Free One Last Call by Susan Behon Page B

silver braid and watched Josh over the rim of her sky-blue coffee cup. The woman eyeballed him like he was something on the menu and she was ready to take a bite.
    He dropped his toast on his plate and rubbed a hand over his eyes to wipe away that visual nightmare. He was raised to respect the elderly, but Darlene was more forward and flirtatious than any older woman he’d ever encountered. Considering he was from the South, that was saying something. Rumor had it that she was also a might handsy, if given the chance, so Josh never got within touching distance of her.
    Josh gave Darlene a polite nod and went back to studying Sarah over the lemon-yellow table top. She sipped her orange juice from the tall glass the waitress had brought her. She hadn’t been thrilled when Josh had asked Gracie to throw a bendy straw into the tumbler to make drinking easier on her. As soon as Gracie left, Sarah raised the juice to her lips and told Josh where he could shove his bendy straw. Ouch. So much for trying to help.
    He didn’t know if her wooden posture was because she was pissed at him or because her muscles were aching again. Sarah didn’t seem to have any problem eating her bacon and eggs. Her movements were slow and precise so she could be faking being okay. Josh wanted to give her some more pain reliever. In this town, it would have been blown up to look like a drug deal in no time. It was better to err on the side of caution and wait a bit. She wouldn’t take more medicine right now anyway.
    They’d passed Keith and Sabrina Sutton on the way in. At first glance, they were a mismatched pair. He gave off the appearance of a big, hulking, modern-day Viking, while his petite ginger-haired wife was no bigger than a minute. The only thing not little on her was the nice-sized baby bump she was sporting. To Josh, it looked like she’d eaten a basketball. Keith was fussing over her by setting Sabrina’s feet in his lap and nudging more of a cinnamon roll her way.
    He’d met Keith at Sarah’s Suds and Spuds a few months ago during a karaoke thing. Josh had pushed away from the bar, holding his drink, and accidentally slammed into him. Half his beer landed on the front of Keith’s shirt. Josh was pretty sure, then and there, he was a dead man. He’d apologized, knowing full well he was about to get the shit beat out of him anyway. It wasn’t every day you soaked a six-foot-four Thor look-alike with Bud Light and lived to tell the tale.
    Instead of opening a can of whoop-ass on him, Keith apologized for not paying attention and gave him a few manly slaps on the shoulder. Josh had done his best not to lurch forward with the force of each thwap of comradery. He was in decent shape himself, but the slam of each friendly blow was like a wrecking ball to his back. God forbid the man ever really hit someone.
    Before Keith had left to towel off his shirt, introductions were made, and Josh had been invited to sit at a large table full of familiar faces. He’d already known Sophie and Tracy from back in high school when he’d dated Sarah. They were a few years younger than him and were best friends back then too. He remembered Reed Sutton, sort of. He’d been in the same grade as Sophie and Tracy. His brother, Keith, must not have been in high school yet or not as gigantic as he was now. Josh was sure he would have remembered him.
    There were others not native to Madison Falls, so he didn’t feel as much of an outsider as he had all those years ago. Tracy’s husband, Ben Carrington, was an import, as was her brother, Christopher. Keith’s wife, Sabrina, and her sister, Fiona O’Malley, weren’t from the area either. They’d moved here to run the Pizza Palace where Josh ordered takeout at least twice a week. They made the best pizza he’d ever eaten.
    At first, Josh thought everyone was in couples, except he’d noticed Chris King and Fiona O’Malley sat on opposite ends of the table from each other. They weren’t a couple, but