She and Batton had just sat down when Shelby glanced around the dining room of Paddy’s Raw Bar on St. George Island. It was a long way to drive for food, but they had trivia night once a week and Shelby loved coming.
But she suddenly forgot about trivia night when her gaze slammed into Reece sitting at a table with Ted. It felt like her heart stopped.
“Everything okay?” Batton asked.
She dragged her gaze from her best friend back to Batton, to really look at him. Ever since Sunday dinner they’d been inseparable. He’d called her every day, and as soon as she was off from work, they were together, doing small things like walking on the beach, running to get ice cream that his mother wanted or playing Monopoly with his family and her grandmother. They even had a cookout last night.
In a few short days Batton had become her world. He had swept in like a tidal wave and had taken over without her even realizing it.
It was as if the years that had come between them had never existed, as if they’d been a bad dream, one where she and Batton had broken up and hadn’t spoken. She had lived in a bubble these past few days, and now, seeing Reece, that bubble had burst.
“What is it?” He followed her gaze. “Who’s that? Is that Ted?”
Sugar Cove was a small town. Everyone knew everyone else. “Yeah, it’s him.”
“Is he with a friend of yours?”
“Yes,” she murmured.
Batton tapped the edge of the menu on the table. “Shel, you okay?”
She rose. “I’ll be right back.”
Shelby wasn’t sure if she was okay as she rose and made her way to Reece. All her thoughts of how Batton had taken over her life, how he’d become such a large part of it in only a few days, vanished. Now all she could focus on was that her friend was out with the man she had liked.
Shelby reached the table. “Hey, Reece. Hey, Ted.”
Ted leaned back in the booth in that relaxed way of his. “Hey, Shelby. How’re you doing?”
“I’m good. I’m here with Batton Deats.”
His brows lifted. “Good old Batton. He’s in town? I had no idea.” Ted glanced around her, and a wide smile spread across his face. “I’m gonna go say hello real quick. Be right back.”
He winked at Reece before slipping away. As he passed Shelby, he came close enough that she caught a whiff of his scent. Ted smelled musky. It was a good smell, but she’d gotten used to Batton’s—fresh soap and cedar.
Reece cleared her throat, and Shelby’s gaze dropped to her. “So.”
“So.” Reece tapped the tabletop nervously. “Batton? Isn’t he the guy from Apalach? The one we ran into at the outfitters?”
“The one and only.”
“I thought you hated him.”
She cringed. “I did. It’s a long story, but he’s in town because his father had a heart attack, and you know that I’m a sucker and can’t be mean to anybody forever. I ran into him a few times, and that’s how we wound up”—she gestured behind her to where Batton sat, now across from Ted—“here at Paddy’s.”
Reece crossed her arms and glanced at her skeptically. “If I remember correctly, you hated him.”
“I didn’t hate him.”
“Yes, you did. You nearly said as much, though I may have been distracted by the fire coming out of your eyes.”
Shelby laughed. “Yeah, I was pretty ticked off. But he deserved it.”
“Why? What’d he do?” She pushed Ted’s plate away. “Sit and tell me everything. Want to order dessert?”
“I just got here.”
“Oh, okay. No dessert. But tell me all of it.”
As soon as Shelby sat, she spilled every ounce of tea inside of her. She told her friend more about their relationship in high school and why Batton had ended things.
“He did it because of your grandmother?” Reece asked, taking small nibbles from a piece of bread.
“Yeah. I never would have left my grandmother here, and he was right. I couldn’t see it at the time, but if I’d gone, I would have felt so guilty.” She smoothed her hair with both hands and pulled it over one shoulder. “He thought that he was doing me a favor.”
“That’s some crazy kind of favor.”
“I agree.”
The two stared at each other before they burst into laughter. Reece spoke first. “And then you told him that you wouldn’t see him after you walked an entire grocery store together.”
“Yes! I thought I was so suave, getting the upper hand.”
She cackled. “But you cracked at the first mention of an electric car race.”
“I’m such a cheap date,” Shelby joked.
Both women laughed, gazes locked, until the laughter died down and an uncomfortable silence coiled around them. It was Reece who spoke first.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about Ted.”
There was a knot in Shelby’s throat, one that was lodged high up beside her tonsils. She managed to swallow it down and exhale. “For a long time I liked him. I still do. He’s a great guy. But the truth is, if he’d seen me like a girlfriend, he would’ve asked me out ages ago. But he never has.”
“It’s not because you aren’t beautiful. You’re so beautiful,” her friend gushed. “If I could take back liking him, I would. But the truth is, he asked me out when we went to his bar that one time.”
Her eyes flared in surprise. “I had no idea. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because you liked him, and your friendship means a lot to me.” Reece dropped her head. “The only reason why I ever agreed to dinner was because one day he showed up at the café and I was the only one working. He rolled up his sleeves and helped. Without him the lunch service would have been a disaster.”
“That sounds like Ted. He’s a good person and a good dad. Have you met Hadley?”
“Once, in passing. He brought her to the café.”
“He really liked you from the beginning.”
Her friend shrugged as if it wasn’t the truth, but Shelby knew that it was. Ted had liked Reece for a long time, and she had been a true friend and hadn’t gone out with him until she’d felt like it was the best way to repay him for a service he’d done for her.
If this had been a few weeks ago, before Batton had walked back into her life, Shelby would’ve been angry. She would’ve been hurt. But why, she had to ask herself? Would she have been sad simply because Ted didn’t feel the same way about her that she felt about him? Would jealousy have caused her to end a friendship?
Shelby hoped that she would have been more mature than that. But right now she did know one thing—she was happy with Batton, so very, very happy.
And she was happy for Reece, too.
She reached over and squeezed her friend’s hand. “I’m happy for you and Ted. I really am, and I’m sorry that you didn’t feel that you could tell me the truth. From now on, no secrets, even if you think something’s going to hurt my feelings. I can handle it. Okay?”
One side of Reece’s mouth quirked into a smile. “You got it. No secrets.”
Ted was on his way back. Shelby slid out from the booth and made room so that he could retake his spot.
“It was good to see Batton again,” he told her. “Says he’s going to be staying in town for a while. He’s looking for his own place.”
Shelby’s heart pinged. Batton was going to stay? He was looking for his own place but hadn’t told her?
Her gaze skipped across the dining room until it landed on him. He was looking at her and smiling. In that moment her heart ballooned, and Shelby knew that everything, absolutely everything was right in the world.
“Did you know that he was staying?” Reece asked.
“No,” she replied absently, “but I do now.”