Page 15 of Even Ground
“Then don’t you screw it up.”
Josh laughs. “Let’s get these damn shoes sorted and get out of here. Want to go somewhere for lunch?”
“If it includes a drink, yes.”
* * *
“How long do we have to stay away for?” I ask before taking a sip of my beer.
Josh laughs. “Why are you itching to get back?”
I shrug. “I could do with a nap after being away for work.”
Our waitress brings over a large platter of barbecue ribs and deposits it in the middle of the table.
I stare at it wide-eyed. “I could do with a nap after eating this.”
“Enjoy,” she says with a smile.
“Oh, I intend to. Thank you.”
Josh tries his beer. “Damn that’s good.”
“A couple more days and you’ll be an old married man.”
Josh laughs. “Not so much of the old.” He sucks on his bottom lip. “Can I crash at your place the night before the wedding? Delaney and I don’t want to curse things.”
“Of course you can. We can order pizza and have a boy’s night.”
His brows furrow. “No drinking though. I want a clear head for the wedding.”
“Deal. I’m just looking forward to hanging out with you. It’s been a while.”
Josh nods slowly. “It has.”
I chew my inner cheek. “I’ve got something to ask you, and I’m not sure you’ll like it.”
His smile disappears. “What is it?”
“It’s about Jessie.”
Josh looks away before taking in a deep breath and looking back at me. “What about her?”
“She’s really upset about not being invited to the wedding. I wasn’t going to say anything, but seeing as we’re being open about everything …” I hold out my palms.
“You also know why she’s not invited. She made a choice, and that was to treat Delaney like crap.”
I chew on my top lip. “What if she apologised?”
Josh shakes his head. “It’d be up to Delaney to accept any apology. Not me.”
“I wasn’t there. You said she was nasty to Delaney. But what exactly did she do?”
He takes a long sip of his beer before answering. “When we were filming in New Zealand, she showed up at Delaney’s diner and trashed her in public.”
“Ouch.” I screw up my face. Unfortunately, it’s something I can picture Jessie doing, and being on Delaney’s property, it would have been a shitstorm.
“Yeah. It wasn’t pretty. Delaney was really upset. The only thing she ever did wrong was love me.”