She hung up without saying goodbye, and I blew out an exhale that turned into a laugh.

“What on earth?” Presley asked.

I told her Angelica’s comments.

“Wow,” Presley said. “Don’t hold back, Angelica.”

“She never has. Not with me.” I shrugged, trying to let the conversation go.

“We need donuts,” Presley said.

Once we both had our pastries and had shoved a couple of sinful-icious bites in our mouths, Presley relaxed against the chair back and gazed out at the water. “Last night was kind of awesome. This little town you hate”—she licked frosting off one of her fingers—“I kind of like it, Chloe. The people are… real. I mean, there are some odd ducks, I’m sure, and Magnolia is toxic, but Anna and Maeve and the others… I couldn’t see anything toward you except genuine friendliness.”

“Yeah,” I admitted.

I’d had my guard up for the first half of the evening, expecting an embarrassing moment or to be singled out in a bad way. It’d proven unfounded, with the exception of Satan’s spawn Magnolia, and even when she’d reared her head, the girls hadn’t teamed up with her. Now that I was removed from the situation, even thinking about that possibility seemed ludicrous, and all I could come up with in my defense was that the groundwork had been laid so many years ago, when I was so young, that it had obviously stuck. I believed I could overcome it eventually. I was starting to trust the girls’ night girls, and that was after just one evening.

“The guys seemed down-to-earth too,” Presley continued and I whipped my attention to her.

“Did you hook up—”

“No. I told you I went to Anna’s. Max offered to drive us home later since Emerson was ready to go before midnight. What’s her story? She seemed really nice but… restrained? Something.”

“She was married to Blake Estes,” I said, frowning. “Apparently he was in the military and was killed a few years back. He left her with two little kids.”

“God.”

“I know. Awful.”

I’d gone to school with both Emerson and Blake but hadn’t known either very well. Holden had filled me in on their history, and now that I knew, her reticence made sense. And the sadness in her eyes.

Presley leaned forward to take a second donut, holding the box out for me. I took a caramel-fudge.

“I have to say, the act you and Holden put on… top-notch, my friend. There wasn’t a soul in that bar who didn’t believe you were going home to get it on.”