Free Always on My Mind by Jill Shalvis Page A

owe Jack now, right? Like big owe. I expect details.
     
    Leah blinked at her phone and then texted back. WTH happened to Jack at the bar? She stared at her phone, impatient for a reply that didn’t come. Giving up on waiting, she searched for Aubrey’s contact info and hit CALL . “What happened to Jack?” she asked when Aubrey answered.
    Aubrey chuckled and then there came a low, male voice in the background, murmuring something she couldn’t quite catch.
    “Who’s that?” Leah asked.
    “I’m just leaving the bar and apparently I need an escort,” she said with careful disdain, sounding tipsy. “Even though it’s just Lucky Harbor.”
    The low murmur came again, and Aubrey laughed, a little coldly. “I’m fine,” she said, presumably to her escort. “Look, I have a stun gun, and I know how to use it. Fair warning, buddy.”
    “Aubrey, who is that with you?” Leah asked. “And you’re not driving, right?”
    “Nope. I’m going to call for a ride—”
    “ I’m driving you,” the mystery male voice said, speaking low but perfectly clear, and Leah recognized it with relief.
    Ben.
    She relaxed, knowing Ben would take care of Aubrey whether she liked it or not. “What happened?”
    “I had a real shit day,” Aubrey said. “Do you have any idea the hoops you have to jump through to start up a business? The paperwork, the permits, the fees…I needed a drink bad. Okay, two. I needed two drinks, and I might have forgotten to eat dinner. And now Mr. Tall, Dark, and Mercenary here says I’m going to let him make sure I get home okay or else.” She lowered her voice. “And I gotta be honest, that ‘or else’ is sort of making me curious—”
    “I mean Jack,” Leah said. “What happened to Jack?”
    “Oh. Right. Well— Hey! You keep your hands to yourself, Mr. Mercenary, jeez!”
    “You nearly broke your ankle,” Leah heard Ben grate out. “Stop walking and talking at the same time.”
    “Fine,” Aubrey said, and then came back to Leah. “Danica tossed her drink in Jack’s face.”
    Leah gasped. “What? Why? ”
    “Apparently they were supposed to have date number three tonight, and according to Danica—who yelled this at Jack, by the way—everyone knows what happens on date number three. She said she wouldn’t go on a date number three with a guy who was nearly, almost, maybe engaged. And that’s when she threw the drink in his face.”
    “Oh my God. No. ”
    “Oh yes,” Aubrey said, sounding greatly amused. There was also a male snort, as if Ben too found this very funny.
    Leah did not. “Who told Danica that we were…nearly, almost engaged?”
    “I don’t know.” There was a sort of murmured conversation, during which Leah assumed Aubrey was conferring with Ben. Then Aubrey was back. “Mr. Mercenary says maybe you should check the mirror.”
    “I didn’t do it!” Leah said. “I didn’t tell anyone.” Except Dee, which she still felt like shit about. And Ali. And her grandma… Oh good God. “Okay, so maybe it was me, but I never said engaged ! I said we were dating .”
    “Yes, but this is Lucky Harbor,” Aubrey pointed out. “It’s like playing telephone. I once thought I was dating the town clerk, and it turned out he didn’t consider it ‘dating’ at all.”
    “That was not your fault,” Leah said.
    “But this might be your fault,” Aubrey said.
    Yeah. “This is bad. Very, very bad.”
    “No kidding, because now you’ve gotten Jack cut off of sex from every female within gossip distance,” Aubrey said.
    Leah thunked her forehead to the wall.
    “Leah?” Grandma Elsie’s voice came from the bedroom down the hall. “Is someone at the door, dear?”
    “No, it’s just me. Sorry to disturb you.” She took a deep breath. “This isn’t happening,” she whispered. “Was he mad?”
    “I think he was more shocked. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t get rejected a lot.”
    “No,” Leah agreed. Jack was usually the one doing the rejecting.
    “So now