Not the One Read online

  “2015, I think, when I got dumped for having a fat ass and not having any intentions of changing that.”

  Gen shook her head. “His loss.”

  “Exactly. I’d already lost over a hundred pounds by then. I’m done.”

  Gen smiled, remembering when Delaney was larger, but her friend had always been beautiful. It was her heart; Delaney would do anything for anyone. Just like her mawmaw would. They were good people, that was for sure. “I think you’re perfect.”

  “Sound like my mawmaw,” she laughed, and Gen smiled. “I’m good, and I know that. And you should know that too. You deserve someone who will be there beside you no matter what. No matter if you want to have ten kids or none. If you want to write or if you want to eat Ho Hos and watch TV. It doesn’t matter because they love you, ya know?”

  Gen nodded. She felt exactly the same, but why couldn’t Montgomery? “Yeah, I know.”

  “So don’t be dumb.”

  Laughing, she leaned into Delaney, shaking her head. “Don’t hold back there, friend.”

  “Never,” she said with a wink before she held up her beer, which Gen clinked hers to. “You’re too pretty and nice not to be loved for who you are.”

  “Thanks, Delaney.”

  “Anytime.”

  The ladies shared a long look, a look that told Gen she was better than this and she knew it. But could she throw it all away? Five years was a long time to be with someone, to love them, or to think you loved them. Jesus, had she really been wasting that much of her life? Before she could really commit to that idea, the jukebox changed, and Keith Urban’s “The Fighter” started blaring through the bar. Hopping up, Delaney took her hand and then dragged her out to the dance floor where they both let the music take control, the whiskey allowing them both to let go and dance like no one was watching. Though Gen knew everyone was since they were the only ones on the floor.

  They danced and sang for what seemed like hours, getting more beer and even more shots. They were having a blast. When they both sat down, ordering another round, Gen leaned into the bar, inhaling hard as she reached for her phone out of her purse. She had four missed calls from Montgomery.

  Shit.

  “Oh! There’s Larry!”

  Before Gen could comment, Delaney hopped up and was heading toward where Larry Yarbrough was walking in with some guys behind him. Gen didn’t get a good look at anyone though because she looked back at her phone, seeing that Montgomery had texted her too.

  Montgomery: And see, when I have something to say, you don’t have time to answer me.

  Rolling her eyes, she got up and headed out the side door into the hot summer night. Hitting Montgomery’s number, she waited as the phone rang.

  “I called and texted.”

  “I know, that’s why I’m calling you back,” she answered, annoyed. “I didn’t hear it before.”

  “Are you drunk?”

  She closed her eyes, pressing her lips together. “Tipsy at best.”

  “So you’re out drinking? I thought you were working.”

  “I worked all day. I’m having some fun with Delaney Abbot. You remember her, don’t you?”

  “The fat chick?”

  “Montgomery, that’s rude.”

  “What? It’s true.”

  “No, it’s not,” Gen defended, shaking her head. “Yes, she is thicker.”

  “So you’re out drinking with her? Only her? ’Cause I hear music.”

  “I’m at a bar.”

  He scoffed and then bit out dismissively, “Okay, well go have fun.”

  “Wait,” she said, praying he didn’t hang up. “I’m just letting loose.”

  “You had to leave to do that?”

  “No, not at all. I’ve come to write, and that’s what I’ve been doing. I don’t want to fight.”

  “Well, I don’t want my fiancée parading all over God’s green earth, getting drunk and whatnot when she told me she was getting away to work. It’s bullshit. If you don’t want to be with me, don’t.”

  “Mont, I’m working, I am. I just wanted to come out with my friend for a night.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure. Go have fun, maybe I’ll do the same. Go get shit-faced and fuck around.”

  “I’m not doing that! What the hell?”

  “I bet. If that weren’t the case, then you could have ‘worked’ here.”

  “I need my special place. I was struggling at home. I was stressed out.”

  “Stressed out from picking out words for a book? It must be hard choosing between cock and dick. You poor thing, try being me. I am stressed, I am busy making money for our family, and you’re just playing around. Get it together, Genevieve.”

  She was speechless. How dare he. “Wow, do you really think that’s all I do?”

  “I don’t fucking care, but I do care when you’re out, getting drunk, and probably looking for someone to fuck.”

  “I don’t understand, Mont. Why are you acting like this? I’ve never cheated!”

  “Nope, but you went to the place where he lives in, the one you lost. Remember when you told me that?” She rolled her eyes. It had been so long ago when Gen had apparently admitted to missing Theo and wishing he hadn’t gotten away. Eons ago. What was Montgomery’s problem?

  “Oh my God, I was drunk, and I still don’t believe I actually said that!”

  “You did. I was there. So go on, find him. Fuck him. I don’t fucking care.”

  “That’s not my intention at all. I’m here to work—”

  But before she could finish, the line went dead, and she let her hand fall to her hip. “Asshole.”

  Tears stung her eyes as she shook her head. What the hell was happening? She had just wanted to go out drinking. That was it. Let loose, have fun with her girlfriend. Why was he treating her like this? Was she in the wrong?

  “Wow, he sounds like a dick.” Looking in the direction of where the voice came from, she could see a guy push off the wall of the bar. She hadn’t even realized he was there. As he snuffed out his cigarette, he walked by her, and Lord was he big. Tall, long legs in a pair of worn jeans, and a thin shirt. His arms were covered in tattoos, but she couldn’t see his face in the shadows. All she could make out was his dark, bushy beard. Before she could answer him, or even comment, really, he reached for the door, pulling it open, and heading inside without another word.

  Exhaling heavily, Gen murmured, “Yeah.” She really didn’t understand how this had all happened. She had no ill intentions. She wanted to write, she wanted to hang with her friend, and spend time in her town. What was wrong with that?

  Nothing.

  Nothing was wrong with that.

  Fuck him. If Montgomery wanted to act like that, well, fuck him!

  Stuffing her phone into her back pocket, she pulled the door open with all the force she had in her. It slammed against the wall as she walked straight up to the bar where she’d left her purse—something you could only do in a town the size of Spring Grove. Leaning on the bar, she tapped her shot glass to the bar and yelled out, “Six more, please!”

  The bartender just smiled, shaking his head as Delaney looked down the bar at her. She was leaning on Larry, a grin on her face, until suddenly, it was gone. Her eyes widened, and her mouth parted, confusing Gen, but then she realized Delaney wasn’t looking at her. She was looking at the guy two stools down from Gen.

  Unsure why Delaney was focused on a stranger, Gen hollered out, “You gonna come help me with these?”

  Delaney’s mouth moved as the bartender went to work filling the glasses, but no words were leaving her mouth. Gen went to say more, but then the guy beside her was moving. “Put those on my tab.”

  Gen waved him off. “Thank you, but they’re for my girlfriend and me.”

  “She’s busy. Do them with me,” he suggested, reaching for one and handing it to her. She took it, a little taken aback, but then she looked up into his face. His eyes were blazing blue, crinkled at the sides. She swore she knew