Another picture arrived of a cream colored stuffed bunny. What the hell was he doing with a stuffed bunny in his bed? Maybe he was in Jen’s. I couldn’t think about that. He was engaged, for God’s sake! I stared at the tattoo again. And obviously my friend.

Me: Is that a stuffed sex doll? Who’s the pervert now?

Kent: Bah.

Me: 8 @ Crave. CU there, perv.

Kent: Sure thing, rockstar.

I texted Stacy back to let her know that Kent was coming tonight.

Stacy: I’ll believe it when I see it.

Yeah, me too.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Will you stop it, please?” Stacy asked, her hand on my knee which was bouncing nervously.

I stopped the bouncing. “Sorry.”

“If he said he’s coming, then he’s coming, don’t worry.”

“Pft.” I blew out a breath, “I’m not worried.” I could act as nonchalant as I wanted to, but Stacy was my best friend and she could see through my bullshit.

She smirked. “Uh-huh.”

“Whatever. I’m not.” I checked my phone. How could it still be 8:05? I frowned at the phone, something was wrong with this thing. If Kent was going to be late, he would’ve called. And he was never late.

What if he got into a car accident? What if something happened to Jen or his mom or something? What if Jen found out and wouldn’t let him come?

I chewed nervously on my lower lip as I waited. It was going to be my turn any minute. I looked at my phone once more and Stacy put her hand over mine. She had a look of disapproval on her face. I sighed. She was right. I needed to chill out, or I was going to have a panic attack in front of everyone.

I set the phone face down on the table and inhaled deeply, trying to get soothing energy into my body to replace the nervous kind.

“Next up is a veteran to our stage, Elly Palmer. Give it up.” There were polite claps from the crowd as I grabbed my guitar and headed up there. I felt a squeeze on my elbow from Stacy.

“Go get ‘em, girl!” She winked as I smiled and stepped up onto the tiny stage.

I took a seat and felt the familiar weight of the guitar on my lap. I cleared my throat as I looked around the small space. This was one of the few places open in our small college town on the eve of Christmas Day. It was packed with students who hadn’t returned home for the break and other locals who just needed to get away from family for a couple of hours.

Still no sign of Kent. I felt the knots twist in my gut and tried to block out the disappointment that was starting to crush me. “I um,” nervous laughter left me, “Merry Christmas everyone.”