Page 4 of Brett and Rowdy (Gomillion High Reunion #5)

“You did not just ask me that.” She sighed. “The canapes are all fancy. Nothing you would want except the sliders, and they have those dangly cooked onions on them that you only like chopped up in dip.”

“Damn. I mean it, though. How does Brett look?”

“Freaked out.”

“I will step on your foot and then apologize like I didn’t mean to. And I know you have high heels on.”

“You suck,” she told him. “For real.”

“Duh.” Rowdy rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe he showed up.”

“Me either, this really doesn’t seem like his thing anymore than it seems like yours.”

“So? Come on, feed the blind dude a crumb.”

“He looks good. He looks really good, man. Broader than he was when he was in high school. Across the chest, you know? You can tell he’s a metal guy. He’s got that blacksmith build going on.”

“Yum.” Rowdy had to hum. He had fond memories of that tall body.

Of course, who didn’t have fond memories about their first handjob or their first blowjob?

Shit. Brett had been the first one to let him explore without worrying about getting his ass kicked.

So, sure, why not? He grinned toward Ash.

“At the time, I was so in love it was stupid.”

“Right? What did y’all fight about when you broke up?”

His forehead wrinkled. “You know, I haven’t the foggiest? I’m sure when I was seventeen, it was a huge deal, but I don’t remember. I was a kid. There’s so much water under those bridges now, I could irrigate the whole of northern New Mexico.”

The simple fact was, Brett hadn’t let him explain the whys or whats or hows of what happened, and now he was grateful for it. Their secret was their own.

“Such a rancher.” She chuckled and leaned in close enough he could smell her lotion, the fragrance light and floral. “So I know you don’t want to play the games; you want to look at the photo wall with me?”

“I will embarrass you in public. Don’t forget.” He grinned at Ash. “I got way less to lose in this game than you do.”

“Like you would ever do anything to hurt the mother of your baby.”

He couldn’t argue with that, so he didn’t bother. “So has it changed? Like the school, I mean.”

Her earrings tinkled as she shook her head. “Not appreciably, no. It’s still here. I mean, it’s a decent place to go to high school, I guess.”

Not that they’d sent their little girl here. Ashley, Dan, and he had discussed that at the beginning, and even when she was in kindergarten, that sweet darling had gone to private school. Ashley didn’t trust teachers, for good reason, and she wanted control over who was influencing her baby.

“He’s not going to be here, right?”

“He who?” The sudden tension in Ashley’s arm echoed in her voice.

“Ash, come on.” He didn’t want to play games, but he wasn’t going to speak the man’s name. The son of a bitch still worked here, in this building.

Rowdy had only spoken to him once—the last day he was ever at this school, in fact. There had been a hard, swift, certain discussion. And once things were said and done, he left town.

And a certain motherfucker had to go get reconstructive surgery on his teeth.

“No, there’s no reason for that to happen.”

“That’s good.”

Ashley took his arm again and squeezed a little bit. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”

“I am too. I want them all to see how fucking fine you are.”

Ashley had been his best friend for over half his life, and everybody who had tormented her? He wanted them all to see how she’d gone above and beyond, just like he’d believed she would.

“Why, Rowdy Duran? Is that you?”

No, he was a doppelganger alien from the moon. “Yes, ma’am.”

He had absolutely no idea who the drawl belonged to, but he also didn’t care.

“Good evening, Deidre. How’s it going?” Ashley’s voice was cold as ice.

Ah, Deidre Bixby. She and Ashley had been rivals, apparently their entire lives, from kindergarten on.

The daughter of the town doctor and the daughter of the dude who cleaned up the gas station weren’t destined for friendship.

No one could prove that Dr. Bixby had told Deidre about Ash getting pregnant, but nobody else had known. Just the pregnancy test and her.

Up until everybody knew.

“It’s going very well. I’m surprised to see that Dan’s not here.”

“I don’t see why. He’s in Tokyo, doing business. Rowdy came in for Madison’s graduation from Clemson, and so we thought it would be great to come together.”

“There’s no one I’d rather come with. Now, if you’ll excuse us.” He kept his face as straight as he could. “Barney’s acting like he smells something that’s gone bad, I think. He needs some air.”

She was still gasping as they walked away, and Ashley led them somewhere quieter, where the music was easier and the smell of food was less, and she could finally chuckle. “Jesus Christ, that was glorious.”

“Thank you, I appreciate you.”

“I appreciate you.” He felt her relax. “Let’s see who’s here that you’d remember. There’s Holden Pierce. He’s got a yarn store in town.”

“Did you sell him the property?”

“What? Maybe I shop there.”

“In a store with yarn?” She was what? Tying mice up and torturing the cat? “Well, when you retire, you can learn to knit. It’ll be great. You can make me scarves.” He nudged her arm.

“Shut up. You want a scarf, I’ll fucking buy you a scarf.”

“Language,” he singsonged.

“Bah.” She sighed. “This is boring. We should have waited to come until there was dancing.”

“Oh yeah, Barney cuts a mean rug.” He snorted. “We wanted food.”

“They have like, eight kinds of vegan and vegetarian food, Rowdy.”

“So, uh, has the meat and three gone out of style in these parts? All the Waffle Houses close down?”

“Nope.” Her lips popped on the P sound. “But hey, who am I to say what they’re teaching at the career center these days. The sign says the kids there made the food.”

“Huh.” He’d never been out to the career center when he was a student, but Dan told him he ate lunch at their cafe a couple times a year and went to their barbecue charity thing when they did it. His team apparently loved their burgers. No one liked cheap food like investment guys.

“Yeah.” She sniffed. “Want a beer?”

“You think they got any? I heard there was mango and uh… mojitos? Whatever.”

“Well, I could get a Sprite, I bet.”

“Sure. I’ll stroll with you.” But after this? They were totally going somewhere to get something bad for him. That was half the fun of being in South Carolina. Fried things and slow-cooked meat.

“If we skip out of here by eight, we can make it to Pete’s Drive-In before they close at nine.”

He chuckled. “God, are they still in business?” Madison had dragged him there with her friends several years ago. Someone’s dad had driven and had been super weird about his then-dog, Fred, being in his fancy SUV.

“Yep. And the food is still perfectly, wonderfully beige.”

“I bet you get tired of salads with clients and real estate agents.”

She huffed dramatically. “Oh, my God. You have no idea. You get homemade tortillas and green chile. I get chilled shrimp and whazzed up chicken mayonnaise. On lettuce. They give me shit if I salt my tomatoes because they say my feet will swell.”

“Good Lord.” He reached over to pat her hand. “Well, let’s make a couple more rounds so you can have your shock and awe, and then we’ll hit the road.”

“You’re on.” She linked her arm through his on the opposite side of Barney, and off they went on their promenade.

He heard more than a few gasps, but who knew how many were directed at him and Ash. She would tell him, no doubt. Of course a couple of people tripped over Barney, and one man growled out, “Who brings a dog to something like this?”

Ashley snapped back, “A blind man, you idiot.”

And then they were out.

“Dammit. Pete’s is closed for a private thing,” Ash told him, her nails clicking on her phone.

“Last Chance bar?”

“Eeek. No. How about the Huddle House in Seneca?”

“Breakfast for supper for the win. You bring shoes to change into?”

“Hell, yeah.” She giggled, sounding so much more free now that they were out of the gym. Even a big girl panties real estate mogul like Ash was uncertain about returning to high school. They’d try again tomorrow night.

Surely at one point they had to have pimiento cheese on the menu.