Redeemed Complete: A Military Stepbrother Romance (5 page)

I figured on the off chance that a guy hit on me, I’d prefer it if he were a maximum five years older than me. I was feeling picky like that. I was curious to see how Summitville college guys would be different from the types I met in the city.

Maggie drove a little more slowly than I remembered. Probably combination of pregnancy jitters and the snow on the ground. When we arrived and parked, I got out of the car quickly, shivering, and pulling my coat tighter around me. I looked over to the other side of the car and noticed Maggie struggling a little bit, and came over to help.

She waved me away. “I got this, I got this. I’ve been doing it for months now, I’m used to rolling around.” I held back as Maggie grunted, leaned back, and pushed herself forward till she tumbled out of the car and onto her feet. Panting a little, she looked up at me and smiled. “See? Got it in one and I stuck the landing.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Here Maggie was, almost nine months pregnant, big as a whale, and she had such a great sense of humor about it. No wonder I loved her. I don’t know how she did it

“Come here, you, I don’t get a hug?” I swooped in and we hugged it out. It felt so good to see her again, and it had been too long. We didn’t get to see each other very often anymore - I was always out of town at school, and Maggie had her own work to do. It was difficult to get my arms around her, but we made it work. I could feel her round stomach pushing into me and all over again I was hit with a wave of maternal…something. I couldn’t believe Maggie had another person inside her!

“OK, this is fun, but let’s keep up the love fest inside, alright? It’s cold out here and I don’t like standing up for too long. Makes the native restless,” she said, rubbing her hands over her stomach. We laughed and headed into the Crown, arm in arm. It occurred to me that we must look like a funny pair - Maggie rolling around in a maternity dress, and me spilling out of a dress that was already sexy and form-fitting when it wasn’t a size too small. In a more progressive town people would assume we were a couple and we wouldn’t get a second look.

I wasn’t into girls at all, but if I was, I would be totally into Maggie.

I’d been to the Crown a couple times before, and I was not surprised to see it hadn’t changed. I’d been to Irish pubs in New York, and this was as close an approximation as Summitville could muster, minus the outrageous city drink prices.

The crowd tonight ranged mostly from just turned 21 to late twenties - clearly the onslaught of all these youngsters had pushed any older local regulars to other establishments. I wondered if they’d come back after the holidays ended and most of the people here right now went back to their regular lives elsewhere.

Summitville was not a place young people stayed in, if they could help it. There was just so much to see out there in the real world, and once you’d seen it, coming back and living in this pre-packaged version just didn’t feel right. At least that’s what happened to me.

Maggie was a definite exception to that rule. She loved Summitville, and had no plans to leave. It made sense, though - she was pregnant and her husband was deployed. Staying in your hometown with family during important and potentially difficult times like that was a good move, and Maggie only made good moves.

The inside of the Crown was dark and…brown. I didn’t think they’d ever had a decorator come through here, but they’d manage to unify the design around the central concept of dark brown wood and low lights. The bar was on the left side, with a couple bartenders moving back and forth dispensing drinks from the huge bank of beer taps behind them.
 

One thing Summitville enjoyed was a diverse and popular local beer scene. Not only were the big national brands represented on the taps, but many local brands that were just getting off the ground. More than a couple big hits around the country had come out of Summitville, and a few got their start in this very room.

I’d actually met a guy in New York a few months ago, big beer snob, who was instantly fascinated when I told him I was from Summitville. He spent the evening chasing me down and rattling off all the local beers from around here. I guess he thought that would be impressive?

The tables and chairs were dark and brown and covered in lacquer so they could easily be wiped off when inevitably someone spilled drinks on them. Each table had a cup full of old dice on it, for playing old English drinking games. Against one wall there were a couple groups lazily throwing darts at the boards, definitely more interested in downing their drinks than scoring big points.

The first thing we did when we got inside was find a table. Maggie scanned the layout and immediately start moving toward one. People got out of her way, some giving funny looks at the obviously very very pregnant lady in a bar at night, but I could hear her chuckle as I followed her to the place she’d chosen. The place wasn’t too busy yet, but the night was young and more people would show up to drink and meet their friends and potential new friends.

As Maggie sat, I looked around and slipped my coat off. I could feel all the eyes in the bar turn to me, and I tried to be as confident as I could. Back when I lived in Summitville, I’d made sure to stay out of the spotlight, and I still felt like doing that every so often, but my time in New York had helped me embrace myself and be way more comfortable with people looking at me. It was a learning process, always in motion, but I was so much happier with myself now than I’d been in high school. Wearing a dress like this when out on the town was just another step in that process.
 

I felt a little self conscious, but nothing too serious. I was hear to catch up with Maggie and have fun, maybe a couple of drinks. Anything else was an added bonus.

“Holy shit, Laurel, what happened to you?” Maggie had a look of horror mixed with admiration on her face.
 

“What?” I smiled, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

“The city life agrees with you, clearly. Damn!”

“You like it?” I looked down at myself running my hands down and smoothing out my dress. Sure, the dress was too small, but I couldn’t resist showing off just a little bit. Let all the people I stayed away from in high school that Laurel had grown up in a big way.

“It’s different, definitely.” There was a hit of sadness in her voice.

“Yeah.” I was sure we’d get into it eventually. But for now, it was time to have fun, and we were in a bar on a Friday night. They served fun here.
 

After she sat down, which in Maggie’s current state was a more involved process than I remember, I motioned toward the bar. “What’ll you have, darlin’?” trying to put on my best faux southern accent.

“Well, my stars, look at where we are,” Maggie slipped into her role. “I’ll have a mint julep, thank you very much. Strong on the mint, dear.”

I laughed. “So that’s a….?” I thought I knew what she meant but I wanted to make sure before I left. Don’t want to anger the crazy pregnant girl!

“Ginger ale. Strong on the ginger!”

Was that even possible? Maybe if they made the stuff by hand behind the bar, but something told me the Crown wasn’t exactly known for its artisanal bespoke hand crafted fresh ginger ale. Not the right kind of crowd for that fanciness here. On the other hand I bet in New York I could find at least three places devoted entirely to making ginger ale on the fly.

“Coming right up. Don’t get kidnapped while I’m gone.”

“Who would kidnap me like this? And how would they do it? Roll me down the steps? The getaway would be the slowest in recorded history. Follow the trail of destruction, you can’t miss ‘em!”

I turned and went to the bar, shaking my head. Maggie was always so much fun to be with. I didn’t know how she kept such a good attitude no matter what was going on. If I were pregnant and about to give birth, but my husband was half a world away and in potential danger every day, I don’t know what I’d do. Certainly not pull myself together enough to go out and have fun. I’d be sitting on the couch with ice cream and bad movies and a stack of tissue boxes bawling my eyes out and waiting for things to get better.

Maggie was a soldier in her own right.

As I got to the bar I moved past people already carrying drinks, milling about watching one of the Crown’s TVs. Sports highlights, of course. Football’s regular season was wrapping up and people were getting ready for the playoffs. Well, the fans of good teams were, at least.

The bar looked short staffed, which wasn’t surprising given the sudden rush of new customers in town for the week to see family and friends. I had to wait a couple minutes before my turn, and I took the opportunity to look around the bar.

I recognized a few people here and there from my year at the local high school, and a few siblings of acquaintances from other years. People were huddled up around their tables, casually dressed and deep in conversation. I felt a little out of place in my sexy dress, but I pushed through it. This was the new me. Even if Harrison hadn’t grown up, I had.

Being a little overdressed was OK - I was out on the town, catching up with my friend, and being seen. I shouldn’t worry so much about other people, and just enjoy myself.

I don’t know why Harrison kept popping into my head. What had happened a couple hours ago in the bathroom was weird and I apparently couldn’t stop thinking about it, even when I tried. That stuff people said about not thinking about the blue elephant? Totally true.

I thought it was hot as hell, but Harrison had never so much as given me a second look. Did I look that different to him now? And would he act any differently toward me as a result?

And really, was I OK with that? Harrison and me would never work out together. I almost had to stifle a laugh just thinking about it. After all we’d fought over the years, after all the bad things we’d said to each other in the heat of arguments…now we were on a different path entirely?

Yeah right. A likely story. Right out of a book.

As my eyes wandered around the room, through the murky haze of brown and beer, I saw a guy looking back at me. He was with a group of friends, and he smiled when our eyes locked together. I smiled back almost as a reflex, trying to get a better and longer look at him without seeming too obvious.

All I could tell from here was that he looked really hot from a distance, and he was tall. Both good things in my book! Given just those two pieces of information, I wanted to know more. Click!

He nodded at me, raising his drink in salute. I nodded back, but didn’t have a drink to raise. He motioned to offer his drink to me from across the room. I was flattered, but I shook my head, still smiling. That wasn’t a very subtle approach. I liked it, though, but I didn’t need him to buy me a drink. Maybe he would come up and talk to me first and we’d see where it went. I cocked my head and indicated the spot next to me and smiled again, then I turned back to check out what was going on at the bar.

That was enough of a hint and invitation. If tall and handsome wanted to take me up on it, he was welcome to.

Soon it was my turn to get drinks. I put in my order, emphasizing the strength and the complete lack of alcohol in the ginger ale I wanted, and while the bartender was making them I turned back and looked at Maggie. She leaned back in her chair, taking in all the sights and sounds of the nightlife, such as it was for Summitville.
 

Clearly she didn’t get out much these days. I was really glad to see her look so happy. I know things were difficult with Chris being gone, but she handled it so well that it almost seemed like she enjoyed the hardship. I hoped I could be as resilient as she clearly was.

Maggie would make a great mom, I could already tell. She and Chris loved each other so much, and were so disgustingly cute together, even back in high school, that when they’d gotten together I’d been really sad that I was losing my best friend. Maggie had assured me, though, that would never happen, and to her credit she’d been right.
 

Aside from me moving a few hundred miles away to the big city, to seek my fame and fortune, or, you know, just get a college degree, assuming I could pick a major, we tried to be close. I just wish I could spend more time with her. Our lives were so different now, and it wasn’t easy to relate. The things we each faced day to day were just so different. I could feel it in our emails and our less than frequent calls - we just didn’t have too much to talk about. Each of us could recite the things we had going on, but the other was so disconnected from that world it was less a catching up and more a recap list, like a news feed item on Facebook.

Which isn’t how friends should be. Especially not “thick as thieves” best friends like Maggie and I, as Jack had put it back at the party. Facebook friends aren’t real friends; at best they’re acquaintances, at worst, which was most of the time, they were just a list of the best parts of peoples’ lives, engineered just to depress you.

I made a decision right then and there - the purpose of this trip was to reconnect with Maggie. Be there for her. Get back into her world, make it my world again too. Yeah, I had some family stuff to get to while I was in Summitville, but the most important thing was Maggie and me. We had been the best of friends once and I wanted that back. I made it a point to enjoy the time we had together.

I picked up our drinks; ginger ale for Maggie, and a gimlet for me, and walked them back to our table. I could tell the guy was sill checking me out, and I liked the attention. I hoped he’d come over and say hi at some point. I was definitely bolder than I used to be, but I was still not confident enough to approach a guy on my own. That would be one step too far for me right now. Fingers crossed he was bold enough to come over and talk to me.

I set the drinks down on the table. “What took you so long?” Maggie had a smirk on her face. “Meet a sexy fella while you were up there?”

“Not quite, but a cute guy over there was checking me out.” I nodded my head in his general direction, trying not to be too obvious about it. All of this back and forth between guys and girls could get exhausting, but at the same time, it was the most exciting game in town. Especially this town.