Page 62 of It's a Brewtiful Day

“Who?”

“Elliot?”

“That night?” Her voice pitched.

“Yeah.” I lifted my head and looked into her eyes. “And Cass, it was … It was amazing.”

A slight smile tugged on the outer edges of her lips, almost as if she was fighting it. “That good?”

“It’s never been as good as it was with him.” I hated kissing and telling, but Cassie was my sister and for all intents and purposes, my best friend, too.

“I knew you two would be perfect together.” She nearly clapped herself on the back but restrained herself to a quick hand clap.

I sat more upright. “Yeah, except he doesn’t want anything to do with me. I tried to visit him at work today and was totally brushed off.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

“Didn’t you tell me that you had originally used him to get through the night and he knew that?”

I swallowed and rolled my bottom lip between my teeth. “At first, but after that, it became more.”

“So why am I hearing hesitation?”

I stretched across the island to grab my wine glass. “Because it’ll never work. He’s a guy, I’m a girl. When the going gets tough for the guys, they run, and usually into someone younger and prettier, although Dad’s pick was a dog.” I shook my head and took another drink, desperately needing to wash awaythatawful memory.

“But Elliot doesn’t sound like that type of guy.” She turned to the fridge and pulled out blocks of cheddar and mozzarella. “Not from your actions, or Alice’s words.”

“None of them do. They don’t wear it like a badge; it comes out after the fact.” The snotty and sarcastic words slipped out too easily.

“Sage. They’re not all bad. Do you think that of Chad?”

I shook my head, cringing from the inflection of pained curiosity in her words. “No, of course not. He worships you. Everyone knows that. You’d be more likely to cheat on him than he would on you.”

“And that wouldneverhappen.” Cassie cut the cheese perfectly into thin little strips and arranged them on the wood cutting board.

“Oh, I know. You two are meant for each other.”

“Maybe you and Elliot are too?” She took a sip of my wine and grabbed a few grapes from the bowl in the sink, adding them to her makeshift charcuterie board. “But you need to give him the chance. Talk to him.”

“I tried.”

“Did you really? Or are you just saying that?” That soul-piercing look she gave me was making my chest ache. “You know what? Give it time. Maybe a solution will come to you.”

“You think?” I hopped off my stool and rummaged through the pantry. “All we have are saltines.”

“Really? Where are the good crackers?” She said it hypothetically, and we both glanced out the window to where Chad was in the backyard raking the leaves, knowing he was responsible. “At least he didn’t leave an empty box in the cupboard.” She laughed.

I ripped open the sleeve of saltines and popped one into my mouth.

“Anyway, back to the conversation at hand. The talk, if you will, it happened between Chad and me. I had to suck it up, tell him everything, the good, the bad, the truly awful, and let the chips fall where they may. And you know what? He was all in after that.”

“But how?”

“Because we acted like grownups.”

A weird huffing sound rolled out of me. “Iambeing a grownup.”