Page 37 of The Dating Pact

I didn’t like continually asking my parents and in-laws to take the kids, but these summer days felt like they went on forever. I thought they were as sick of me as I was of them sometimes.

“I have to work in the store tomorrow,” I said, and Youmna tapped the table.

“Good. They will stay here tonight, and you can pick them up after you are done working tomorrow. Okay? Okay.”

I laughed since that was all settled and stood up with a kiss to her cheek. I called out to Seb that I was leaving, which he barely responded to, and left with a hug to Amelia and a handshake for George.

I arrived at Walt’s to find a big crowd. The Anchormen, a band that sometimes played there, covered “Only the Good Die Young” by Billy Joel on the small stage in the corner, and I made my way through the throng of bodies to the bar. Nate, in the middle of pouring a beer at the taps, tipped his chin to me in greeting.

“Gimme a Blue Moon,” I shouted to him, slapping some cash down before skating my gaze around until I found Dylan and Liam, Genevieve and Kennedy in tow. Nate slid me my beer and informed me he’d be over in a minute, so I wound my way to my friends, scooting in on the end of the booth.

“Am I old, or is it too loud in here?” I asked in a near shout.

“Old,” Evie answered with a big smile, her side tucked up along Dylan’s.

Liam, the oldest one out of all of us at thirty-eight, winced. “It is loud in here.”

Which had Kennedy grinning. “Come on, it’s for a good cause!”

“Too many damn people,” Dylan grumbled, almost inaudibly.

“What’s the deal anyway?” I asked, and Kennedy proceeded to explain the drummer in the band had opened a Huntington’s disease charity, in honor of his brother who suffered from it. Kennedy knew all the inside information because her sister’s boyfriend also played in the band and had been friends with the drummer since high school. I barely listened, too focused on my cell phone and the message from Melissa asking if I wanted to grab coffee.

Coffee didn’t seem like a big deal. And yet I gaped at the screen as if she’d asked me if I wanted to go cliff-diving.

Because What? Are you nuts?

“Hey.” Dylan pounded his fist on the table. “You lookin’ at dick pics or something over there?”

I spluttered on a gulp of my beer. “Dick pics?”

“You look frightened. I assumed.”

Evie leaned over, peeking at my screen. “What is that?”

“It’s, uh…a dating app.”

That had everyone’s full attention.

“You took the plunge?” Liam asked, while the girls tossed each other confused glances. But before I could answer, Nate slid into the booth, enlightening everyone.

“Jude’s finally going to get laid, if he hasn’t already. So, where do we stand?”

“We stand nowhere.” I set my cell phone on the table, so they could all view Melissa’s latest message to me. “But I was asked to go out.”

“What are you going to say?” Kennedy asked, and I shrugged.

“If you wanna have sex, you gotta say yes,” Nate said, earning him an eye roll from his sister.

“Why are you even here and not behind the bar?”

“Because Tabitha’s got it covered.”

“You leaving her to fend off the wolves by herself?” Evie scoffed, referring to the dark-haired female bartender.

All of us turned to the bar, where Tabitha simultaneously took a payment, filled a drink order, and tossed a towel onto a spill. All without breaking a sweat.

Nate lounged against the back of the booth. “She’s earning her paycheck.”

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