McKenna frowned. Deeply. “Oh...Jamie.”

“Don’t! Don’t Oh, Jamie me like I’m a sad kitten. I am completely fine. I’m not envious of your relationships or your...your...carnal knowledge of men’s bodies, okay?”

“I didn’t say you were,” McKenna said, holding her hands up in a defensive pose.

“No, but you’re acting like I don’t know anything and—”

“Jamie, it’s not like anyone is calling you out. But it wouldn’t kill you to acknowledge that maybe your friends who are in relationships might be more up on men and sex than you are.”

Bea, being Bea, was beginning to look concerned. Probably that she might hurt Jamie’s feelings. But Jamie wasn’t hurt. She was annoyed.

Jamie held up her hands. “Tab A. Slot B.” She made a rude gesture. “I’m aware of how it works. And if I want to know more, I’ll go on a fact-finding mission all on my own. Now, do you have any more comments on me, my clothing or all the things I don’t know, or can we go and get a drink?”

Her friends stared at her.

“You look good,” Beatrix said finally. “Let’s just go out.”

“Good,” Jamie said.

They piled into Jamie’s truck and headed down to the Gold Valley Saloon.

It was packed out tonight. Always busy any day of the week, it got a little bit of an extra influx on the weekends, especially during this time of year, when there were tourists hanging around on the edges of town to tour wineries, go on white-water rafting trips and use the hiking trails that wound around in the mountains beyond the town.

And once all that outdoor activity was done, it was definitely drinking time.

Jamie was always somewhat bemused by the injection of people, but their favorite table in the back corner was available, so she didn’t feel the need to complain.

She also still felt plain uncomfortable after the conversation at her house. They’d done their best to make conversation on the ride over but Jamie had mostly stewed.

“Drinks?” Jamie asked once they deposited all their things in the chairs.

“I’ll get them,” Beatrix said.

“No,” Jamie said, conscious of the fact that Beatrix could be overly generous if you didn’t watch her, and she would end up paying for everything before anyone had realized it. And even annoyed with her, she didn’t want that.

“All right. I’ll have a...a beer,” Bea said.

“A beer?” Jamie questioned.

Bea shrugged. “I live with a rodeo cowboy. I’ve acquired a taste.”

The change in her friend—tiny though it was—hit Jamie funny.

She had acquired a taste for beer because of Dane.

Bea had always been a sugary alcohol drink or soda kind of girl, more than a beer drinker. She wondered if Bea and Dane sat around in their living room drinking beer now. And then she wondered what that would be like. To have your life so wound around someone else’s that it changed what you drank.

“What about you?” she asked McKenna.