Page 77 of One Chance to Stay
Reed chuckled. “This morning?”
“At the beginning, I’d catch him staring. I thought he might be a weirdo, but after a while?—”
“She took pity on me,” he finished.
“He had the sexiest puppy dog eyes.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheeks. “I wish you two nothing but the best. You make a cute couple.”
Couple? I hadn’t even gotten far enough to consider the options ahead of us. He had become my ‘here and now’ while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. Did I imagine myself going back to college and showing up at his house with textbooks? Would he help me write out flashcards? Everything about that scenario fell somewhere between terrifying and wonderful.
“Yup, that’s the look,” Reed said. “Best of luck, man.”
“While you’re daydreaming about your future? Want to go over the cocktails for tomorrow?” Julie let go of her fiancé and stood across the table. She went from cute to business in the blink of an eye. “I want to pull inventory to make sure we have everything.”
“Sure.”
I could focus on bartending while the rest of my world remained in a state of flux. I had to wonder, did I need to reframe my thinking? Maybe all these questions popping up in my headwerethe answers I needed? Sure, standing on the side of a mountain in the middle of winter had been foolish, but it led me to Seamus. What if I threw caution to the wind and took a chance? What’s the worst that could happen?
Something in my headandchest, clicked.
“Screw up tomorrow, and it’ll be gossip for the next month.”
Maybe it would be gossip. Maybe it’d be a disaster. But what if it worked?
Great. No pressure at all.
LOVE IS NEVER…
Patrick: The whole town will be here. You’re coming.
Seamus: Maybe.
Patrick: You can handle three days of socializing in one week.
Patrick: Don’t make me call in reinforcements.
Patrick: You’re coming.
Seamus: …
New Group Chat
Patrick: I warned you.
Grace: Dad, stop being you. Get cocoa with me.
Seamus: …
Seamus: Fine.
Patrick: Was that so hard?
Grace: I told you Patrick was a good influence.
Reed set a box of bottles on the sill, and I jumped. I had been staring at Grace’s text for the last ten minutes. I knew she’d convince him in the way only a stubborn daughter could with her dad. That had been expected. Her commenting on my relationship with her dad had come as a surprise.
“This is the last of them.” Reed looked dapper with his bowling cap, scarf, and sweater. “Are you sure you don’t want help?”
I looked about the tiny shack where the basketball players used to serve hot chocolate. The kid from the team had walked me through the process. Laurel and Bobby’s boyfriend had a table set up with food for sale, giving me one less thing to deal with. Drinks, warm or cold,thatI could handle.
