Page 67 of Rebound

“Spencer hates it when I work,” Lara went on. “He says I get too stressed out, so I just do things on the side to bring in extra money when I feel like I’m not contributing.”

“Charcuterie,” Thomas said, and Lara nodded.

“Sometimes that. I make wreaths, which sounds so silly, but I sell them online for a lot of money and I enjoy making them. It’s like stress relief.”

Thomas’s expression softened, but not in a real noticeable way.

“Lara has a degree in Accounting,” Ben offered.

“And I hate to waste it, but Spencer is Spencer.” She shrugged and finished off what wine was left in her glass.

Ben knew something she’d said must have hit a nerve about Thomas’s ex-wife, but he recognized the stoic way Thomas reined his commentary in.

“It’s nice that your husband supports you like that,” Thomas said.

“Honestly, he doesn’t even have to work. His family is old money from a town up north called Mallardsville. He wanted to do more with his life, though. And when we were in college, Ben was kind enough to think the more could be me.”

“A little matchmaker?” Thomas asked, shoulders relaxing.

“Spencer seemed like the kind of man who could handle her.”

“I’m a big personality.” Lara nodded sagely, if not a little mockingly. Ben had told her as much for years, half in jest, but Lara could be a lot when she set her mind to it. It was one of the things he’d always loved the most about her. She’d never shied away from being honest with him about when he was doing something wrong.

“And how didyoumeet this Spencer?” Thomas asked. “How did you meet Lara?”

“Spencer and I used to swim together in college,” he said, recalling the story. “And Lara used to copy my notes in one of our first year finance classes.”

“Please don’t tell this story,” she interrupted.

“One time I got strep throat and I was out sick for a week. When I came back, I had to ask Lara to copy her notes and they were an absolute disaster.”

“Ironic, since I’m the accountant and you’re not,” she said.

Ben held out his glass for her to refill. “She shoved a stack of papers at me when I asked, not realizing that she’d given me more than just her finance notes.”

“Please stop,” she begged, cheeks flushed in the pink light of the sunset. “I’d been stalking him a bit, not in an unhinged way, but I thought he was hot. I found out he was on the swim team, so I had the swim schedule written on the back of some of my notes and he found it.”

Thomas chuckled, obviously aware of where the story was going.

“Lara isn’t my type,” Ben picked up the story again, “But I knew Spencer would like her, so I circled the time for the next practice and told her to come. I introduced them and the rest is history.”

Lara held up her hand with the massive pear-cut diamond sparkler on her ring finger as proof.

“Sounds like everything worked out then,” Thomas said.

“Could have been worse,” Ben agreed.

“And we’ve been friends ever since.” Lara topped off Thomas’s wine, unasked. “What about you? How did you meet your best friend?”

Thomas’s face fell, but he pulled it back together so quickly Ben almost didn’t even notice the change in him.

“I don’t think I have one anymore,” he said with a frown. “Most of my friends were couple friends with Jennifer and when we split up, the wives all went with her, and…”

“Good husbands do as they’re told,” Lara supplied with a matching frown.

“Really?” Ben turned to Thomas, his eyes worried. “You don’t have any friends?”

“I mean, I’m sure I do. I’m sure there are people I could call.”