Butterface (The Hartigans #1)(41)
Trying to be as subtle about it as possible, she adjusted the neckline of her T-shirt to make sure the collar hadn’t slipped. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lucy didn’t look convinced. In fact, she looked even more suspicious as she peered at Gina through her signature glasses with the bright red frames before turning to the third in their little trifecta. “Do you believe her, Tess? Because I don’t.”
Gina and Lucy turned to Tess.
The much shorter, auburn-haired florist didn’t hesitate. “Nope.”
“Well, sorry to ruin it for you, but there’s nothing to tell.” Okay, that was a straight-up lie to her best friends, but it wasn’t like there was a possibility of her seeing Ford again, so why bring it up? “What are we painting tonight?”
Lucy dropped her gaze down to Gina’s neckline. “Aardvarks drowning in the ocean.”
“Interesting,” Gina said and sat down in front of one of the large canvases with a few swooping lines drawn in pencil on it.
Tess and Lucy exchanged a she’s-totally-full-of-it glance and joined her.
“Liar. That’s not interesting, it’s totally preposterous. Even Larry wouldn’t have dreamed up something so ludicrous.” Lucy turned and gave their instructor a cheery wave as she sat down. “No offense, Larry.”
The balding man in the Stay Weird apron splattered with several years’ worth of dried paint just rolled his eyes. After two years of the three of them being here every Wednesday night, he’d either learned to put up with Lucy’s brash ways or how to pretend like he had.
Tess sat down at the canvas next to Gina’s, putting her plastic cup of wine down near her paint brushes and a second cup next to the last canvas in their row. She was too distracted wondering why the normally one-glass-and-done Tess was double fisting it to realize she was under attack until it was too late.
Lucy snagged her shirt, pulled the collar just enough to reveal the hickey Ford had left, and cried out in triumph. “I knew it wasn’t just home renovations last week. You were shacked up with a dude. Finally!”
Gina force herself to take a measured sip of her rosé, even though she just wanted to chug the bottle. Paint and Sip night was not the place she wanted to have this discussion.
“It was the wedding guy,” Tess said with a gasp.
“Oh my God, say yes. Say it was the wedding guy, because he sounded so flippin’ hot.”
“Who sounded hot?” asked a woman from behind her.
Gina turned to see who was moving in on their conversation and almost fell off her stool. The plastic cup slipped in her grip, but she managed not to drop it. Some of the pink wine did slosh over the side and landed smack dab in the middle of her shirt, because why only be humiliated once when you could get a second helping for free? It was the universe’s version of an embarrassment buy-one-get-one-free sale.
“There you are, Fallon,” Tess said, grinning at Ford’s sister. “Lucy and Gina, this is Fallon Hartigan. She’s the emergency room nurse I was telling you about who helped me out when I couldn’t find my way around the hospital during deliveries the other day. We started talking about the total dumpster fire of dating in the modern age and trust me, she is one of us—totally single and slaying it.”
Gina didn’t even bother wishing that the ground would open up and end her misery now. It was too late for that. Disaster was bearing down on her like a midtown bus with busted breaks. There was no way she was gonna get out of the way in time. She was about to be a bug on the windshield of life.
“Nice to meet you, Lucy. Hey Gina,” Fallon said as she sat down. “So, tell me about the hottie.”
Oh hell. Gina downed her rosé. She was gonna need it.
“Oh, it was at this guy at a wedding Gina planned the other weekend,” Tess said, her face taking on an excited glow. “She got put on a kiss cam with a total babe of a cop in front of everyone. I swear I would have died, but she ended up kissing him. What was his name, Gina? It was a car name, wasn’t it?”
“Ford,” Gina and Fallon said at the same time. Of course, Gina said it with resignation and Fallon with more than a hint of surprise.
A heavy hush fell over their little group as Tess and Lucy looked from Gina to Fallon and back again. Then, they scooted their stools closer. They must have spotted something in her face because Tess handed Gina her still-full cup of rosé without a word.
Lucy zeroed in on Fallon. “You know him?”
“He’s my brother,” she said, giving Gina an assessing look that all but screamed they’d be talking about this later.
Tess gasped. Gina took a big drink of the second cup of wine, wondering if maybe she’d get lucky and it would be poisoned. This was so not how she expected tonight to go. Come on out to Paint and Sip night, it’ll be fun, they said. Yeah, sure. More like total mortification. At least she hadn’t told her besties that she’d slept with Ford this week—although sleeping was pretty much the last thing they’d done. She had muscles she’d never known about that were still a little sore.
Lucy let out a loud laugh and clapped her hands together with joy. “You banged her hot brother?”
And that earned them a glare from Larry and some curious looks from the other women at Paint and Sip night.
“What? Ugh. No. Tell me no more,” Fallon said, slapping her hands over her ears. “Hearing uptight Ford get called hot is bad enough, please do not let me hear about what he’s like in bed.”