Page 24 of Buried Treasure
Andy quickly turned, startled by the new guest sitting next to him. But once he recognized it was Sydney, he gave her a tight nervous smile and looked down at his drink.
"We have a waitress if you want something fancy, or there's some extra glasses by the pitcher of beer there," he told her.
"Waitress will take too long."
Sydney reached for the glasses and poured herself a beer, making sure she got as little foam as possible. Then she drank — and drank. She was never one to chug beer but after that encounter with Bob's drunk friend, she needed something to just dull the pain a bit.
"Bad night?" Andy asked quietly before taking a sip from his own glass.
"Yeah. You?"
"You could say that," he said bitterly. Then he raised his glass to her and gave her an awkward smile. "To the losers hiding in the corner."
"To the corner," she replied, clinking her glass against his.
Despite the noise from the bar around them, Sydney and Andy sat there silently, drinking their beer while watching the crowd mill around. Sydney noticed a few people look at her, give her a scowl, and then quickly look away. She knew exactly what they were thinking.
"So I guess you're hiding from the guys who recognized you from the news?"
Sydney turned to see Andy looking intently at her. "Yeah."
"I saw that guy talking to you earlier," he said. "I'm assuming that's why you hightailed it over here."
"It helped that there was an open spot near you," she said. "Plus, I've never seen you be an ass to anyone before so I figured this was safe territory." She gave him an exaggerated smile to emphasize her point before taking another swig of beer. "So what brings you to this corner instead of hanging out with the boys?"
Andy nodded glumly towards the group in front of them. "Her."
Sydney turned to see some of the Pirates talking to several woman on the other side of the small space.
"There's a lot of hers. Any her in particular?"
He squinted towards the group. "The blonde in the cropped red sweater and tight black pants wearing the silver Tiffany's bracelet that I bought her for our six-month anniversary."
"Well, that's pretty specific," she replied.
Sure enough, there was a woman matching that exact description sitting 20 feet away from them, leaning against a man Sydney recognized as the Pirates' backup goalie Dylan Smith with his arm casually draped over the woman's shoulders.
"So ex-girlfriend, I assume."
"You would assume correctly."
"Didn't end well?"
Andy stared down into the glass in his hands. "I guess you could say being a member of the Pirates' staff has had a bit of a negative effect on my love life."
"How so?"
He shrugged. "I'm a member of the staff."
"So?" she asked. "You have access to free hockey tickets! That sounds like the kind of man a woman in this town would be interested in."
Andy scoffed, his eyes still firmly on his beer. "They're not interested in the staff. Dating a member of the staff is just a stepping stone to dating a player." He finally looked at her, giving her a bitter smile. "You look a little stunned by this revelation."
She hadn't realized she was staring in shock at this new information.
"How many times has this happened to you?"
"Twice. Luckily, my other ex dumped me for a player who was traded away from the team two years ago. So at least I have that going for me," he said. "Refill?"
