“Your eyes are all wide and your voice is high. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just editing my hiker shots.” She turned back to thecomputer and clicked back on the shoes, sending Sunshiney Ellis back into the photo file.
“I thought you did that already.” Shea came up behind her to look at photos over her shoulder. “Oh, that’s a good one.” She pointed to a particular shot she’d taken as she’d stepped up onto a fallen tree trunk. Shea watched Cherry work for a few more minutes, then dropped a kiss onto the top of her head. “It’s Taco Tuesday, don’t forget,” she said as she backed out of the room.
“Got it,” Cherry called, lifting a hand in a wave, but still not looking back at her. She was afraid Shea would be able to read her like a book, because now, not only had she still not told Ellis about her online persona, she’d slept with Ellis and hadn’t told her, and she was drowning in guilt. She tried to shake off the uneasy feeling that had been creeping in, slowly but steadily, for the past week or two.
With a sigh, she switched from her laptop to her phone. Smaller screen, but easier to navigate the filters and editing tools. She posted the hikers, made sure to tag Peak and give her honest thoughts in review form. Maybe they’d send her more stuff. She swiped through her photos and came across the one of the mimosas. The lighting was perfect, and she’d used portrait mode, which made the edges of the flutes practically invisible, like the liquid was floating in the air all on its own. Too gorgeous to pass up. She posted it, along with a caption that read,Beautiful cocktails, beautiful date, beautiful Sunday morning, before she could second-guess herself.
The wonderful aroma of taco seasoning wafted into the room, and she forced herself to set aside the worry and the uncertainty of the situation and focus on the present. And the tacos.
In their tiny kitchen, Adam was stirring up the ground beef and seasonings while Shea was chopping up tomatoes and black olives and lettuce to put in little bowls so they could each build their own taco creations. It was what they did on the last Tuesday of every month, and it was one of Cherry’s favorite things. ’Cause time with her friends was important. So were tacos. She wrapped her arms around Adam from behind and gave him a squeeze.
“Hey, handsome,” she said and kissed his shoulder. Which was hard as a rock. She poked at it. “Wow. Been living at the gym again? Who is it this time?”
“It’s Jared,” Shea supplied before Adam could answer. “Successful Northwood Realtor and recent bar regular.”
“Recent bar regular? Huh. I wonder what’s drawing him there,” Cherry said, tapping her finger against her lips and pretending to be all pensive as she munched on some cheddar Shea was shredding.
“It’s a puzzle,” Shea said with a shrug. “A mystery.”
“I can’t figure it out,” Cherry said.
“You guys are hilarious,” Adam said with a shake of his head and a not-very-hidden grin and some pink in his cheeks.
“My dude, are youblushing?” she asked.
“No,” Adam scoffed.
“Totally is,” Shea agreed.
“That’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen,” Cherry told him, then gave him a bump with her hip.
“Both of you can fuck right off,” he told them, but his tone was teasing and the smile stayed.
“I hope that ground beef isn’t from Becker’s.” Shea pointed her knife at the skillet.
“Why not?” Adam asked.
“I saw an article on that site,11th Commandment? Becker’s says their meat is always fresh, never frozen, yet they have freezer trucks delivering meat there. They got caught. Broke the eleventh commandment, man.”
“Ugh, I hate that site,” Cherry said, getting more cheese out of the fridge. “Always up in everybody’s business.”
“You don’t think people deserve the truth?” Adam asked.
Cherry looked at Shea, who wisely stayed quiet. “I mean, I do, but not if it means people spying on other people. They posted an article once about the gender of that one judge’s baby before her family even knew about it. Invasion of privacy, if you ask me. And seriously, who cares?”
Shea grunted softly and Adam shrugged. “Truth,” he said.
The three of them worked together to get all the taco fixings ready. Then they carried everything out to the living room, set it all up on the coffee table, and built tacos. Sitting on the floor around the table, they ate and watchedThe Great British Baking Show.
“I love this tradition,” Shea said, and Cherry exchanged grins withAdam over her head because she said the same thing on every single Taco Tuesday.
“Me, too,” Cherry said. “Though I feel a little bad that we’re eating something as simple as tacos while these people are making four-tier themed wedding cakes.”
“And being nice to each other while they do it,” Shea added.
“Speaking of being nice to each other,” Adam said as he focused on Cherry. “How about you be nice to me and give me some details on your new girl? Since Shea seems to know everything and I know nothing, not even that you got laid on Sunday, because you didn’t tell me.” He crunched into a taco and stared at her expectantly as he chewed.
