Love at First Set by Jennifer Dugan

Author:Jennifer Dugan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-05-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Mickey and I are about a half hour into debating the merits of powerlifting versus Olympic lifting when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I’m expecting it to be Cara, and turn around with a smile, only to find myself face-to-face with Sherry. Perfect. I glance at her and then go back to shuffling the coasters in front of me.

“You need another drink?” Mickey asks her, unimpressed. And okay, I may have told him why I was hiding out at the bar. My bad. Or not, because Sherry was technically being a huge dick to me. Whatever stink eye he’s giving her, she’s earned.

“No, actually . . .” She trails off and if I didn’t know any better, I would think she sounded almost shy. “Do you wanna go have a smoke?” she asks, holding up her vape in front of me.

“I don’t smoke,” I say. “Professional gym rat, remember?” I watch wistfully as Mickey gets pulled away to take some more orders—Bring me with you! Don’t leave me alone with this woman who—

“Okay, yes, that makes sense,” Sherry says, leaning against the bar to place herself directly in my line of sight.

I wait for her to say something else. She doesn’t. “Is there something you needed?” I finally ask.

“I’m trying to choose my words carefully,” she answers.

“It shouldn’t be this hard to be polite to someone.”

“I’m not trying to be polite.”

I snort. “Believe it or not, I kind of picked up on that.”

“I apologize for my earlier rudeness.” She sighs and rubs her arm like it physically hurts her to say sorry. “I didn’t mean to scare you off.”

“You didn’t,” I say, turning to fully meet her eyes. “You just made me not want to hang out with you. I have other friends here that are actually worth my time.” I gesture toward where Mickey stands, peeking at me out of the corner of his eye as he makes a row of Sex on the Beach drinks for the rowdy girls from earlier. “Besides, whatever’s going on is between the three of you, not me.”

“I’m trying to say sorry here,” Sherry says, clearly frustrated by my unwillingness to find her intimidating.

“And I’m telling you it’s fine. We’ll hopefully never see each again, so let’s just forget we ever met.”

She looks at me, confused. “Why wouldn’t we see each other again?”

“Because we aren’t friends?” I say, and now it’s my turn to be confused. “I don’t generally make a habit out of hanging out with rude strangers.”

Sherry gives me another puzzled look and then gestures over to the corner, to where Jane and Cara are playing a game of darts—very badly, I might add. I watch them cackle as a dart misses the board entirely and ends up next to the pinball machine.

“She’s a menace.” I smile as Cara struggles to pull her dart out of the wood-paneled wall.

“She’s great,” Sherry says fondly, and my stomach twists again—jealousy kicking up a notch. I’m not entirely clear which one

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