Page 52

Holy shit.

And then everything turned to crap.

17

“The weird thing is that Charlie would have really enjoyed that send-off,” Aimee said before she took a gulp of beer.

They were at the only other bar in town. No way was she going back to Danny’s Bar. This place also had an attached restaurant and was pretty quiet at this time of day.

They’d left the funeral as soon as the fight had broken out. Ammo had grabbed her and escorted her out a side door. The others had followed closely behind.

“Ugh, he totally would have,” Kirsten said, as she had a sip of her white wine. “It was more than that bastard deserved. I can’t believe he was sleeping with all those women. Some of them I didn’t even know. Did you?”

Aimee shook her head. “They must live somewhere else. Who knows how many more of them there are as well. Do you really think Kelly-Anne is pregnant with Charlie’s baby?”

Kirsten shrugged. “Who knows with her? She could be or she could be making it up. But I’m pretty sure she’s the type to poke holes in condoms to get her way. No doubt she was going to use the pregnancy to force him to be with her and leave you.”

“I should have left him a long time ago.”

Kirsten reached over and rubbed Aimee’s back. She knew about her past, how she’d been raised by a very old-fashioned, religious, and strict grandmother, and how she hadn’t wanted to disappoint her by divorcing Charlie.

“You were going to leave him. You just had to get yourself into the right position.”

“Is there ever a right time, though?” she said.

“Wow, this is properly morbid, isn’t it?” Honey exclaimed.

“We’ve just been at a funeral, Honey,” Keira said. She was sipping on a lemonade.

“Yeah, but as far as funerals are concerned, it was pretty tame, don’t you think?”

Everyone stared at Honey.

“You’ve been to more exciting funerals than that?” Kirsten asked. “Where people claim to have slept with the deceased and then break out into a bitch fight over him?”

“Oh, yeah. You haven’t seen my family’s funerals or weddings. Totally crazy.”

Aimee wasn’t sure she ever wanted to go to one of Honey’s family funerals or weddings if that were the case. She did notice that both Zander and Webb were giving Honey curious looks. She wondered what that was about.

But she didn’t know them well enough to ask.

“Well, I better go,” Kirsten said. She stood then leaned down to hug Aimee. “If you need me, call, okay? Don’t come back to work until you’re ready. And if that bitch Kelly-Anne tries anything, you let me know.”

They’d heard that the sheriff and some deputies had to break the fight up, and that several people had ended up down at the station. It would serve Kelly-Anne right if she got held overnight, but Aimee didn’t hold out much hope. Sheriff Willoughby had grown up in Greasy Knob. He wasn’t very likely to lock up a local unless they did something really bad.

After Kirsten left, they all just sat there and chatted about other things. She asked them a few questions about where they all lived. However, they were slightly cagey with their answers. It made her feel a little bit hurt, but it wasn’t like they knew her that well.

“Do you all want to come back to my house for dinner?” she asked, not ready to be alone. “I’ve got plenty of food.”

“Yeah, I think it might be better than eating anywhere around here,” Zander said.

They all stood and she went over to the bar to settle the tab. Suddenly, Ammo was there, his hand landing on hers as she drew out her credit card.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “I need to pay the tab.”

“You’re not paying.” He drew out his own card and paid.

“But that’s not right. I should have paid.”