Need Me (Broke and Beautiful #2)(37)

Right now, all he could think of was her dealing with some crisis with her baseball team family. If she felt one-tenth as shitty as he felt, dealing with a crisis on her own was the last thing she needed. No way could he wait an entire week to fix this. So . . . what? He was going to Kentucky?

“Fucking right I’m going to Kentucky,” he shouted into the silent apartment.

Peter could cover his classes for the week. He still owed Ben from the time he’d gotten pneumonia and Ben had subbed his literary theory class. He’d drop off his lesson plan to Peter on his way to the airport. And next time he landed back in New York, he’d have Honey with him.

It would appear he had a couple of phone calls to make.





Chapter 13



HONEY’S SORE MUSCLES protested as she hopped back up on the rickety wooden barstool. After arriving in the wee hours of Monday morning, two days had been spent plowing fields and planting corn, leaving her body feeling like one giant bruise. She’d been in New York less than two months, but it had made her soft, apparently. Her ass and thigh muscles were on fire. Shoulders stiff and aching. She’d had to get out of the house, because her father wouldn’t stop teasing her for turning into a pansy-ass.

Lester, the bartender who’d worked at Calhoun’s Junction since her mother had been in high school, placed a shot of tequila in front of her, hiding it behind a pint glass of Coca-Cola. “I know you’re a college girl now, but we still can’t serve you. Coke’ll have to do.”

She winked at Lester. “Thank you. Coke’s just fine.”

After making sure no one was looking, she tossed back the shot, welcoming the way it burned in her throat. Lester swiped the shot glass back off the bar and went to serve the next customer, innocence etched into his wrinkled face. To an outsider, the business practices at Calhoun’s Junction might seem a little shady. Or illegal. Which they were. But Lester ruled over the bar like a mother hen, never letting anyone get so drunk they lost use of their faculties. Or got behind the wheel instead of calling home for a ride or carpooling with somebody sober. Senior year of high school was when Lester began sneaking her shots. All the kids knew his game, and no one ever squealed. It was just the way of things.

In fact, as she peered through the dimness toward the back of the bar, she could see several of those shot recipients playing pool, drinking Cokes, just like she’d left them. Elmer was there, bent low over the pool table, unable to take his shot for laughing too hard. A waitress in a black apron gestured wildly with a ketchup bottle as she spoke to Darlene Lennon, one of the first girls to join Honey’s little league just over a decade ago. Katie and Jay were there, all sparkly in their new engagement and looking as if they’d never left high school. Jay still wore his letterman jacket. Katie still wore his class ring around her neck on a silver chain. None of them had seen her yet, so she took a moment to enjoy the picture they made. One that could have been taken straight out of her memory bank.

When she was part of the group gathered around the very same pool table not so long ago, she couldn’t wait to get away. She didn’t want to be standing there, collecting dust, when the college kids, such as she was now, came home to visit. She’d wanted to go places. Do things. Make a mark. Damn it, though. There was something to be said for a place that made you feel warm. Welcome. A place that could be predicted and didn’t turn you upside down and shake you, seeing if you could stand it.

The worst part of this feeling? She didn’t know if Ben was slightly responsible or not. She might have been feeling homesick before the shit pie was thrown at her face. Whatever the reason, a yearning for the familiar hit her now like a tsunami.

Elmer’s head came up slowly from the pool table. “Well, I’d heard rumors, but I didn’t believe them,” he shouted across the bar. “Honey Perribow is in our midst.”

She saluted her Coke, feeling like she’d slipped back into her old skin. “They let me back into the state against their better judgment.”

Her friends abandoned their pool game, all talking at once as they made their way over. Just as she’d known he would, Elmer scooped her off the stool and crushed her in a bear hug. She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing for just a second she could feel a spark. Anything to prove Ben hadn’t snuffed out any possibility of one. But all she felt was nostalgia over the familiar scent of Elmer’s Cool Water cologne. Damn, the professor had done a number on her. She never cried. Never. With her friends’ voices washing over her and Lester smiling from behind the bar, though, she was coming close. There was no denying it anymore. Something inside her had been damaged and needed to be knit back together. Would this visit home do it? Or would it take much longer, as she feared it would?

Elmer finally set her down, allowing Katie and Darlene to launch themselves at her. She ignored her screaming muscles and held on, coughing discreetly amid the abundance of hair spray as they hugged her. Darlene pulled back, smiling brightly. “What are you doing here?”

Honey accepted a one-armed hug from Jay, followed by a ruffling of her hair. “My brother fought the tractor and the tractor won.”

“Again?” Jay asked, pulling back. “That tractor is a menace. My mom used to tell me if I didn’t eat my greens, the Perribows’ tractor would come and get me while I slept.”

Honey gave a lopsided smile. “Well, Teddy definitely had some green, but not the kind you eat.”