Page 47 of When We Dare

I glanced over, my blank look causing his brows to rise as he studied me. “Tiffany told me Stella brought Biscuit home. How’s Butter handling it?”

Leo glanced between us. “Cats named Butter and Biscuit?”

“They’re getting along great,” I replied.

“Awesome.” Wes grinned. “Tiffany loves being a pet matchmaker.”

“How are you and Stella doing?” Griffin asked.

“Oh, we’re great,” I said, probably too quickly.

“Yeah? You don’t sound great,” Beck interjected.

Wes eyed him. “I think you missed your calling, Beck,” he said dryly.

“What do you mean?” Beck countered.

“You’re always grilling people on their relationships, you should’ve been a therapist,” Wes teased. His gaze arced to Leo. “Are you single?”

“Uh, yeah,” Leo replied, giving Wes the side-eye.

“Watch out, man. Beck’s gonna give you the whole spiel on how great marriage and kids are. To be honest, I was skeptical, but I’m all in now,” Wes replied.

Griffin lifted his hand to slap a high-five across the table. “Same here.”

I took a gulp of beer, relieved when a waitress arrived at our table. I glanced up to notice it was the same woman who was also working at Firehouse Café. “Oh, hey there, Casey,” I said. “You working here too?”

She smiled brightly, her ponytail swinging with her nod. “I’m only part-time here, just picking up shifts when they need someone. I see y’all are all set with the beer, but what can I get you for food?”

Wes glanced around the table. “Should we keep it simple and just get combo orders we can share?”

Casey shrugged. “Order whatever y’all want.”

“How about whatever’s fastest?” I interjected. “Can we start with a couple of those variety appetizer platters?”

“Absolutely.” Casey’s gaze circled the table, quickly counting. “There are ten of you, so maybe four platters.”

“How about some of the slider platters for burgers,” Beck suggested. “That should be enough.”

When we nodded in collective agreement, Casey grinned. “You guys are awesome! You’re making my job really easy.”

“Hey, we aim to please,” Beck quipped.

Casey hurried off. By the time the night rolled to a close, I knew I’d had a little too much to drink to drive myself home. As I was contemplating what to do about this, Leo happened to bewalking beside me in the back hallway. “You need a ride?” he asked.

“That would probably be smart. Do you mind?”

“Of course not,” he said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Just tell me where to go. Let’s make sure your truck is locked up.”

After I confirmed that, I followed him over to his truck. When I climbed in, I had to fumble to get my seatbelt buckled. I leaned my head back, closing my eyes for a minute, and willing the spins to stop.

“I don’t usually drink that much,” I mumbled as I opened my eyes and straightened, relieved to discover that I could at least see straight.

“No worries,” Leo commented as he started the engine. “Where to?” he asked a moment later at the entrance to the parking lot.

“Take a left, I’m not that far away. Where are you staying in town?”

“Just a little way out of downtown. I only had one beer, so…”

---