I looked around the room, wondering why I hadn’t been introduced to her husband yet. “Where’s your husband? I haven’t met him.”
“He stopped by the wake before you got there. He came by to drop off Owen.”
“He’s not here?”
She stared down at her drink. “No.”
“Why not?”
Beth looked me in the eyes. “We’re not together anymore. We divorced.”
I’d forgotten why we were best friends before I screwed it all up—before either of us noticed that she was a girl and I was a boy, before I became distracted by her perky teenage tits and plump ass.
But today had brought it all back.
Beth had taken a week off of work after her father died, so she had plenty of free time to show me around. When I’d arrived at her house to pick her up for our day of sightseeing, she said that she’d arranged for her neighbor to babysit Owen. But after finding out that she was divorced yesterday, it felt wrong to spend the day alone with her. Friend or not, things between me and Gia were unsettled, and I wouldn’t be too happy if she spent our time apart sightseeing with a guy she had slept with—especially one as hot as Beth looked in her little shorts and belly-bearing tank top today. So I insisted that Owen come on our sightseeing adventure. At first, I could see that she looked disappointed. She’d probably been looking forward to an adult day out. But after I showed Owen a picture of one of the things I wanted to do today, he was so excited, she couldn’t possibly turn either of us down.
The three of us drove two hours to Sedona to see the Red Rocks. I’d called ahead to reserve two ATVs, one with a cage around it that would be safer for Owen and one regular, open-air-style quad. Of course, I’d assumed I’d be driving the one without the safety roll cage. I’d forgotten the wild streak in Beth.
Our guide came to show us how to use the machines and then gave us all helmets. Beth hopped onto the ATV without the roll cage.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked.
She jumped on the kickstart, and the loud roar of the engine came to life. “I’m about to kick your butt, that’s what I’m doing,” she yelled.
“Don’t you think the roll cage would be safer for Owen?”
“I’m not driving Owen. He and I together would probably be closer to what you weigh. I need to keep my weight light to win this race.”
I furrowed my brows. “What race?”
She smirked. “Remember the bet we had when we were ten? I’d just gotten that new blue Schwinn, and I challenged you to a race up to old man Caulfield’s house. You’d beaten me every damn race we ever had, and I thought for sure my new bike would give me the edge I needed.”
I vaguely remembered it. The only part that was clear in my head was that I’d smoked her.
New bicycle or not, her chicken legs back then didn’t have a shot against my thick ones. “I won. Of course.” I turned to Owen and bragged. “Your mother and I used to compete at everything. I always won. You know why?”
He had the best goofy grin. “Why?”
“Because girls go to Jupiter to get more stupider; boys go to college to get more knowledge.”
Owen found it amusing, while Beth rolled her eyes. “Don’t listen to Heath, Owen. He can’t even remember the old saying. It’s boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider, girls go to college to get more knowledge.” She squinted at me. “You made me eat an ant and a dead moth. Remember?”
I laughed. I’d forgotten that we used to bet bug eating as the prize. Winner got to pick one bug for the other person to eat. But she had been so sure that her new, fancy bike would carry her ass to victory, she’d doubled down our usual bet.
“Mom ate bugs? She won’t even eat a fish unless it’s cut up so you don’t see the head and eyes and stuff.”
“Your mother was a tomboy. She could climb a tree, skim a rock, and throw a spiral better than any of the boys.” I leaned to Owen and winked. “Except me, of course.”
Beth pulled on her helmet. “Losers eat THREE bugs. And, beware, Rushmore, the bugs in Arizona require a fork and a knife.”
Before I could argue anymore, she hit the gas and took off.
“You scared to get in that thing, buddy?” I lifted my chin to the ATV.
“Heck, no. Let’s kick Mom’s butt!”
“You cheated.”
I looked at my partner in crime. “In order to cheat, we’d have to have rules, right, O-Man?”
Owen’s smile stretched so wide, I could count how many teeth were in his little mouth. “I didn’t hear Mom make any rules.”
“You two…” She wagged her finger at us. “That was low.”
Owen and I couldn’t catch up to Beth after she took off, so we devised a plan. A risky one. We stopped our ATV and Owen hopped off and pretended he was sick. The kid could be an actor the way he clutched at his stomach and moaned when she circled back to check if we were okay. When she got off and walked over to us, Owen hopped back in the ATV and grabbed on tight while I hit the gas. We literally smoked her—left her coughing in a cloud of dust in our wake.
I raised my hand to Owen for a high five. “What I tell ya? Girls go to Jupiter….”
Owen smacked my hand hard. “To get more stupider.”
“I am not eating a bug, you cheaters!” Beth said.
I chuckled. “That’s right. You’re not. You’re eating three, remember?”
Owen fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the car to head back to Scottsdale. We’d spent a few hours touring the Red Rocks, and then hiked the Cathedral Rock Trail for the most gorgeous view.
I could have taken a nap myself if I didn’t have a two-hour drive ahead of me.
“Thanks for today. I can’t remember the last time Owen and I had this much fun.”
“Thank you. You let me monopolize your entire day.”
Beth glanced over her shoulder into the back seat and lowered her voice. “He really took a liking to you. He’s been having trouble connecting to men since Tom and I split up. Unfortunately, the year before we called it quits wasn’t pretty. There was a lot of yelling, and Tom has a really deep voice so it used to scare Owen.”
I glanced at her and back to the road. “I’m sorry that you both went through that. But he’s a great kid. I would’ve never thought he had trouble connecting to anyone. He was so outgoing.”
She smiled. “Everyone is outgoing around you.”
That was the furthest thing from the truth these days. “Tell that to my staff. I hear most of them are a little afraid of me.”
She laughed. “Why would they be afraid of you?”
“Sometimes I’m a little…cranky, I guess.”
“Well, you must’ve left that side of you back in New York, because Cranky Pants wasn’t here today.”
I arched a brow. “Cranky Pants?”
“Sorry. I teach third grade and have a six-year-old. My lingo is somewhere under the age of ten most days. I can’t remember the last time I actually hung out with adults, outside of my coworkers and family.”
“How come?”
“Most of my friends are married, and I haven’t wanted to go out with my few single friends yet.
They’re sort of on the prowl all the time, and I’m not ready to get back out there.”
I nodded. It made me wonder, if things ended between me and Gia, how the hell would I get back out there? The thought of being with another woman seemed more torture than tantalizing, and I didn’t even want to think about Gia getting back out there. “Yeah. That must be hard.”
“You know what’s sad, I miss having a man around the house to make repairs more than I miss the intimate time. Maybe I’ll join one of those dating websites and when it asks what I’m looking for in a man, I’ll post my repair list. How do you think that will go over? Single, twenty-nine-year-old mother of adorable, six-year-old boy, seeks man with carpentry, electrical, and plumbing skills.”
She laughed. “Think I’ll get any responses?”
I looked over at her. “Wear the right outfit with a little cleavage and you’ll get men who respond even if you write you’re looking for someone to castrate.”