Page 113 of Hot Shot

“Well.” I glance at Beck, then Cade. “We thought it was fitting. All three of us had some . . . challenges growing up. Then we all decided to become SEALs, which is another huge challenge. We all made it—we were three of the fifteen who made it out of a class of a hundred forty-five when we started. We decided that naming the bar would remind us that we can conquer any challenges if we put our mind to it.”

Mrs. Garner nods approvingly. She’s aware of my childhood struggles and it means a lot to me that the Garners have included me as part of their family. I feel a sense of belonging and acceptance I’ve never felt with anyone else, except my SEAL brothers, and of course Carrie.

“Cade.”

Everyone turns to look at the woman who’s stopped beside the table. A statuesque brunette with stunning dark eyes and full lips gazes at Cade—the date Cade brought to Beck and Hayden’s wedding.

“Amelia, hi.” Cade shifts in his chair, then rises. “How are you?”

“Not good. Why won’t you answer my calls? My texts? I don’t understand.”

Reese arrives at the table with a tray full of champagne flutes and begins to set them at each place, clearly aware of the woman but keeping her focus on the glasses. Doing her job. Everyone else has fallen silent, the air in the room going heavy.

“I told you, Amelia.” Cade gently takes her arm and tries to shift her away from the table, presumably so they can have this conversation a little more privately.

But Amelia stands firm in her spiky heels. My eyebrows rise as I see tears in her eyes. “You didn’t really mean that. What we had was special. You said that yourself!” She’s not keeping her voice low, and we can all hear.

“Amelia, I told you I don’t do relationships. You said you were fine with one night.”

“But you brought me to a wedding! I met your friends! That has to mean something.”

Reese pops the cork on the bottle of champagne, studiously ignoring Cade and Amelia, and everyone at the table tries to focus on that and ignore the drama playing out next to them. “This is so nice,” Carrie says in a bright tone, reaching for the glass Reese has just filled for her. “Thank you, Marco.”

I nod, Amelia’s sobs growing fainter as Cade leads her out of the bar. “Congratulations again, belleza.”

When all the glasses are filled, I lift mine in a toast. “To G Gallery. And to Cheryl and Carrie. Congratulations on all your hard work.”

We clink glasses together and sip the sparkling wine.

“Thank you all for your support,” Carrie says to everyone. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

Cade rejoins us and picks up his glass. “Sorry about that,” he mutters.

I catch Reese’s face as she moves away from the table with the empty wine bottle . . . an eye roll and a lip curl. I press my lips together to repress a smile.

This isn’t the time to lecture Cade again on his man-whore ways. But, Jesus, we can’t have women showing up crying and disturbing customers.

We decide to order food. “Let’s just get a bunch of things to share,” Beck suggests, waving Reese over. “Hey, Reese. Can you bring us some nachos, some chips and dip, uh, jalapeño poppers. And hey, Sid’s got something new we can try: Tater Tot nachos.”

Reese winces. “Um, yeah about that . . .”

Beck frowns. “What?”

“They’re . . . well, you’re the boss. You should try them, if you haven’t. I’ll get those right out for you.”

I meet Beck’s eyes. What the hell was that? Is Reese dissing our menu to customers? That can’t happen. We all know our food isn’t the best in the city, but still, our serving staff has to at least pretend it is.

“What’s up with that?” Cade asks. “Do I need to talk to her?”

“Maybe.” I frown.

Talk turns to Carrie’s latest job for a Hollywood star. “It’s pretty exciting,” she says with a luminous smile. “I hope it goes okay. I like dogs, but I haven’t photographed them a lot.”

“Hopefully he’s well trained,” Hayden says.

“I’m sure he is.”

“What are you going to do?”

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