Page 123 of It's Complicated

I waved back and glanced at Jamie when Jesse motioned for us to come over to their table.

“Do you want to go say hi?” I asked. “We don’t have to tell them anything. I mean, I’m positive he already knows, but we can just pretend we’re friends for another day if that’ll be easier.”

Jamie shook his head and slipped his hand into mine.

Pride and something I couldn’t quite place rippled through me. This was the first time we got to act like a couple in public, and it felt nice to hold Jamie’s hand and walk through the diner with him.

Jesse, for his part, did an admirable job of ignoring our joined hands and pretending it was completely normal to see us like this.

“Hey,” he greeted as we approached.

“Hey,” I said, upnodding all four men. “How’s it going?”

“Good.” Jesse leaned against the spot where Sebastian had his arm thrown over the back of their booth. “Bas had a show last night, and we needed diner food to combat the beer we drank.”

“I know that feeling,” I said sympathetically. “How was the show?” I asked.

Sebastian had been a successful musician and songwriter before he moved back to town earlier this year. I didn’t know too much about why he’d left the music industry other than he was burned out from years of touring and traveling with his band.

Bas was incredibly talented. His older music was heavier than what I usually listened to, but I had a bunch of his band’s songs on my workout playlists and listened to them whenever we went to the gym.

“Good enough.” Sebastian shrugged. “No one booed, and they asked me to come back, so I’m calling it a win.”

“He’s so modest,” Adam said. “The show was amazing and everyone loved him.”

Sebastian shrugged again, but the corners of his mouth lifted in a smile. “It was pretty good.”

“What brings you guys here?” Jesse asked, his eyes flicking to our hands.

“I’m a dumbass and forgot to buy groceries yesterday after work, and we didn’t notice we had no food until we tried to make breakfast,” I said.

“I’ve done that so many times.” Adam snickered. “Hannah keeps a stash of snacks in the linen closet so we don’t starve when I forget to pick stuff up.”

“I should do that for Z,” Jamie mused. “I just wouldn’t tell him where I stashed them because he’d eat them, and we’d be shit out of luck in an emergency.”

“Hannah keeps some granola bars in her purse in case Adam does that.” Jesse grinned. “She calls them her emergency Adam stash.”

“My sister is the only reason you’re alive right now, isn’t she?” Sebastian asked Adam.

“Pretty much.” Adam grinned.

“What do you think, Z? Should I start carrying granola bars around for you as a backup?” Jamie asked with a grin.

“I’d never say no to emergency snacks, just saying.” I shot him a cheesy grin. “Why do you think I like hanging out with Emma so much? The kids get snacks, we get snacks. Win-win.”

“You really are just overgrown toddlers, aren’t you?” Jesse asked with a smirk.

“You know it.” I flicked my gaze to Quinn. “How have you been?”

I didn’t know him as well as Adam, but he was a fun guy, and he’d lived a crazy life, which was always fun to hear about.

“Good,” Quinn said. “Busy with work and life. You know how it is.”

“Are we all just going to pretend like that’s not a thing?” Adam pointed to where Jamie and I were still holding hands. “I mean, I know you guys are tight, but this is screaming brojob over bromance.”

“Brojob?” Jamie asked as I let out a snort of laughter.

“Yeah, you know. When you and your bro help each other out when you’re in a dry spell.” He looked around the table. “You’ve never heard of that?”

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