Page 228 of The Moment We Know

“What about all that rhythm he was supposed to have?”

“He saves it for the stage, apparently.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me, too. He wasn’t worth checking a drummer off my bucket list.”

David, who had heard most of the conversation, despite the attempt at keeping it private, frowned. “Is that the drummer who bought Jules a drink that one night?” he asked Paige.

“Uh, yes.”

“So, that’s the bass player who boughtyoua drink?”

“Uh, yes.”

David checked out the bass player with a more critical eye. “He looks like he’s on the douchebag spectrum.”

“He does not,” she scolded him.

“Yes, he does. On the far end of it.”

With the arrival of Nate, Andrea, and Kim, talk of the band came to an end. Evan, who was now working the bar with Lars, broke out a bottle of champagne and they all toasted to the newlyweds.

“To David and Paige, the sequel!” Evan said.

After the bottle was demolished, Evan served everyone a Fireball shot, in honor of the bride, which made Paige grin. After that he switched to cocktails, like the Big O, the G-Spot, and the Slow Comfortable Screw Against the Wall, which he served with a smirk.

While he could still speak coherently, David excused himself and headed over to the stage as the band finished up a song.

“What’s he doing?” Jules asked.

“I don’t know,” Paige answered.

After what seemed like forever, David returned to Paige’s side. Before she could ask what he’d been up to, he said, “For a cover band, they suck.”

“You said they were pretty good, earlier.”

“They sound pretty good, but their catalog of songs sucks. The first six songs I requested they didn’t know. At first I thought the bass player was fucking with me, but they just didn’t know the songs.”

She ignored the ridiculous dig at the bass player. “What songs were they?”

““I Am Yours”by Andy Grammer, “Mine Would Be You”, by Blake Shelton—”

“Well, in their defense, I don’t know those, either.”

“They didn’t know “Better Together” by Jack Johnson or “Sweet Creature”by Harry Styles—”

“Harry Styles? Really?”

“It’s a good song,” he quickly defended it. “Then there was “Sweetest Thing”by Allman Brown and “Yours” by Russell Dickerson.”

Paige tilted her head, feeling buzzed by all the alcohol she’d consumed. “Why were you requesting a song, anyway?” she wanted to know.

Just then, the lead singer of the band could be heard addressing everyone in the bar. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve had a request from a brand-new groom, to play a song for the first dance with his brand-new bride.”

“That’s why,” David said, taking her hand and pulling her off the bar stool. As he led her onto the dance floor, the band began to play a song that she immediately recognized.

“This was lucky number seven?” she asked, when he took her in his arms and began to move with her to Peter Frampton’s “Baby, I Love Your Way”.

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