“You did what?”
“Deidra gave me the key for the delivery door. Reece and Holt kept them occupied in the kitchen, while I snuck inside and shut off the gas right after the dinner rush.” Preston explained.
“But how did you get them here?”
“I let the air out of two of their tires, so they’d need a ride home,” Trent added with a laugh.
“So, I offered to drive them home and get their tires fixed for them. They only needed air, which Trent already fixed, but they didn’t know that.” Preston shook his head with a smirk. “Connie looked at me like I was crazy. I think she knew something was up but couldn’t put her finger on it. Anyway, once she put up the closed sign, we hopped in my truck and left the parking lot. Reece, Trent, and Holt had already left.” Preston laughed again. “I told Connie and Owen, I needed to make a quick stop at the bar to grab something Noah had left here for me. It almost didn’t work because when I asked them to come inside with me, they said they’d wait in the truck.”
Celine couldn’t contain her laughter. “Please, do go on.”
Preston grinned. “I said I didn’t know how long I would be and my A/C wasn’t working, which was a lie. But it was still hot outside, and I knew they wouldn’t want to sit in the truck without the air conditioning on.”
“I’ll never forget the look on their faces when they walked in, especially Connie who was mad because she didn’t have time to change into clean clothes and still smelled like the diner.” Celine chuckled.
“She asked me about the tires and all I could do was laugh.” Preston joined in her laughter.
“You should have seen their faces when I told them I let the air out of them,” Trent said with a laugh.
“Holt and I were having trouble keeping Connie from going into the back,” Reece added, shaking his head.
“Yeah, so I sort of blocked her way,” Holt said, laughing. “The diner was about empty then, so I knew she didn’t need anything. I just kept her talking.”
Celine couldn’t help but laugh. “It looks like she’s having a great time though.”
“I don’t know how Deidra managed it, but she got a list of Connie’s favorite songs for the band to play.” Preston grinned.
“You guys were quite sneaky, but it turned out to be an amazing party.” Celine observed as she looked around at the lively bar. Her heart skipped a beat when she spotted Killian across the room, but her smile faltered when she saw him talking to a woman she didn’t recognize.
“Who are you glaring at?” her friend, Sydney Wright, nudged her with a playful smirk.
Celine shook her head, trying to hide the fact that she was lying. “No one,” she said.
“You’re terrible at lying,” Sydney pointed out with a laugh.
Celine sighed, knowing she couldn’t hide it any longer. “I’m looking at Killian. Do you know him?”
“I don’t.”
“I do. He’s been in the pharmacy before. That man is so good-looking,” Kinley Wilson confirmed, glancing over at him as he chatted with a woman.
“Who is the woman he’s talking to?” Celine asked.
“Savannah Collins. She owns TimelessTreasures, and she is renting my townhouse,” Kinley said.
“I haven’t met her yet. Is she single?” Celine couldn’t help but ask.
“Yep,” Kinley replied with a grin and Sydney laughed.
Celine rolled her eyes at their amusement. “You’re both enjoying this, aren’t you?”
Kinley laughed. “I’ve never seen you so attracted to a guy that you’d be jealous seeing him talking to another woman.”
“Same here,” Sydney added.
“I amnotjealous,” Celine snapped, making them laugh even harder.
“As I said, you’re terrible at lying.” Sydney smirked.