Chapter 52
Chapter Fifty-Two
A t the bar, Carla sat alone with two glasses of wine in front of her, both almost empty. She didn’t notice Warren as he sidled up beside her. He’d lost Lewis and Erin in the lounge where they’d been cornered by a couple of regular guests wanting to chat to them.
“Hey,” he said, breaking Carla from her trance. “Are you okay?”
“That’s the second time you’ve asked me that today,” she said, lifting her eyebrows. “And considering I don’t recall you asking how I am in the entire time we’ve known each other, I’m going to assume my sister has been blabbing her mouth off.”
“She just said you’d been a bit down recently. Excuse me for being concerned.”
“I don’t believe for a second that’s all Anna said.
” She stretched her neck as she looked at him.
“For the record, I may have had the tiniest crush on you for approximately five minutes. I’d argue it was some kind of temporary insanity.
It has nothing to do with my recent bout of being pissed off with the world. ”
“Good to know.”
She rolled her eyes. “Please don’t make this weird. You being nice to me might just be the last straw. I can cope with anything but that.”
“Are you implying I’m not normally nice?”
“Normally you’re a big, annoying oaf. Let’s stick with that.”
“You’re pretty annoying yourself,” he told her with a smirk. “Where’s Anna?”
“She was annoyed with you and went home.”
“See what I mean about you being annoying? Where is she really? Bathroom?”
“She went home,” she said emphatically. “Because she realised you’re a big, annoying oaf.”
He glared at her until she grinned.
“Or… maybe she just went home to get her phone and then she’s coming back. It might have been that – I can’t really remember.”
“When did she leave?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
He glanced at his watch. “I might drive over there and give her a lift back.”
“Good idea. Knowing Anna, she’ll get home and decide she’d rather spend the evening on the couch in her pyjamas. Go and make sure she doesn’t bail.”
“Will do.” He took a step away, then hesitated before backing up and wrapping his arms around her. “Glad you’re okay,” he said while she wriggled away from him.
“My sister is probably only suffering temporary insanity,” she said. “Don’t be too shocked if she comes to her senses and realises she doesn’t want to date someone so irritating.”
“Thanks. I’ll bear that in mind.” He gave her arm a friendly shove and told her he’d see her soon.
Once she was back in the warmth of her flat, Anna lost enthusiasm for the New Year’s party entirely.
She picked up her phone and got caught up in a flurry of messages from her friends, all discussing their plans for the evening.
Hayden’s message in the group, describing his itinerary of four different parties for the evening, left her exhausted just reading it.
She fired off a quick reply, reminding them she’d be in the hotel as usual and inviting anyone who was nearby to call in.
The message was entirely unnecessary, since her plans had been the same since she was about sixteen.
Kylie and Mike occasionally put in an appearance, but everyone had their own parties to attend.
She wished them a Happy New Year in advance and had just forced herself off the couch when the doorbell sounded.
“What are you doing here?” she asked Warren when he stepped inside.
“Thought you might like a lift back to avoid trudging around in the cold.”
“Thanks. I was just about to set off.”
“Carla was concerned you may have just made a sneaky exit from the festivities.”
“Tempting as that is, I really did plan on coming back.” She cocked her head. “Did you speak to Lewis?”
“Yes.” He followed her into the living room and took a seat on the couch.
“And?” She picked up her coat, which was draped over the armchair.
“He was fine about it.”
“I told you he would be. What did he say?”
He leaned his head back and chuckled. “He wasn’t surprised.”
“Really?”
“He knew all along.”
“What?” Anna dropped onto the couch beside him. “How? ”
“I think the major clue was after my interview, when he called my previous employer and found that I hadn’t actually been the head chef there.”
Anna pressed her lips together and swallowed her laughter. “I’m surprised he never mentioned that to anyone.”
“I was definitely worried about nothing. Lewis really doesn’t see it as an issue.”
“Good. Now you can relax and enjoy the party tonight.”
“Yeah.” He put a hand on her knee when she made to get up. “What was going on with you today? You didn’t seem very happy earlier.”
“The business plan was stressing me out. I hate this kind of thing.”
“It’d be worth it in the end.”
“Maybe.”
“I can help you with it next week if you want. I’ll have some time off.”
“Thanks.” She patted his knee. “We should get going.”
“Should we?” he said, sinking further into the couch cushions.
“It’s New Year’s Eve. We can’t miss the party.”
“I don’t really see why not.”
Anna felt a tingle of excitement at the prospect of skipping the party and staying home and cosy. “I don’t know,” she said, torn. “I told Carla I’d go back, and I’m still kind of worried about her.”
“Carla’s fine. I spoke to her before.”
“What did you say?” Anna asked, jutting her chin out.
“Nothing.” He raised his hands. “I was nice.”
“Oh, great. So now she knows I said something to you.”
His shoulders shook as he laughed. “Why is me being nice to Carla so shocking to everyone? I’m always nice.”
“You didn’t upset her, did you?”
“No! We joked around. She’s fine. Ivy was about to finish her shift, and Lewis and Erin are at the hotel. Carla will be fine, so if you don’t want to go back, we can stay in for the evening. If that’s what you want.”
She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“I’m very happy to skip the party.”
“I’ll bet you are, because everyone will think it was my idea not to go back to the hotel.”
“I’ll take the blame,” he insisted, looking thoroughly amused. “I’ll say it was all my idea.”
“Staying at home does sound very appealing,” she conceded, then eyed him warily. “You know that even if you say it was your idea, they’ll still all think it was my idea to miss the party.”
“Yeah.” He smirked. “I realise that.”
When she went to playfully slap his arm, he grabbed hold of her and pulled her down onto him, then caught her lips in a kiss.
“What do you want to do?” he asked eventually.
She kept her face close to his. “If you keep kissing me like that, I definitely won’t want to go anywhere.”
“Thanks for the tip,” he said, eyebrows twitching mischievously before he pulled her closer and kissed her again.
It seemed as though they’d be having their own private party – and Anna couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the start of the new year.