Chapter 14 #2
The third author date snuck up on me. I’d been so busy writing—and avoiding walking by Bree’s house—that I didn’t even realize another event was upon me until Nathan texted to ask if he could park at my house so we could Uber in together.
He planned on drinking, so that would mean him spending a night in my guest room.
My house was much closer to the downtown area than his Airbnb. I was fine with an overnighter.
A quick look at the clock told me I didn’t have a lot of time to get ready, so I closed my laptop and hit the shower. By the time I was walking out of my bedroom, dressed for the event, Nathan was dropping off an overnight bag in my guest room.
“Ready?” he asked, doing a double take when he took in my black cargo shorts and matching polo. “This is different for you.”
I glanced down. The shorts went to my knees, and the shirt was no different from what I normally wore, other than the color. Suddenly, however, I was conflicted. “Should I change?”
He shook his head. “Your outfit is fine. It’s hot and humid tonight, and I think we’re on the patio at Vic’s.”
I hadn’t even gotten that far yet. “I love Vic’s,” I admitted.
“That’s why we’re going early enough to get dinner in the AC before heading out to the patio for the event.” He gave me a sidelong look. “Do you think your new girlfriend will be there?”
It took me a moment—much longer than it should have—to grasp who he was referring to. “She is not my girlfriend.”
“Really?” Nathan’s expression was bland. “So you didn’t get freaky on the croquet course with her?”
All the oxygen whooshed out of me. How did he know about that? “W-What?” My voice was creakier than a cabin door in a haunted-house movie.
To his credit, Nathan didn’t even crack a smile. He was the picture of innocence, to the point where all he was missing was a halo over his head. “Did I say something wrong?”
My mind buzzed with possibilities. Has Nathan seen Bree? If so, where? Why was he seeing her without me? Have they been hanging out? Are they seeing each other? Have they laughed about the croquet when they were in bed together?
Yeah, I could jump to a conclusion faster than anybody I knew. I wasn’t proud of myself.
Nathan might have been a master at maintaining a neutral expression, but apparently, I was so wide-eyed and sweaty he couldn’t contain his laughter.
“Oh, look at your face,” he said, swiping at his eyes. “You just had about eight different panic attacks over the course of five seconds.”
I glowered at him. “I wasn’t panicking.” I was totally panicking. I wouldn’t admit that to him under the threat of death, however. “I’m just curious how you knew about the croquet.”
“See, I thought you would deny it.” He clucked his tongue and shook his head. “I guess I owe Hayley fifty bucks.”
“Hayley? The clean-romance writer? What are you doing talking to her? She’s a lesbian.”
“I can communicate with women even if I’m not having sex with them,” he said dryly.
“Sorry.” I was instantly contrite. “I’m just … confused. Why are you communicating with her?”
“Because we made a bet at the last event.”
“About what?”
“How soon it will be before you and Bree are doing the horizontal mambo.”
I glared at him. “We’re just…”
I couldn’t finish the sentence because I wasn’t certain what we were. We had been mortal enemies. That was no longer true. We weren’t exactly friends, but we were friendly. We definitely weren’t more than that.
“Yeah, it’s been fun to watch,” Nathan said when I continued to struggle. He clapped his hand on my shoulder. “Are you ready to go?”
I was nowhere near ready to go. I nodded anyway. I didn’t want to be late. There was nothing I loathed more than lateness.
“Great.” Nathan lifted his phone. “The Uber is two minutes out.”
I FIGURED I WOULD HAVE TIME TO GET myself together over dinner.
Even though I wasn’t much of a drinker, there would be cocktails involved with my meal.
Unfortunately for me, just as the server led us toward a table, I realized I’d been set up.
There was only one table visible, and Bree and Hayley were already sitting at it.
“You suck,” I said to Nathan under my breath.
He ignored me and headed straight for Hayley, who stood to be engulfed in a bear hug from him. “You’re here. That’s good. I’m starving,” she said.
As a kid, I’d had a recurring nightmare that I was on a stage for a school pageant and was the only one who’d shown up. Everybody else had somehow gotten out of it. I’d stood on the stage, a spotlight on me, and all my clothes had disappeared. This moment reminded me of that dream.
Bree’s expression was hard to read when her gaze landed on me. “Hi,” she said softly.
“Hey.” I literally couldn’t think of another thing to say.
“Sit,” Nathan said impatiently. “Order something for dinner. It’s going to be a long night.”
I fumbled with the menu twice. Vic’s menu was fancy. It wasn’t that I was opposed to fancy menus—sometimes I loved them—but this one required my attention, and I was suddenly incapable of focusing.
Being a brutally honest individual, especially with myself, I recognized that I couldn’t focus because Bree was sucking up all the oxygen in the room. Not purposely or anything. Just her presence was enough to make me short of breath.
“What’s good here?” Hayley asked.
“I love this whole menu,” Nathan replied.
“Okay.” Hayley bobbed her head. “What are you getting?”
“The mussels for an appetizer, the Joyce Farms airline chicken for an entrée, and the drunken pecan for a cocktail.”
Hayley cocked an eyebrow. “That’s very specific.”
He nodded. “I’m a specific kind of guy.”
They kept talking, pretending Bree and I weren’t sitting at the same table with them. The silence on our side was oppressive, so I finally had no choice but to look at her. She was fixated on the menu.
“How are you?” I asked in a voice that was almost breathy. What’s up with that?
“Great,” she replied, her tone breezy and somewhat detached. “How is the filet mignon?”
“Expensive,” I replied.
She just blinked.
“It’s great,” I corrected quickly. “That’s what I’m getting. With she-crab soup. That’s my favorite thing here.”
“I love she-crab soup.” She looked wistful. Then she shook herself out of her reverie. “I’m getting the ghost orange mule too.”
“That’s my favorite.” I flashed a tight smile, frustrated because this conversation was so stilted. Things had been easy between us the last time we were together. They were the opposite now. “Are you looking forward to tonight?” I was desperate to find something to talk about.
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I was. I guess we’ll see how things go.”
With that, we fell into silence again. This was obviously going to be a very long night.