Champagne and Lemon Drops: A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance (21 page)

Beth shrugged. Two could play this game.
Only she wasn't dating Nash or kissing him in public. At least not
on this continent.

"Why do you think I'd bring Mandy?" Oz
asked, giving her a side glance, shoulders tense.

"Why do you think I'd bring Nash?" Beth
immediately retorted.

He turned to face her, arms crossed.
"France. Rumor is—"

"And since when did you start subscribing to
the rumor channel, Oz?" she turned away. "And what does it matter
to you what I do or don't do?" The front door opened and closed,
Cynthia hollering her hellos as more guests arrived.

"Guys, time to play games!" Cynthia called
from the other room.

Beth and Oz stared at each other. "I'm
sorry," Beth said, looking away. She was going to ruin her sister's
party if she didn't smarten up and act nice. Oz wasn't a mortal
enemy about to jab a switchblade in her heart if she wasn't
cautious. He was still a reasonably nice guy, despite being an ex
who'd broken her heart. She sighed and held out her hand.
"Truce?"

Oz stuffed his hands in his armpits and
rocked back on his heels. "You're different, you know that?"

"So are you."

He shook his head. "I only wish."

Beth gave him a puzzled look and he drove a
hand through his hair and slowly kicked the air like he was punting
an invisible football. He leaned against the island and blew out an
enormous breath. "This whole finding oneself is fucking hard."

"Tell me about it."

Oz let out a snort. "You already know
yourself. At least a lot more than I realized."

"Hardly."

Oz gave her a confused glance and she
frowned. She didn't want to explain that being around Nash had
shown her there were things about herself she hadn't known and
wouldn't have discovered. The biggest example being France and the
outreach.

Oz was right. She was different. And he
wasn't.

But there was still something about him that
drew her in. It wasn't beyond his strong shoulders, hard quads,
kindness, and their shared history. It was the fact that it was
still freaking hard—seven months later—to imagine her future
without him. He was more than a habit.

Oz pulled a hand down his face. "It takes a
hell of a lot of time. It's the hardest thing I've ever done." He
glanced at her, his eyes soft and warm. "Second hardest."

Despite the warning bells ringing in her
mind, she asked, "What was the first?"

"Guys!" commanded Cynthia.
"Chop! Chop!" She swung into the kitchen. "Everyone's in the living
room. Come
on
."

Beth stared at Oz, trying
to read his mind.
Was
he hinting that breaking up with her was the hardest thing
he'd ever done and that he regretted it and wanted her
back?

She gave herself a little shake. Hello.
Earth to brain. It was over. They were moving on.

Signing, they entered the adjoined living
room, their steps in sync. They awkwardly sat on the last seat
available. On the love seat.

Seriously? In a room full of couples. She
felt a setup coming on. Oz gave her a helpless shrug, setting her
at ease.

"Okay, it's like the newlywed game. Okay, it
IS the newlywed game!" Cynthia giggled and bounced on the couch
next to Dan, acting like a giddy teenager that had sipped more than
her fair share of Baby Duck and had just spun the bottle, landing
on the boy she'd been chasing for months. Beth gave Oz a cross-eyed
look and he chuckled as he leaned back in the loveseat, draping an
arm over the back. Great. Now she couldn't lean back without
cozying up to him due to the way his weight would slip her against
his side. As tempting as that was.

Cynthia passed them a pad of paper and
marker. "First question—"

"Wait. How do we play?" asked Beth, her
competitive drive kicking into gear. She and Oz—no matter
what—would kick Cynthia's butt. She and Dan might think they were
great, but she and Oz had history. They knew each other like nobody
else. "And what do we win?"

"You win gloating rights," said Dan.

The group of twelve groaned.

"Okay, what?" he asked.

"Title of some sort," quipped Oz. "Like The
Greatest Couple in Blueberry Springs."

Beth shot him a look. Why would he want to
share a title like that—because he ought to know she was not going
to take this game lying down. Nu-uh. They were going to cream these
pansies.

"Deal!" yelled Dan, half-standing. "And you
are so going down Mr. Best Man."

"Relax," said Cynthia,
pulling him back onto the couch. Beth narrowed her eyes and cracked
her knuckles at her sister who gave a look of mild disbelief.
"Okay, here's how it goes. I ask a question. If it is for the
girls, they write down
their
answer, secretly, and the guys write down what
they think their girls answered. If the answers match up you get a
point."

"Wait, you wrote the questions?" asked Katie
from her spot on a dining room chair.

Seriously? She chose a hard chair over the
loveseat?

"Foul play!" called her boyfriend, Will.

"Agreed!" said Beth.

Cynthia shuffled her notecards and looked
put out.

"No way," protested Katie. "We ask questions
of our own choosing."

The group agreed and Cynthia threw up her
hands. "Fine. The couple with the most points wins." She cleared
her throat and chose a card. "First question..."

"No way," said Katie. "All new
questions."

"Seriously? For the title of The Greatest
Couple in Blueberry Springs?" asked Dan. "You think we'd
cheat?"

"Whatever," said Beth. "You're going down
whether you stack the deck or not."

"That's my girl," said Oz, giving her
shoulder a quick rub.

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Okay, Fine. First
question. Girls answer. Where was your first official date?"

There were murmurings of, "That's easy," as
the women smugly wrote down their answers while the men's
confidence flagged. Beth folded her sheet in half and decided she
hated this game. Yeah, she and Oz could rock it, but it meant a lot
of cruising down memory lane on a bicycle made for two.

"Women, show your answers!" Cynthia
announced. "Annnnd men!"

Beth glanced at Oz's answer. "Benny's Big
Burger." They nodded and slapped a high-five.

"How do you not remember where our first
date was?" Katie complained to Will.

"This is where you first held my hand,"
replied Will. "That was at least a full week before your so-called
first date."

"Semantics. They'll get you every time,"
said Dan as he chalked up everyone's score. "Men, think like your
woman!"

The next couple conferred on their question
and asked, "What the men love most about their women."

Beth gently cleared her
throat. This game was seriously not for the broken up. She tapped
her pencil against her blank page. She hadn't a clue what Oz loved
most—assuming there was still something. She wrote down
smile
.

Oz wrote down
independence.

"What?" Beth asked. "My independence? Since
when?"

"You have all this secret independence
hiding in there. You know. Like you're strong and don't even
realize it."

Beth frowned. Bastard. If he really thought
that, would they be broken up? Probably not. He would have risked
telling everything in his life. She cracked her knuckles,
determined to get the next one right.

The next couple of questions were gimme
questions. Favorite colors, hated foods, favorite vacation, etc.
They were one point behind Cynthia and Dan with two more questions
to go.

Oz whispered in her ear. "Do you think we
should give it to them seeing as it's their party?"

"Don't you dare!" Cynthia pointed at Oz. "I
heard that. I want to win the title fair and square."

The next question was a double-header. What
the man's dream job was as well as the woman's. Beth wrote down
that she was doing hers and that Oz didn't know.

He wrote down the same.

"WOO!" Beth jumped up from the couch and
gave Oz a double high-five up high and down low. If he'd been
standing she would have given him a chest bump as well. She turned
to her sister who had got half points allowing Beth and Oz to catch
up. "In your face!"

"This last question will break the tie
between sisters and declare a winner. Drumroll please! What was
your worst fight about?"

Beth closed her eyes and
drew in a slow breath. Son of a bitch. Why was she playing? She
hated this game. She contemplated making a joke of it and writing
down
Oz leaving the toilet seat up
or even storming out of the room. Instead she
slowly wrote
Life
.

Barely breathing, she waited for the reveal.
Tons of fights were displayed around the room and Beth shut her
eyes. Fights about jealousy, misunderstandings, all fights they'd
had since the break but had never had before then. Dan and Cynthia
had both written down the same thing. The wedding. She glanced at
Oz's card knowing she'd see one of the ugly heartbreaking fights
they'd had over the past few months. Seeing his tight scrawl she
did a double take.

Love
.

What the hell? He thought their biggest
fight was about love? He gently turned her held out paper to see
her answer. They held each other's eye for a moment.

"Congratulations, Cynthia," Beth said as she
stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be back in a moment."

"Loser!" sang Cynthia, doing a victory
dance.

Beth hurried to the bathroom, leaning over
the sink to ease her riled up stomach. They'd been great
together—her and Oz—but when the chips were down, had they ever
been on the same page?

She smoothed her curls and dried her hands
before returning to the living room. Her sister had moved on to
opening gifts. She stood at the edge of the room, not wanting to be
close to Oz as confusion and a million thoughts swirled through
her. She hadn't thought of Nash and their Parisian affair all night
until now. She'd been certain he was the right choice—the right
path into her future. But now she wasn't sure. Oz was still such a
part of her life and her history. When it came right down to it,
weren't their answers the same? Weren't love and life inexplicably
tied together? Wasn't that exactly what all of their fights been
about over the past seven months? She wanted to walk across the
room and give him a big hug and for them to drop the past and carry
on from today forward like everything was brand new. No
assumptions. No history. Just the two of them and their future
together.

Beth watched Oz from the edge of the room,
as Cynthia continued opening gifts, his face took on a guarded,
nervous expression. Cynthia unwrapped Oz's gift and turned a small,
rough wood box over in her hands, giving Oz a puzzled look.
"Thanks, Oz."

"It's whittled," he replied.

"Whittled?" Beth could see her sister
struggling to act pleased. She would have laughed at the scene if
it weren't for the look on Oz's face. He'd never been worried about
gifts before. Why now? What was up?

Cynthia set it aside. "It's lovely,
thanks."

Dan picked it up. "This would be great for
cigars."

"You are
not
smoking cigars!"
Cynthia snapped.

Dan flushed. "Still, it would be good.
Thanks, Oz."

When all the gifts were opened, Beth yawned,
begging off due to jetlag, saying her goodbyes.

Oz met up with her in the entry. "We rocked
that—even though we didn't win. Team Wilkineiter still has it." He
gave her a grin.

She nodded, feeling uncertain. "Hey, Oz?"
Beth asked, tugging on her knee-height boots she'd bought in Paris.
"I was wondering..." How could she put this without hurting his
feelings?

Oz's cell rang and he ignored it.

"Aren't you going to get that?" she asked as
it began to ring a second time.

He balanced her as she zipped up her last
boot. He shrugged and glanced at the screen. His expression changed
and he turned away muttering, "Sorry, I think I need to get
this."

Beth zipped up her jacket, listening to Oz's
end of the conversation. "When? Now? Are you okay?" Pause. "I'll be
right over. No, it's okay. Everyone's leaving anyway."

Oz hung up his phone and apologized.

She studied his expression and it hit her.
Mandy. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"No, what's wrong with Mandy?"

"She needs help."

Beth put her hands on her hips.

Oz placed a hand on her arm. "I promised I
wouldn't tell anyone."

She almost reminded him that it was her that
he was talking to before she remembered exactly who she was to him:
an ex. She didn't get to hear his secrets any longer. She was no
longer his accomplice in life. She was nobody.

Lowering her head, she fiddled with her
zipper. "I, um. It's time for me to move out of Katie's."

He let go of her arm, his guard going
up.

She looked down at her feet encased in
gorgeous leather. "And I, um, was wondering if maybe there was a
way to get some of the equity out of the trailer?" Her voice rose
and cracked.

"When?" he asked.

"I kind of don't have money..."

"You did last month," he said, opening the
door and stepping into the crisp October night. There was a
rigidness in his shoulders that made her nervous.

She called after him, "What? I lose
everything?" She stood on the front step and he turned, his eyes
flecked with amber from the entry light.

"Is this what you want?" he asked, his voice
quiet.

Beth shifted on the step. "Well, I can't
stay with Katie forever."