“You look good,” Aaron said smoothly.
“Don’t,” she said, patience wearing thin.
“You remember what I like to drink, don’t you honey?”
Tammy didn’t know why she did it, but she looked over at Tawk. He had his back to her, talking to Cash. In fact, all the guysin the Crew were deep in conversation, looked like. A little sliver of worry snaked through her gut.
She felt alone under Aaron’s watchful gaze.
“You stopped wearing your ring,” he said, pointing to her left hand.
“A long time ago, in a different life.”
“Mmm. I still wear mine,” he told her, holding up his left hand with the simple white gold band on it.
“You mean you dug it out of the drawer and put it on just for tonight when you wasted your time coming all the way up here to piss me off?”
He chuckled and shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe I’m still loyal waiting for you to come to your senses.”
“What happened to Meredith?” she asked. “Or Katie. Or Beth?”
“Okay, all right, we both know I’ve got game,” he said with his hands up.
Brian snorted.
She inhaled deeply. “What do you want? Just say it and be done with it, and leave.”
“I’m in town to go to your graduation.”
He could’ve knocked her over with a feather right about now. “How do you even know about my graduation.”
“Your parents said you got your little degree.”
“My little degree,” she repeated softly. God, she wished she’d been smarter. She wished she could go back and talk to her younger self back when she’d fallen for this chode.
“Oh come on. You know I didn’t mean it like that. You’re just looking for a reason to be mad at me. I’m proud of you.”
“You’re proud of me?” She smelled a rat. “You hated the idea of me going back to school. You were the reason I didn’t. You said it was a waste of my time.”
“I just… look, Tam, I know you’re mad at me, but you have to remember that you were the one who left me. That wasn’t my choice. I’m still waiting. I’m trying to be patient.”
“I left you because we weren’t compatible.”
He looked over at Jeff and twitched his head. Jeff and Brian got up and walked toward the jukebox, and only then did Aaron return his attention to her. He lowered his voice. “I forget why we even used to fight. All I remember is good times. Don’t you? Don’t you remember what it was like? All the places we went and the things we did, and we were just this little team figuring out life together. We were always out with a huge group. We were the life of the party. We were the ones who were always invited out, together. I miss that. I miss you, Tam.”
“I remember you used to come to my bartending shifts and watch me like a hawk and yell at anyone who was male and talked to me. I remember you busted a beer bottle over that guy’s head because he asked for my number.”
“You were my wife—”
“And you didn’t trust me.”
“He shouldn’t have been asking a married woman for her number—”
“He was drunk and probably didn’t know if I was a woman or a fuckin’ turtle, Aaron. It’s an easy no from me when a man asks for my number—”
“Can I have your number?”
She startled hard as she looked up to find Tawk standing there.
