1
BLAIRE
“Still a strawberry kind of girl, huh?” Sawyer, my best friend of ten years, asks me. Midnight milkshakes are a cornerstone of our friendship. Even when we were separated for years at a time, we kept the tradition going strong through FaceTime.
I hold my glass goblet up in toast. “Always a strawberry kind of girl.”
It feels so good to finally have my best friend close by again. For years, our friendship has survived through text and phone conversations. I’m pretty sure the thing I missed most was texting him to go with me on a late night milkshake run at Dani’s Diner.
Midnight milkshakes have solved many a problem for the both of us, from relationships, family conflicts, and major decisions.
When Sawyer and I first met, we were both in the Army. For me, that feels like a lifetime ago. I did my four-year commitment and got out just after I turned twenty-two. But Sawyer is going on twelve years, and has been all over the world because of it. He’s only stationed here for the next four years, but I’m still excited to have him close by while I can.
“Are you sure you can’t come to the lake this weekend?” I give him my best pouty face, but all it does is make his eyes sparkle. I still can’t believe the man isn’t married with a couple of kids. I know he’s always wanted that.
“Got a training exercise that starts Saturday afternoon,” he says, stirring a straw around his chocolate shake. “Plus, I don’t know how much your boyfriend will appreciate my company.”
Sawyer and Brett haven’t met yet, but not because I’m trying to keep them apart. Sawyer’s just been busy, getting settled in and everything. I even took the day off work to help him get his household goods unpacked into his rented house. They could’ve met when Sawyer picked me up, but Brett was already dead to the world and not answering my text messages. Having a boyfriend who works graveyards for a security company puts a damper on a lot of introductions.
“I want you to meet him.”
“You sure about that?”
Over the years, we’ve always vetted each other’s significant others. I can’t remember a single boyfriend that Sawyer actually approved of, but that’s not surprising. My choice in men won’t win me any awards anytime soon. “He’s a good one. I promise.”
I’m pinning a lot of hopes on this weekend out at the lake. It holds the potential to take our relationship to the next level. I don’t think Brett is quite ready to pop the question, but I think he’s ready to move in together. I’ve hinted at it a few times, and I think he’s finally ready to give me a key.
“You say that…”
“Oh, come on. Like you’ve dated any great women yourself, mister.” On the flip side of this, I’ve never really liked anyone Sawyer dated either. He’s a great guy, and it’s entirely possible my standards for the perfect woman he deserves are impossibly high. But I stand by them. I’ve seen one too many take advantage of him.
When Sawyer and I first met, we were both in the Army, stationed in the same unit. He was engaged to another woman, which made it easy to be his friend. Unlike all the other guys in my unit who only talked to me because they wanted to get in my pants, Sawyer was genuinely kind.
His fiancé, however, was totally taking advantage of him. Taking the money he sent to her and using it to party it up and cheat on him. He didn’t figure any of this out until after we parted ways.
“Fair point,” Sawyer finally says, pushing an empty shake cup to the edge of the table. “Thanks for all your help today, Blaire.”
A shiver races through me. I blame the ice cream. It’s definitely not that smoldering gaze he sends my way. Sawyer…let’s just say the man is easy on the eyes in so many ways. And he’s only grown more attractive over the years. But he’s my best friend. That’s it.
It only makes the mystery of how he’s still single more puzzling.
“I couldn’t let you go through another disaster like last time.” When he unpacked at his last duty station, he made a mess of things. Putting plates and cups and sauce pans in the same cupboard. Don’t even get me started on the linen closet. “Until you find yourself a wife to do these things for you, I guess I can’t just stand idly by.”
“I appreciate it.” He places his hand on top of mine. A friendly gesture, nothing more. But dammit if some odd zing doesn’t strike my fingers at the contact and shoot straight up my arm.
SAWYER
Blaire pulls her hand away from my touch like she’s been struck by lightning. Maybe she was. Because damn…her touch has never had that effect on me.
“You’re the reason I have clean sheets and a made bed. I would’ve slept in my sleeping bag on the couch,” I say, winning a light chuckle. The unnerving tension eases back out of our comfortable friendship.
I don’t lie to myself and pretend I’m not attracted to Blaire Denizen. She’s an incredibly beautiful woman, and time has only been kind. More than once over the years, I’ve yearned for her to be more than a friend. But I’ve never acted on that impulse or said anything to her. I’d never risk our friendship.
Plus, every time I feel that way, she’s always dating someone else.
“Tell me a little more about Brent.”
“Brett.”
“Yeah, Brett.” I haven’t met the guy, but for some reason I don’t care for him. What man lets his girlfriend spend an entire day with a single man and doesn’t bother to check on her even once? Blaire probably thinks I didn’t notice, but I watched her check her phone a dozen times, frowning each time it held no texts or missed calls.
“He’s a nighttime security guard.”
“Sounds interesting.” Though, it might very well mean he drives a car around a box store parking lot at night.
“Yeah.”
“How old is he?”
“Twenty-seven.”
Younger than Blaire. It’s only by a year, and it shouldn’t matter to me. But I’ve always pictured her with someone older. Someone mature who would know how to love her just right. Someone closer to my age.
“I know that look,” she says to me without reservation. “You think I’m cradle robbing.”
“Just didn’t picture you with a youngster.”
She kicks me gently under the table. “Don’t say it like that!”
Damn how I’ve missed our easy banter. We talked often enough on the phone and through FaceTime and Skype when I was deployed, but it’s no substitute for being together like this. I haven’t seen Blaire in more than three years, and that was for one too-short midnight milkshake catch up before she caught a plane.
“I want to meet him,” I say, never wavering in front of those narrowed eyes that tell me she doesn’t care for my protective side. I don’t care. I’ll always protect my best friend. She’s the most important person to me.
“Then come to the lake.”
“Can’t.”
“You could come out Friday night.”
This lake she mentioned is a two-hour drive away. If I didn’t have to report to the base by noon Saturday, I’d do it. But the one thing we didn’t fully unpack today was my military gear. I’ll spend all day tomorrow getting that ready for my training. “Next time, I promise.”