He smiled. “I can sit for a bit.” He pulled up the stool. “And just so we’re clear, I’m not taking all the blame in our relationship,” he joked.
I laughed. “I never thought you would.” I picked up my drink and took the last sip.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked, eyeing my glass.
“Yes, please.”
Harris raised his hand to the bartender.
“So, because my first airplane needed maintenance before we could take off, I missed my layover flight. I had to sit in the airport for five hours, waiting for the next plane, for which I was only on standby, which means I wasn’t even guaranteed a seat.” Harris took a sip of his drink. “I told my boss that I was never flying over the holidays again.”
I laughed so hard that I fell against him. If I had been sober, I wouldn’t have found the story so funny, but thankfully, I was a happy drunk tonight.
I sat up and looked Harris in the eyes. “We used to have good times, right?”
He smiled. “In the beginning, we had a lot of good times, if I remember correctly.”
My face heated and turned away. Sex with Harris was nothing compared to sex with Griffin, but it had still been enjoyable.
“Sometimes, I wish I had never broken up with you.”
Harris cleared his throat. “Come again?”
I sighed and fiddled with my drink, swirling it around, tipping my cup back and forth. “If I had never broken up with you, I would never have asked Griffin to have sex with me on my birthday, and then I would never have fallen in love with him.”
“Are things not going well? I was wondering where he was and why you were here.”
I smiled sadly at Harris. “We had a falling-out. I’d stupidly thought I wouldn’t fall for Griff, but I did. Then, I’d stupidly thought if I told him how I felt, he’d tell me he felt the same way.” I shrugged. “Part of it’s my fault. I told him after his father passed away.”
Harris sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Oh, Madeline, that’s rough.”
“Yeah. I didn’t hold it against him though. I gave him his space, thinking he’d come back to me.” I tipped my glass back and swallowed the rest of my drink. “I hadn’t seen him in over a month, and he just showed up at the rehearsal and acted like we were old acquaintances.”
“Ah…I was wondering why you weren’t at their rehearsal dinner, but I didn’t want to pry.”
I put my elbow on the bar and my head on my hand. “I bailed after the rehearsal was over.” I sat up straight. The angry drunk was coming out. “Which pisses me off. He should have been the one to leave. I wasn’t the one who had disappeared for weeks on end. He should be the one avoiding me. He should have been the one to skip out on the dinner. He should be the one sitting alone in a bar, feeling sorry for himself.” I reached for my purse and started digging through it.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to find my phone.”
“Dare I ask, why?”
“So, I can call and give Griffin a piece of my mind.”
Harris put his hand on mine. “Now, I’m obviously not a relationship expert. But he’s still your best friend, and you still care about him, right?”
I nodded.
“Then, I’m thinking you should wait until tomorrow to talk to him.” He squeezed my hand. “Let me take you home. You can have a good night’s sleep and call him in the morning.”
“Okay,” I said reluctantly.
He looked relieved. “Let me go and tell my coworkers I’m going to take off. Do you have someone who can give you a ride to pick up your car in the morning? Otherwise, I can drive your car and ask one of them to follow.”
“I’ll be fine. My mom can give me a ride if I need one.”
Harris stood. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Aye, aye, captain.”
He chuckled. “You really are drunk.”
I shrugged. It was the truth.
As soon as Harris was out of earshot, I pulled my phone out of my purse and dialed Griffin.
“Come on, come on, answer,” I said into the ringing phone. I didn’t want Harris to come back and catch me.
Griffin’s stupid voice mail picked up.
“Hey, Griffin. This is Madeline. Remember me? Your former best friend.” My words were starting to slur, so I cleared my throat and firmed up my voice. “I’m just calling to tell you that you should have been the one to leave tonight. It’s not right that you got to stay with our friends. You’re the one who ditched me. You’re the one who forgot about me. And you should have been the one to go home alone tonight.”
I had been keeping an eye out for Harris and saw him coming back.
“But you know what? I don’t need you. Harris is taking me home, and tomorrow, I’m going to pretend like I never loved you. In fact, I’m going to pretend like you and I were never friends. So, stay away from me.”
Harris was getting close.
“Gotta go. Harris is almost here.”
I clicked End and set my phone down.
“Who was that?” Harris asked.
“Umm…” I gasped as an idea came to me. “It was my mom.” I nodded. “Mmhmm. I was just making sure she could help me pick up my car tomorrow.”
He looked at my phone, so I snatched it up and stuck it in my purse.
“Are you ready?” I asked, hopping off my stool. I swayed and fell against him. I burst out laughing. “Whoops.”
“Someone is happy again,” he said, helping me stand up straight.
“Yep.” I always felt better after getting stuff off my chest.
Thirty-Nine
Griffin
As I sat in my vehicle, I listened to Madeline’s message again.
I didn’t know why I was torturing myself with it because Madeline had not answered her phone when I called her back. And I had only missed her call by ten minutes.
Which was why I was now sitting in her driveway, praying that she showed up. It had already been five minutes, and considering she’d had a head start, I was beginning to worry that she had gone to Harris’s house.
The idea filled me with dread. If I had driven her back into the arms of that asshole, I was never going to forgive myself. At least this way, if the two of them came back to her house, I might be able to stop her from making a drunken mistake.
Because she had clearly been drinking when she called me.
Just when I thought I was going to bust my steering wheel with all my tension, a car pulled up beside mine.
I turned off my engine and jumped out into the cold weather as Harris opened his door.
“I’m not letting you sleep with her while she’s drunk,” I told him. “She’s not in the right mind to make decisions like that.”
He scowled at me. “I wasn’t going to sleep with her. I am simply bringing her home. Like a gentleman.”
I held up my hands. “Sorry. Seriously.”
He walked around to the passenger side. “She fell asleep, so you’re going to have to come and get her.”
I rushed over as he touched the door handle.