Lana looks a little contrite, but Anna simply says, “Tell us!”
I put my glass down on the table. “After Adam and I broke up, I moved away from home and did a little traveling. Worked in bars, or whatever I could find at the time.”
Really, I’d been fucked-up. I was in so much emotional pain. I would do anything to get rid of it, anything to distract myself. Usually, I found my distraction with other men.
“I ended up in a town called Channon. It’s a country town about ten hours from here. Anyway, I met this guy, Wade. We ended up sleeping together a couple of times, and I got pregnant with Cara. Things didn’t work out, so I moved back here. That’s it. There’s no big story, and she isn’t Adam’s child.”
Anna looks slightly disappointed, like she expected a better story.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Anna,” I tell her, laughing quietly.
“Where is Wade now?” Lana asks, studying me curiously.
“In Channon,” I explain. “He doesn’t have any contact with Cara. Just another deadbeat dad.”
Lana and Anna both nod in understanding. I know neither of them had their fathers in their lives when they were growing up either, just like Cara won’t. I had my dad with me all the time, up until I was thirteen, when he and my mom divorced. After that, he visited every weekend until he passed away from a heart attack when I was sixteen.
“I was kind of hoping she was Rake’s,” Anna admits, cheeks flushing guiltily. “I don’t know why, but I was.”
I roll my eyes at that. “She isn’t.”
This isn’t some romance where everything works out in the end, and the hero and the heroine end up together in a happily ever after only someone with a big imagination could formulate.
“She looks just like you,” Anna muses out loud. “She’s stunning.”
“Thank you,” I tell her, smiling. “She definitely is something. Do you two want something else to drink?” I ask, looking at the now-empty bottle of wine.
“What do you have?” Anna asks, standing up.
My lips kick up at the corners in a wolfish grin. “We could make some cocktails.”
“I like this idea,” Lana says, rubbing her hands together. We all head into the kitchen, and I pull out whatever alcohol I can find, while the girls look for other ingredients in the fridge.
“Remember when we used to do this before parties in high school?” Anna says, washing the fruit. “Everyone had to make a drink, and then we all had to taste it, to see who could come up with the best one.”
“Except Adam used to make them disgusting on purpose, just so we had to drink it,” I say, smiling fondly. “He’d put peanut butter and stuff like that in them. It was gross.”
Anna and Lana laugh. “Yeah, but he used to drink yours for you, Bailey, so it was only us who had to suffer!”
I open the half-filled bottle of vodka and smirk. “Girlfriend benefits.”
“I’m his sister!” Anna fires back, her shoulder shaking with laughter. “Where’s the loyalty?”
“Exactly,” Lana adds. “His job was to harass your life.”
“Well, he succeeded,” Anna grumbles, but the smile playing on her lips says otherwise. Adam is a great big brother, there’s no doubt about that. He always treated Anna like gold.
“Do you have any mint?” Lana asks, concentrating on slicing the lime thinly.
“I don’t think so,” I reply. “Do you feel like Anna has the upper hand here? She used to work at Knox’s Tavern and she’s a scientist.”
“And she drinks the most out of all of us,” Lana says, nudging Anna with her shoulder. “Yeah, she has us at an advantage.”
“Wait, did this turn into a competition? I thought we were just talking about old times, but if we’re going to relive them, game on!” Anna cheers.
“Who is going to be the judge?” I ask, finding the whole thing amusing.
“Arrow—”
“Hell no,” I cut her off. “That’s not fair.”
“Well someone has to come and pick us up,” Lana says, shrugging. “Whoever it is can be roped into being the judge. We won’t tell him whose drink is whose.”
“Deal!” Anna calls out, doing a little dance.
“We’re so mature,” I muse out loud, pulling out the blender and mentally selecting ingredients. If it’s Adam picking them up, I know he loves citrus flavors, so I’ll definitely do something with orange or lemon.
“You’re a teacher,” Lana points out. “Educating the youth of today to become tomorrow’s leaders.”
“Yeah, well, I’m off duty,” I huff.
“And you’re about to get schooled,” Anna teases, then tilts her head to the side, her blond hair falling over her cheek. “I feel like we need a time limit or something. This competition is getting fierce.”
“Ten minutes!” I call out, slamming my hand down on the table. “And tell whoever is picking you up to get his ass over here for taste testing.”
“Wait,” Lana says, pushing her glasses up on the bridge of her nose. “What does the winner get?”
Anna looks contemplative. “One favor. The winner gets one favor from each of the losers.”
“Like a marker?” Lana asks, smirking. “You’ve been hanging around bikers too long.”