Friends & Lovers Trilogy (3 page)

“
Shut up, Kara.”

“
No, seriously… tall, dark,
and freakishly handsome! I mean, those dimples… I just want to lick
him,” Kara said dreamily.

“
Jesus, Kara,” Briana
snapped, “Are you kidding me right now?”

Kara laughed wickedly. “Not about the fact
that he’s crazy hot, but yes, I’m kidding about wanting to lick
him. You know I’d never poach.”

“
Ugh, I know.” Briana
closed her eyes. “She really sat them in your section?”

“
Yup, all twelve of them.
Can you say, ‘Big tip?’” Kara said, doing a little booty shake
around the kitchen.

“
Did they see me? Did they
say anything?” Briana asked, hoping the answer was no.

“
Well…” Kara began, finally
standing still and twirling her finger around a lock of her blonde
hair. “I did hear Colin mention that he saw you, and that you
looked good.”

“
He did not.”

“
Uh, yeah, he
did.”

“
Oh, my gosh. Is that all
he said?”

“
So far,” Kara replied. “I
just put in their order, and I have to get back to my other
customers. But I’ll come back with updates.”

Kara sauntered back out into the dining
room, leaving Briana momentarily distracted by what she’d just told
her. Briana knew that she didn’t want to see Colin or talk to him,
but she couldn’t help but feel some satisfaction upon hearing that
he thought she looked good.

Good. Maybe he’d regret breaking her
heart.

Briana went back to filling orders and
waited for the next update from Kara. The word must have spread,
because as the other servers came in to pick up their orders and
grab condiments, they couldn’t help but make comments to Briana
about Colin being in the other room.

“
Damn, Bree, you used to
date him?”

“
That man
is
fine
, Bree. If
you don’t want him, I’d like to take him out for a
spin.”

“
Colin is lookin’ good,
Bree. You sure you don’t want to relive the high school
days?”

Briana was starting to lose it when Pete
walked in.

“
Don’t
say it, Pete. I swear to God, I’ll kill you if you say
anything
about Colin,”
she said.

Pete put his hands up, as if he were under
arrest. “I wasn’t going to, I promise,” he answered. “Kara is over
there with them now. Rich just walked in and joined them.”

Rich and Colin had been best friends growing
up. Briana got to know Rich pretty well when she dated Colin, and
they both went to Texas A & M together. Rich was one of the
only people she’d known when she got to college, so they were
pretty close during her short stint there.

Pete went to high school with all of them,
too, but he hadn’t run with the same crowd they did, so they’d
never hung out. But he knew Colin and Rich.

“
Oh, yeah?” Briana asked.
“I haven’t seen Rich in ages. I didn’t know he was back in
town.”

“
I overheard him telling
Mrs. Grayson that he was home for the summer. He only has one year
left at A & M.”

Briana paused for a minute, trying to ignore
the ache in her chest when she realized that she would also be that
close to finishing college if she’d stayed.

“
Anyway, I didn’t come back
to talk about Colin and Rich, although I should have realized you
were back here freaking out,” Pete said.

“
I’m not freaking out,” she
tried to play it off. “What’s up?”

“
Um…I wanted to ask about
Kara,” Pete said, his skin starting to match the shade of his hair.
“You know, um, if she said anything to you about last
night.”

“
Not really, Pete. You know
Kara. She doesn’t take that stuff seriously.” Briana said. “She’s
not a relationship kind of girl.”

Pete looked over her head and nodded. “Yeah,
that’s kinda what I figured.”

He walked back out.

“
Pete,” Briana called, but
he didn’t turn back.

She hoped he didn’t end up getting hurt.
Kara made sure that the guys she was with knew the score before
they did anything, but Briana knew that Pete was different from the
guys that Kara usually hung out with.

Pete was one of the good ones.

Kara came in a few minutes later. “Okay, Mr.
Hot Stuff has an equally gorgeous friend. This is his order. Can
you make it up now so it goes out with the rest of the orders?”

“
Sure,” Briana replied.
“Mr. Gorgeous is Rich. We were all friends in high school. He and I
went to A & M together, actually.”

“
Wait. A. Minute,” Kara
stated, pulling Briana so that they faced each other. “Is Mr.
Gorgeous the A & M guy that you told me about?” she asked, eyes
wide.

“
Yes, “Briana admitted.
“But you have to keep that to yourself. Seriously, no one else
knows about that.”

“
Wow.”

Briana shushed Kara when a couple of servers
walked in to pick up their orders. She looked over as Bert came in
from the back to join her for the night shift.

“
So happy you could make
it, Bert,” she said sarcastically, watching Kara as she backed out
of the room.

“
What?” Bert asked, stoned
as usual.

“
You were supposed to be
here two hours ago. I’ve been slammed.”

“
Whoa…chill, Bree. I just
walked in and you’re going all ‘Nagging Mom’ on me,” Bert
countered, holding up his hands.

What was with the guys at work today?

“
Okay, well, since you’re
here now, I’m going to take a quick break,” she said, trying to
decide if she should go out the back door, or stop being a chicken
and go through the dining room.

She held her head up and walked out the
swinging door into the dining room. She tried to look straight
ahead, but could hear the sound of Colin’s dad’s laugh and had to
smile. She turned her head slightly and caught Rich’s eye.

Shit.

He put his hand up as if to wave, then stood
and pushed away from the table. He said something to Colin, causing
him to look over at her. He kept looking at Briana as Rich walked
up to her, but she focused on Rich.

“
Hey, Bree,” Rich said as
he got closer, opening his arms to pull her into a hug.

She let herself be enveloped by his arms,
her head barely coming to the middle of his chest. She smiled as
she smelled his familiar cologne and was surprised by how happy she
was to see him.

“
Hi, Richie,” She said as
she pulled back and smiled up at him.

“
Girl, you’re the only one
who can call me that and live,” he said, returning her
smile.

He really was hot, she thought, studying his
shaggy brown hair, hazel eyes, and the sweet little cleft in his
chin. He put his finger under her chin, holding her face up so she
kept looking at him.

“
You doin’ good,
Bree?”

“
Yeah, I’m
okay.”

“
I miss you at school,” he
admitted dropping his hand and putting both hands in his pockets as
he rocked back on his heels.

“
I’ve missed you, too.” She
looked at him for another moment, then said, “I only have a couple
minutes left on my break, so I’ve gotta run. But we need to catch
up while you’re home.”

“
Sounds good. See ya,
Bree,” he said, grinning as he walked backwards towards his
table.

Briana grinned back, then looked over and
saw that Colin still watched her. Her grin vanished. She walked out
the front door, hoping to get some air before going back into the
kitchen.

Luckily the rest of the night was
uneventful, and after dealing with a hangover that morning and the
craziness of her shift, Briana opted to go home rather than go
out.

Chapter Four

“
So, what was all of that
last night with Bree?” Colin asked Rich, who was pulling himself up
into Colin’s truck.

Rich looked over at him and shrugged.
“Nothin’ much. I just haven’t seen her in a while. She left A &
M pretty abruptly and I haven’t been home a lot since then, so I
wanted to see how she’s been doing. Why?”

Colin looked at him thoughtfully, then back
out at the road as he pulled away from Rich’s folk’s house. “I
don’t know. You guys seemed pretty tight is all,” he said. “I’ve
never seen you hug her like that.”

“
It was no big deal, man.
Just sayin’ hi.” Rich shrugged again and propped his boots up on
the dashboard.

Colin knew that he should just let it go.
He’d lost any claim he had on Bree four years ago, but he couldn’t
help but feel like there was more to the story.

“
Okay. Did she say she was
doing all right?” he asked. Despite his vow to leave her alone now
that he was back home for good, he couldn’t stop thinking about
her. Seeing her at the restaurant last night had brought back all
sorts of memories, and he couldn’t help but notice how good she’d
looked. He also couldn’t forget the sick feeling he got in the pit
of his stomach every time he thought about the way he’d ended it
between them.

“
Yeah, she’s cool,” Rich
responded. “We’re supposed to hook up before I head back to
school.” When Colin looked sharply at him, he amended his
statement. “I just meant that we’re going to hang out.”

Colin didn’t know how he felt about Briana
and Rich being buddy-buddy. Rich was a good guy, but a real player.
He didn’t want Briana getting tangled up with him.

“
When?” he asked, trying to
keep his tone light.

“
She invited me to go to a
party at the gravel pits on Saturday. You know, to catch up and
stuff. Some of the people she works with and guys from school will
be there. No big deal. You should come,” Rich said, as laid-back as
usual.

“
Yeah, right,” Colin said
with a laugh. “I don’t think Bree would be too happy about
that.”

“
Dude, you guys broke up
like a million years ago. I doubt she’ll be upset if you show up at
the same party as her.”

“
I’ll think about it,”
Colin answered, as they pulled into the parking lot of his dad’s
store. “You sure you want to work here for the summer? I thought
you’d be looking forward to a summer of parties and
girls.”

“
Oh, I am, brother, don’t
you worry.” Rich said with his signature grin. “There will be
plenty of parties and girls, but I need to have some extra cash.
When your dad brought it up last night, I figured, why
not?”

Colin turned off his truck and opened the
door, ready to start the job that he’d always told himself, he’d
never do. He’d always dreamed about leaving this town and making it
big, whether it was in football or doing something else. He hadn’t
cared, as long as it wasn’t this.

The General Store had been in this town
since it was first settled, and it had always been run by
Grayson’s. When he was little, he used to think it was wonderful to
come in and help his dad stock the shelves and clean the store, but
when he got old enough to work there every day after school, the
store lost its appeal.

Colin tried to appease himself by saying
that working there was only temporary, but everyone knew the truth.
He was back now, His father could retire in a few years, and Colin
was going to end up behind that counter for the rest of his
life.

“
Come on, man. You look
like you’re going to a funeral,” Rich said, waiting for him at the
entrance to the store. “We’re gonna have a great time.”

Colin looked up at the building he had loved
as a child, then down the street at the Bar & Grill. Well, at
least he’d have an excuse to see Briana, since he’d be right down
the street.

With one last sigh, he followed Rich into
the store, ready to begin his sentence.

“
Howdy, boys,” Colin’s
father boomed. “It’s been pretty slow this morning, so why don’t
you show Rich the ropes, Colin? We’ll have him running the soda
fountain so he can talk up the customers. With his pretty face
behind the counter, I see sales a-risin’.”

Mr. Grayson let out a big laugh and then
turned back to the counter as Colin ushered Rich into the back room
to show him around.

“
This is pretty cool,
dude. I mean, I’ve been in the store a million times, but this time
I’ll be serving the kids at the counter, just like Roberta used to
serve me.” Rich looked tickled at the thought and Colin just shook
his head. He wished he could be as excited as Rich about being
there, but he couldn’t help but think of all of the possibilities
that were lost to him now.

“
Come on, man,” he said.
“Let’s get you set up before the customers roll in and Dad loses it
because we’re not ready.”

Colin took him around the back room and
showed him where they kept the inventory, specifically, everything
Rich needed to run the soda fountain. They offered only shakes,
malts, and ice cream sundaes, so it was a pretty easy gig for
Rich.

Once they had the cart loaded with the
supplies they needed, Colin took Rich out to show him how to stock
the counter and make the items on the menu. Just as they finished,
they heard the jingle of the door opening and saw a lady come in
with her little twin girls.

“
Ice cream. Ice cream,
Mama, please,” the girls sang in unison, as they made their way to
the back of the store.