Page 32 of A Forgotten Mistake

“It was a night the band was here, he had a ticket stub, so it had to have been Thursday, Friday, or Saturday,” Johnny says.

The woman gets closer to examine the picture. “I was working every one of those nights.”

“What is your name?” Gabriel asks.

“Sorry, it’s Minny.”

“Like the mouse?” I ask.

She looks over at me. “With a Y.”

“Hmm…” Why would anyone name their child something like that? It’s almost as bad as Gabriel’s names.

Minny raises an eyebrow but continues. “I remember him. He was a little pushy. He told me that ‘My tits definitely weren’tMinny.’ He was very much giving me ick vibes and then even had the balls to ask for my phone number.”

“Sounds like a fun time. I can’t fathom why you’d turn that down,” I say.

She snorts. “Right? I asked our bouncer to make him leave but when the bouncer came, he was already gone. That was… Friday night, I believe?”

“About what time did he harass you?”

“Uh… eight, maybe? It wasn’t very late. I remember thinking that we definitely hadn’t been open long enough for him to be drunk enough to ask about anything of mine.”

“Had you seen him before?” Gabriel asks.

Minny shrugs. “No idea. We get so many faces in and out of here… especially with the shows and the college nearby. I don’t remember him if hewasa repeat customer.”

“Any way we could get a name on him?” Gabriel asks. “Credit card information, anything?”

“We have so many people coming through here a night, I’m not sure, but I’ll see what I can do. Let me call my bartender and see if he has any ideas,” Johnny says.

Minny holds up a hand. “Wait! I remember that Samson said the guy wrote his name and number down on the receipt and said the tip was for me.”

“Let me go look,” Johnny says, and Minny follows us into Johnny’s office. While he sets to work going through receipts, I turn to her.

“Was he here with anyone?”

“Oh… hmm… I want to say one man? I remember him laughing when this asshole was being rude to me.”

“Here we go,” Johnny says as he hands it over, and I look down at the name of Steven and a phone number. “Anything else, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

SEVEN

Gabriel

“My parents are thrilled to be taking you to a restaurant they love. They’re confident you’re going to—and I quote—adoreit,” I say as I turn onto my parents’ street.

“Yeah? And if I don’t love it, I just go like ‘Oooh, ohhhh, it’ssooogood,Mrs. Mabel.’”

“Why the fuck were you moaningany of that? Especially theMrs.part!”

“I don’t know, Gabriel. I’m being forced to act normal and like I care about people to the extreme that I’m starting to shut down. I’m… I’m… not long for this world.”

“You’re dramatic is more like it.”

I pull into the driveway and put the car in park before turning in my seat to look at Liam. He’s just beaming up a storm, loving every moment of this exchange. “Remind me again why we have to all ride together with your parents? Why couldn’t we have met at the restaurant? Like… do your parents want to breathe the same air as me that badly? Feel the caress of my thigh as we’re all crammed in the back seat together?”

My eyebrow won’t stop rising as I listen to his theories. “Ah yes, my father wants to feel your thigh caresses. That’s definitely why they wanted to ride together. Do you ever question the shit you say out loud?”

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