Sixteen

"Who was that guy you were talking to at the grocery store?" Katie asked, fiddling with the wrapper on her long neck.

The three of us, Izabelle, Katie, and I, were hanging out at Shooters having a girl's night out, but I was distracted thinking about Kyle's surgery Monday morning. It took me a moment to realize who Katie was talking about.

"Oh, that's Jase, Kyle's friend. Why do you ask?" I smiled, knowing the answer.

"No reason. Just curious." I knew Katie well enough to know she was lying.

"I could introduce the two of you some time," I suggested, watching the faint color spread across her cheeks.

"Forget it." Izabelle shook her head. "She's too innocent for Jase. He's a player."

We shot questioning eyes to Izabelle and she explained. "Jase doesn't date. He has sex. You don't get involved with him unless you're looking for a one-night stand and no phone call the next day."

"Sounds fun. I'd like that." Katie lifted her chin in challenge. "He's hot, and he has soulful eyes."

Hearing that hurt. I know it wasn't what she really wanted, and I was afraid she'd find out too late. I wanted to say something, but I felt both of them watching me as if I was about to pull out my Bible. I'm sorry God. I wish I knew how to tell my friends how wonderful you are.

"What color are Jase's eyes?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Green," Katie and Izabelle announced at the same time.

They both turned to me, and I held my hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, they're green. I'll take your word for it." I didn't notice any other guy but Kyle.

"I thought eyes were what you first noticed about a guy. How did you not notice Jase's?" Izabelle asked. "He might be a player, but he's gorgeous. Even I noticed his eyes."

"Yeah, how could you not notice Jase's eyes, Lucy?" Katie teased. "Jase is almost as hot as Kyle."

Izabelle groaned. "Do not mention my brother and hot in the same sentence. You'll traumatize me."

We laughed.

Spotting someone she knew, Izabelle lifted her arm and waved. I was glad we'd changed the subject.

"Who's here?"

"Ava. Hey, I don't think she saw me. I'm going to go get her." Izabelle hopped off the stool and disappeared into the sea of people.

"Yay. Ava is here," Katie said in a joyless voice. "And we were just starting to have fun."

"Katie."

"Don't Katie me. You're happier than I've ever seen you. Ava and Izabelle are determined to sabotage that. If she keeps trying to steal your man, I'm not going to play nice."

"She's not trying to steal Kyle. Ava doesn't even know about us." I lifted the straw to my lips and took a syrupy sip of sweet tea.

"I don't know." Katie looked thoughtful.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think she's jealous of you, which is understandable since you're more beautiful than she is--also smarter, and funnier and nicer."

Izabelle and Ava walked up to the table and I shot Katie a warning look, but she didn't see because she was glaring at Ava.

"Hi, Ava." I smiled.

"Hey, Ava," Katie added, shooting me a see how nice I was look.

The four of us sat and talked. Every now and then, one of us would get asked to dance, but whenever guys asked me, Katie would pipe up that she'd love to dance.

After she'd done this several times she leaned over and whispered, "They're going to get suspicious if you keep turning guys down." I never danced with many guys, but I also didn't turn them all down. Looking up, I found Ava watching me, and I wondered if Katie might be right.

"I think Kyle is seeing someone else," Ava announced.

"Is he seeing you?" Katie shot back, but no one answered.

"That's crazy." Izabelle shook her head.

Katie sighed dramatically. "Totally insane, who would want to get with someone as sexy as Kyle?"

I tapped her foot beneath the table.

"I found an an earring on his couch." Ava fished a dainty hoop from her pocket and held it up.

Izabelle frowned at the offending jewelry. "When was this?"

"Earlier tonight. I stopped by and brought him dinner and boom, earring."

Jealousy gripped me. I hadn't stopped by because I knew he was hanging out with the guys tonight. It bothered me that Ava had.

On the heels of that thought came the worry that Ava or Izabelle might recognize my earring. I'd worn those silver hoops many times when we'd been out together, but it was a common design.

"So you brought dinner and decided to search his couch?" Katie asked dryly.

Ava shook her beautiful head, not picking up on Katie's sarcasm. Izabelle shot Katie a look of warning. "No." Ava sounded sad. "I thought I'd straighten up a bit, and that's when I found it."

"Did you ask him about it?"

"I did." She looked defeated. "He politely told me it was none of my business. What should I do Izabelle?"

"She could stop throwing herself at him," Katie whispered to me while Izabelle hugged Ava.

"You see Kyle every day, Lucy. Have you noticed anything unusual at his place? Have you seen him with any women?"

I had to be honest. God despised lying. I bolstered the courage, but I heard myself say, "No. I'm sorry."

Ava's blue gaze unsettled me. "It's alright. I know you'd help me if you could."

Something in her voice bothered me, making me think of what Katie had said earlier. Surely, it wasn't possible for someone as beautiful as Ava to be jealous of me. Still, I couldn't help but wonder if she knew something she wasn't revealing.

The Lord detests lying lips, but delights in people who are trustworthy... I needed to do the right thing. "Ava, I—"

"I'll bet my next paycheck that Jase has something to do with this," Izabelle said suspiciously, cutting me off. "His harem is so big he could share a babe or two with Kyle and still have a dozen women lining up to be his Mrs. Right-Now."

Katie appeared troubled. "You don't like Jase, do you?"

"I love Jase. He's my brother's best friend. That doesn't mean I don't know what a bad influence he is on my sweet baby brother." Not a touch of sarcasm colored the words.

Ava's mouth tilted upward into a sly smile. "Kyle isn't that sweet, Izabelle. He's a fabulous lover." She closed her eyes as if savoring the memory.

"Careful," Katie warned. "Izabelle doesn't like to hear anyone talk about her brother like that."

Hearing about the intimacy she shared with Kyle hurt more than I could imagine. Keeping a smile carefully in place, I was dismayed to find Ava, once again, watching me.

"Have a lot to compare him with, do you?" Katie smirked.

A cunning smile touched her lips. "Enough to know how amazing Kyle is."

Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed Izabelle's frown. I guess she was as surprised as I was at the mention of Ava's lovers. Since they had dated all through high school, and Ava had been trying to get Kyle back ever since she'd broken up with Cade, I'd assumed Ava had only been with those two guys.

"I should never have let him go, but he'd only been with me at the time and I didn't want him to have regrets."

This shocked me. "You wanted him to sleep with other people?"

"Ava wanted to sleep with Cade," Katie fired at her.

"You wouldn't understand," Ava said dismissively "Men need to explore. Have their physical needs satisfied so they know when the right one comes along." Her face split into a beautiful smile. "I'm the right one for Kyle."

"Of course you are," encouraged Izabelle. "You'll get back together. Don't lose hope."

"I haven't." Ava had an air of confidence. "Even if Kyle is seeing another woman, eventually he'll get tired of her, and then he'll come back to me."

"Is that what happened with you and Cade?" asked Katie innocently.

"Katie!" Izabelle snapped. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry," Katie replied easily. "I didn't mean to offend you, Ava."

"It's okay, Katie. The answer to your question is yes. Kyle and I have a love that's deeper than whatever we may temporarily feel for someone else. He'll come back to me."

"That's romantic," Izabelle gushed. "I wish I had someone that would always come back to me because they loved me more than anyone else."

Katie turned away before rolling her eyes. "She should want someone that doesn't leave her for someone else in the first place," Katie snapped as soon as Ava and Izabelle headed for the bar.

"What's the matter with Izabelle?" Katie waited a moment and then said to me, "Well?"

"I thought it was a rhetorical question." I sighed. "Izabelle deserves better. So does Ava."

Katie's jaw dropped. "How can you possibly feel sorry for her?"

"She thinks it's okay for a guy to sleep around, and she's willing to take him back when he's done having fun. That's not love. It's sad."

"I guess so," Katie relented. "It's also sad that Kyle has told her several times that it's over and she still doesn't get the message."

"Do you think she knows about us?"

Katie didn't answer right away. "Possibly. She's been giving you the stink-eye all night."

Izabelle and Ava came back to the table with drinks and, thankfully, we didn't talk anymore about Kyle. Relief and guilt wrestled within me. Guilt won.

I watched them down the shots, laughing, and pouring plastic cups of beer from the pitcher. Not for the first time I wondered what it would be like to let alcohol smooth the rough edges. Shoving temptation aside, I inhaled a smoke-filled breath.

"Hey, Lucy. Isn't that your dad?"

I followed Katie's gaze and spotted him sitting at a table with two other guys I recognized from the department. One of them was Travis, the officer that had confronted Kyle and I.

I nodded, surprised. "Yeah."

"Which one?" Ava asked curiously.

"He's the one with the brown hair."

"The guy with his arm around that waitress?" Ava asked, glancing at a fiftyish man with a large belly and jeans that sagged in the rear.

"Wrong table," corrected Izabelle, pointing to where my dad sat. "See the guy with the black shirt, faded jeans, and boots?"

Ava's eyes widened. "Wowza! Daddy is hot," she drawled with obvious appreciation.

I'd never heard anyone describe my dad that way, and it was weird.

"Lucy doesn't want to hear that." Izabelle crumpled a napkin and tossed it at Ava.

"I'm sorry," Ava said. "I didn't expect your dad to be so young. My dad wears pleated khaki pants, has silver hair, and wouldn't think of setting foot in someplace like Shooters."

"It's ok. Eventually, I'll overcome the emotional trauma of seeing you drool over my dad."

Ava gave me a blank look.

"She's joking," Izabelle and Katie said at the same time.

"Oh. That's funny, Lucy." Ava laughed.

"He's coming over. It's too late to hide the beer. You think he'll call my mom?" Katie laughed.

"Is that what he did in high school?" Izabelle asked.

"We never got into trouble back then." She wagged her eyebrows. "Soon we're going to cut loose and go wild."

Izabelle laughed. "Lucy's idea of wild is staying at Bible Study past nine o'clock."

Dad walked up to the table as Izabelle's dark head was tossed back in laughter and his gaze flicked over her a moment, stopping. "Ladies," he greeted.

"Hi, Dad." He put his arm around my shoulders and hugged me.

Ava and Katie said hello. Izabelle stopped laughing and stared. "Hi, Captain Donovan." A blush raced across her cheeks.

Dad returned his gaze to Izabelle and smiled. "Izabelle, how are you?"

"I'm great!" she chirped with an enthusiastic wave of her arm, knocking her beer over and watching with wide eyes as it splashed over Dad.

"I'm so sorry!" Grabbing a pile of paper napkins from the center of the table, Izabelle scooped them up and began to blot the front of my dad's shirt and his jeans as an awkward silence fell over our table.

Katie's hand flew to her mouth, and Ava stared speechless at the scene that played out before us. I was shocked at how flustered and clearly embarrassed Izabelle was. I'd never seen her lose her cool around men.

"It's ok," Dad replied calmly. "No harm done."

"I wasn't paying attention!" Izabelle frantically wiped the front of my dad's jeans, oblivious to what she was doing.

"Izabelle." Dad's voice commanded her attention, and she gave it.

"I'm really sorry, Captain Donovan."

I stared in horror as tears filled Izabelle's eyes.

Reaching down and plucking her hands off of him, Dad said gently, "A little beer won't hurt me." He looked down into Izabelle's eyes, and lightly chucked her under the chin like he'd done to me a thousand times, but I knew that the way he looked at Izabelle was completely different from how he was with me.

"If anyone needs a ride, let me know." Dad directed a silent message my way. I knew he was talking about Izabelle, thinking a few too many drinks were responsible for her strange behavior.

"Thanks, Dad."

"Don't forget about next week's dinner." Thankfully, he didn't add that it was with Kyle.

"Is Saturday okay?" I suggested, thinking that if Kyle didn't feel up to it then I'd cancel.

"That works."

He said goodbye to all of us, and as he walked away I noticed Izabelle's gaze following him.