked at me and Bowie. “So we eatin’ or what?”
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