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  “Yeah, yeah, I know. What time can you make it over here?” Moving the conversation along is the only way to bring this call to an end in the near future.

  Having decided on a time and what needed to be done, we end the discussion and, pushing girl’s night from my mind, I continue with my Friday routines like I always do when I’m off. It’s the quiet time spent in the rocking chair singing that I enjoy the most.

  Obnoxious honking alerts me to Laura and Cara’s presence in my driveway. “Guess I’d better go before the neighbors call in a complaint to the police department.” Daddy simply chuckles while hugging me goodbye, kissing the top of my head when he lets me go.

  “You girls be safe tonight,” he instructs as he sees me to the door, the honking thankfully receding when the door begins to open, “And you just relax and let yourself have a little fun. You deserve it, whether or not you want to admit it.” One last squeeze on the arm and he lets me exit the house after I agree to try having fun. He’s almost as bad as Mom.

  “There she is,” Cara squeals upon my opening the car’s back passenger door. “I thought you’d chicken out on us, again.” Her grinning face shows her pleasure with her statement.

  “Oh, hush, Cara! She’s liable to jump out right now if you don’t let her be.” Laura knows me too well. One more remark like that and I’d be more than happy to stay my reclusive ass at home.

  From my left, I hear someone chuckling. Squinting to see better under the streetlights, I realize Laura’s brother, Chad, is also in the car. What the hell? Ladies night, my foot. “What are you doing here?” I question with a raised brow and a frown.

  “I’m just hitching a ride to the restaurant. A bunch of the guys are meeting me there before we head out to do something else.”

  “Something else? What does that mean? Don’t you know what you’re gonna do already?” I mean really, does he honestly have no idea what he’s getting into?

  “I’m sure they have some sort of plan. I’m just along for the ride.” He winks with a huge grin as we reach the best Chinese food place around, Hung’s. I’ve never turned down eating there. It’s my comfort food.

  Ten minutes later, we’re walking into my food haven when Chad leaves us to join his friends. The group of guys includes Chad’s best friend, Marc, who is always up to something. For as long as I’ve known them, those two have been one barrel of laughs. Heaven help the women they pick up tonight.

  Declining the hostess’s offer to seat us, we spot Melody waving her hand in the air to gain our attention at the long table she’s holding for us. Sitting with her are two of our other close friends. The six of us have been close since junior high school, all choosing to settle down back here in our hometown of Mountain View, Colorado after we finished college.

  Taking our seats, we spend a few moments greeting one another, creating small talk and idle chit-chat until our server arrives to take our drink and dinner orders. Taking care of us all, he retreats to the kitchen to put in our dinner selections.

  “Oh. My. Gah! Did you see the way he looked you over, Ads? It looked like he wanted more than your food order like maybe you were his own personal buffet,” Cara teases, her eyebrows wiggling to emphasize her point.

  “No kidding,” Melody chimes in. “He looked you over more than once, girl. Give him your number!”

  My friends giggle sillily, commenting quietly on what they’d do with him in private. Children, all of them. They really are a wild bunch tonight.

  “Whatever. You’re all insane,” I retort, tossing my straw wrapper, my face more than likely five shades of maroon. “You all know I can’t very well hook up with random men. I have other priorities right now.” Shaking my head, I take a sip of my water, relishing the ample amount of ice it contains instead of the inadequate quantity you usually get at restaurants.

  “Come on, Sweets. It’s been almost a year. He’d expect you to be happy, not remain in limbo and alone for the rest of your life.” Melody’s sympathetic words pull at something in my heart, feelings that up until now, I’ve been able to push aside. Hearing he’d want me to be happy and not lonely brings to light just how separated from everything I’ve become.

  “She’s right, Ads,” the other girls agree. “We know how much you loved Will. Hell, you two had been together since high school, even throughout his time in basic training, but he wouldn’t want you to continue mourning him.”

  Cara takes my hands in hers, her warmth seeping through to my cold bones. “I know. Believe me, I do. I’m just not out looking for anything, okay?” I hope they can understand my feelings on this. “I need to focus on me and giving things at home all of my attention.”

  “You have to take some time for yourself, too, ya know,” Laura adds, reprimanding me like my mother. It’s plain to see she’s the oldest of three siblings. Mothering is in her nature, it seems.

  “I will, I promise. I came tonight.” I hope my compromise appeases everyone. Talking about this anymore is not something I’m ready to do, not just yet.

  “Only because we gave you no choice,” Cara disagrees, “But it’s a start, and we’ll take it.”

  “To fresh starts and new things to come,” my friends toast, their newly delivered drinks raised over the center of our rectangular table. Clinking our glasses together, we one-by-one make our own toast to a good future.

  They say God never gives us more than we can handle. Well, I hope he has a few good things ahead for me. I would certainly welcome them.

  Buy Now: www.amzn.com/B07CWFYDHP

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  https://www.bookbub.com/books/love-inevitable-colorado-mountain-novels-book-1-by-xana-jordan

  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37909001-love-inevitable

  You can stay connected with S.E. Hall in several ways:

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  (all books can be found on Amazon; those with a * indicate additional availability in audio format)

  Standalone

  *Unstable

  Full Circle Series

  *Embody

  Elusive

  Exclusive

  Evolve Series

  *Emerge

  *Embrace

  *Entangled

  *Entice

  Sawyer Beckett's Baby Mama Drama Guide For Dummies

  *Endure

  Sawyer Beckett's Guide for Tools Looking to Date My Daughter

  Entwined

  A Crew Christmas

  Finally Found Novels

  *Pretty Instinct

  *Pretty Remedy

  Standalone Short Stories

  Laid Over

  Co-written with Hilary Storm

  Quarterback Sack

  Pick Your Pleasure

  Co-written with Angela Graham

  *Stirred Up

  *Packaged

  *Handled

  *Matched

  One Naughty Night

  Filthy Foreign Exchange

  Filthy Foreign Exchange 2

  Co-written with Ashley Suzanne

  Accidentally On Purpose

  Co-written with Erin Noelle

  Conspire

 

 

 
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