Strawberry Wine (Strawberry Inn Book #2)

Chapter 13

BLAIR

“I need to talk to you.” I didn’t sleep at all last night and if my best friend wasn’t newly engaged I would have called her after Cody left my place to vent and help her calm my nerves and my overworked brain. She was probably cuddled up in bed with her fiance and the last thing I wanted to do was drag her out of bed because my life had become a huge mess.

My mental health was already struggling in the last two weeks since Cody showed back up in Strawberry, but last night just pushed it over the edge. Handling Cody in small doses was okay. We’ve known each other our entire lives and even though he broke my heart and it took a long time to recover from that, he was still a person that I knew and I knew that he was a good, kind-hearted soul. Did I want to be his best friend? Not especially, but I could handle him when the situation called for it.

Now he was everywhere. It wasn’t just him showing up at my work or doing morning workouts with Harrison, he was actually at my house, in my living space last night. Part of it felt so right and so natural. The way he would go back and forth with Hayes, how he remembered his favorite dessert and even cleared the table before dessert. He loaded the dishwasher the correct way! (There is a correct way, don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.) Then there were moments I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The scent of his cologne still lingered this morning and the way my body reacted when he touched my hand to grab the kitchen towel was too much.

After a night of tossing and turning, I needed my best friend. That is why I wasted no time this morning. I dropped my things off in my office and made a beeline for hers. 

“You look like you had a rough morning,” Angela said with a sympathetic look.

“It wasn’t just a rough morning,” I groaned as I slumped down into the chair in front of her desk. “The entire night was rough. I hardly slept. This morning I went to make my coffee and I forgot to put my cup down so coffee went all over the counter and floor. Then I forgot I was out of creamer, so even when I made the second cup I haven’t been able to drink it.”

“Is that why you have two different shoes on as well?”

I look down at my feet and curse under my breath. The colors match, but one sandal has three straps and the other only has two. I groan again, burying my face in my hands. “I need you, Angela. I need advice or encouragement or…is it too early to drink?”

“Definitely too early for alcohol, not to mention we’re working and I’m your boss so maybe keep that little piece of information to yourself. This struggle doesn’t have anything to do with a certain ex-husband who was at your place for dinner, does it?”

“How…how did you know?”

“Oh, please, Blair. This is Strawberry. You grew up here, lady. You know everybody already knows your damn business. One of your neighbors told one of the ladies my mom meets for coffee in the morning and she sent me a text a half-hour ago asking what was going on with the two of you.”

“Ugh!” I cry out. “I swear I fucking hate this town.”

“Now we both know that isn’t the truth. Let’s talk about Cody though. He was at your place last night?”

“Not in the way that you’re thinking, Ang. Hayes wanted to invite him over for dinner and I wasn’t going to say no. I know it has only been two weeks, but he’s been stepping up. He even made sure he got back in time to work out with Hayes and Harrison.”

“I heard. Harrison said he was flying all night and drove back from the airport in the early morning just to be there.”

“He did. Hayes wouldn’t have blamed him for missing it, he knows that his job can be a bit unpredictable at times. He didn’t postpone or cancel though, he made it work.”