Delaney snapped her fingers. “That’s right. You dated him for a while, but he dumped you for that girl with the mustache and big boobs.”
“Tina Uberanga. She was Basque and Italian… poor thing.”
“I remember you were madly in love with him for a long time after he dumped you.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“Yes, you were. We used to have to drive by his house at least five times a day.”
“No way.”
Two more drinks appeared, provided by another of Henry’s associates. Delaney waved her thanks and turned back to her friend. They resumed their gossip over a steady stream of free margaritas. At nine-thirty Delaney glanced at her watch. She’d lost count of her drinks, and her cheeks were beginning to feel a little numb. “I don’t suppose Truly has a taxi service these days.” If she cut herself off now, she’d have over three hours to sober up before the bar closed and she had to drive home.
“Nope. We finally got a gas station with a mini-mart. But it closes at eleven.” She pointed a finger at Delaney and said, “You don’t know how lucky you are to live in a city with a Circle K. You can’t just grab a box of Ding Dongs or a burrito at two in the morning around here.”
“Are you drunk?”
Lisa leaned forward and confessed, “Yes, and guess what else? I’m getting married.”
“What?” Delaney sputtered. “You’re getting married and you waited all this time to tell me?”
“Well, we’re not telling anyone for a while. He wants to talk to his daughter first, before it’s common knowledge. But she’s in Washington with her mother until next week.”
“Who? Who’s the lucky guy?”
Lisa looked her straight in the eyes and said, “Louie Allegrezza.”
Delaney blinked several times then burst into laughter. “That’s a good one.”
“I’m serious.”
“Crazy Louie.” She continued to laugh as she shook her head. “You’ve got to be pulling my leg.”
“I’m not. We’ve been seeing each other for eight months. Last week he asked me to marry him, and of course I said yes. We’re getting married November fifteenth.”
“Nick’s brother?” Her laughter died. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Very, but we can’t tell anyone until he talks to Sophie.”
“Sophie?”
“His daughter from his first wife. Sophie’s thirteen and a real daddy’s girl. He thinks if he tells her when she gets back, she’ll have almost six months to get used to the idea.”
“Crazy Louie,” Delaney repeated, stunned. “Isn’t he doing time in prison?”
“No. He doesn’t do crazy things anymore.” She paused and shook her head. “Besides, he was never really that crazy.”
Delaney wondered if her friend had fallen on her head in the past ten years and suffered memory loss. “Lisa, he stole a car in the fifth grade.”
“No. We were in the fifth grade. He was in the ninth, and in all fairness, he was on his way to take it back when he hopped the curb and got high-centered on that bench in front of Value Drug.” Lisa shrugged. “He might not have even gotten caught if he hadn’t swerved to miss the Olsens’ dog, Buckey.”
Delaney blinked to clear her head. “Are you blaming Buckey?”
“That dog always did run loose.”
All dogs ran loose in Truly. “I can’t believe you’re blaming poor Buckey? You must be in love.”
Lisa smiled. “I am. Haven’t you ever felt so in love you wanted to crawl inside a man’s skin and stay there?”
“A few times,” Delaney confessed, feeling a little envious of her friend. “But I got over it after a while.”
“Too bad you live so far away, I’d ask you to be in my wedding. Remember how we were always going to be each other’s maid of honor?”
“Yeah.” Delaney sighed. “I was going to marry Jon Cryer and you were going to marry Andrew McCarthy.”
“Pretty in Pink.” Lisa sighed, too. “That was a great movie. How many times do you think we sat there and cried when Andrew McCarthy dumped Molly Ringwald because she was from the wrong side of the tracks?”
“At least a hundred. Remember when-” she began but the bartender’s voice interrupted her.
“Last call,” he bellowed.
Delaney checked her watch again. “Last call? It’s not even ten.”
“It’s Sunday,” Lisa reminded her. “Bars close at ten on Sunday.”
“We’re both too drunk to drive.” Delaney panicked. “How are we going to get home?”
“Louie’s picking me up ‘cause he knows I’m a cheap date and thinks he’s going to get lucky. I’m sure he’ll take you home, too.”
She pictured her mother’s horrified face peering out the front window, crazy Louie Allegrezza careening up the driveway. Delaney smiled at the thought, and she knew she was a few margaritas past sobriety. “If you don’t think he’ll mind.”
But it wasn’t Louie who blew into the bar five minutes later like he owned the place. It was Nick. He’d slipped a plaid flannel shirt over his T-shirt. He’d left the shirt unbuttoned, and the ends hung open at his hips. Delaney sank down in her seat. Drunk or sober, she wasn’t in the mood to face him. He hadn’t mentioned their past when she’d seen him earlier that day, but she still didn’t trust that he wouldn’t.
“Nick!” Lisa waved as she called across the bar. “Where’s Louie?”
He looked toward the booth at Lisa, then his gaze locked on Delaney as he moved toward her. “Sophie called upset about something,” he explained, coming to stand by the table. He paused, then switched his attention to his future sister-in-law. “He asked me to come and get you.”
Lisa scooted across the booth seat and stood. “Would you mind giving Delaney a ride home?”
“That’s okay,” Delaney quickly assured them. She grabbed her crocheted purse and rose to her feet. “I can find my own way.” The room tilted slightly, and she placed a hand on the wall beside her. “I don’t think I’m that drunk.”
The corners of Nick’s mouth pulled into a frown. “You’re wasted.”
“I just stood up a little too fast,” she said and stuck her hand in her peach-colored bag, searching for a quarter. She’d have to call her mother. She really wasn’t looking forward to it, but if she thought her mother would be horrified to see Louie, Nick would send her over the top.
“You can’t drive,” Lisa insisted.
“I wasn’t-heeey!” she called out to Nick’s retreating back as she watched him head across the bar with her purse in his hand. Any other man might have been in danger of looking a little swishy clutching a woman’s peach bag, but not Nick.
She and Lisa followed him out the door and into the black night. She hoped her mother was already in bed asleep. “Damn it’s cold,” she muttered, the mountain chill seeping into her pores. Crossing her arms over her breasts, she practically ran down the sidewalk to keep up with Nick’s long strides. She wasn’t used to summer nights in the mountains of Idaho anymore. In Phoenix temperatures dipped to ninety-four-not fifty-four-and she couldn’t wait to get back.
“It’s not that cold,” Lisa argued as they passed Delaney’s yellow Miata parked by the curb. “You’ve turned into a wimp.”
“You’re a bigger wimp than I am. You always were. Remember when you fell off the monkey bars in sixth grade and cried for three hours?”
“I hurt my tailbone.”
They stopped by Nick’s black Jeep. “It didn’t hurt that much,” she said. “You were just a big wimp.”
“At least I didn’t cry like a baby when I had to dissect a frog in high school.”
“I got frog guts in my hair,” Delaney defended. “Anyone would cry if frog guts flew in their hair.”
“Jesus, Joseph, and Mary.” Nick sighed like a weary priest and opened the car passenger door. “What did I do to deserve this?”
Lisa pushed the seat forward. “Something sinful I’m sure,” she said and climbed into the back.