Page 6 of Lost in You (Flirting with Forever 1)

“Pretty fun, I’d say.” Quinn slides off the stool and grasps at the bar top as her legs decide whether they want to hold her up or not.

Heath tries to cover his smile with a cough. “You need a ride, Q?”

“Yeah,” she giggles. “Your brother makes a mean margarita.”

I shrug at him, my eyes comically wide for effect. “Same damn margarita I always make.” I chuckle, shaking my head. “They seem to have hit a few of these ladies just right.”

“How about you, Madison?” Heath helps Sophia into her coat, and then does the same for Quinn. “You need a ride home? The chauffeur is about to leave.”

I glance at Madison, who seems to still be off in another world. “I think she’s staying for a bit.”

Madison finally looks up, startled to find everyone leaving. “Oh. Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just going to have some more water, then I

’ll walk home. I don’t live far from here.”

I shake my head. “You won’t be walking. Too cold.” I glance at Heath, Sophia, and Quinn, who are looking at me curiously. I wave them on their way. “I can get her home. Don’t worry about it.”

I don’t know what they’re thinking. No, wait, that’s a lie. I do know what they are thinking from the looks on their faces, but one hello doesn’t mean jack. Helping someone home doesn’t mean much more.

“Madison, are you good with that?” Quinn calls to her from the doorway.

She swivels on her stool to wave at them. “Yeah, I’m fine. See you guys at school.”

“Okay. Time to head out, then.” Heath corrals the two women and Ava in front of him, and they exit to the steadily dropping temperatures outside. “Shawn, I’ll be by tomorrow for a drink. See you at school, Madison.”

Madison gives them a small smile. “Bye, guys.”

Sophia punches her fist into the air on the way out, glancing over her shoulder at us. Her words drift to me as she whisper-shouts, “My work here is done!”

Great. The matchmaker still thinks she’s on the job.

As the door shuts, I go back to cleaning up, preparing the bar for the next shift. The door opens again, bringing Lenore in, the bartender who will be working the rest of the evening, and I give her a wave and a nod as she heads for the office. She’ll be out in a few minutes, and then I’ll be able to get Madison home.

I pat the bar in front of Madison and push another glass of water across to her. “You okay there?”

“Hmm?” She glances around. “Oh. Yeah, sorry.”

“You’ve been thinking hard about something.” I rest my hands on the top of the bar, trying to accurately assess just how tipsy she is. I don’t think she’s that bad off. It seems more that she’s become really preoccupied by whatever she’s worrying over. And it is some sort of worry. I can see the complex emotions on her face, wave after wave of them.

She takes a long drink of the water, her throat working to swallow as I watch her. She then props her elbow on the bar, holding her head up with her hand. “Yeah. I tend to think too much when I drink.”

“I noticed.”

She purses her lips.

“What’s on your mind, Madison? This is what I’m supposed to do, right? Bartender as therapist?”

She giggle-snorts and takes another drink of water. Her eyes wander around the bar area, which is completely empty, before landing on me again. She still doesn’t say anything.

She’s not the first person I’ve waited out before they spill their guts to me—and spill, they all eventually do. I pick up a wine glass from the rack of clean ones that I just washed and dry it while I wait for her. I have several dried and put away before she opens her mouth again.

“It’s this wedding I’m supposed to go to this weekend. It’s a family deal and probably, like, the eighty-five thousandth since I broke up with Chase.” She rolls her eyes comedically and presses her bow-shaped lips together.

Her exaggeration has me stifling laughter. So fucking funny. At the same time, though, I understand what she’s saying. Being single sucks, especially at weddings.

She lifts the glass of water to her plump lips again, and I watch as she takes a sip. Oh, man. I’m unable to control my gaze—it follows every last thing she does with that mouth of hers, like it has me in a trance.

Continuing on, oblivious to my growing discomfort, she rambles, “I know in the grand scheme of things Chase and I didn’t date all that long, just for a while after college, but it was nice to have him around because I always had someone to go to events with. And here I am, years after we are no longer together, still unattached, attending yet another family wedding alone. This is how you get stuck at the kiddie table, you know? It sucks. It really sucks.” Her teeth trap her lower lip, and she slowly rakes the upper ones over it. I’m completely fucking mesmerized.

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