Page 14 of Coulda

“That’s not the same. Where’s everyone?” she asked.

“They’ll be here soon. Have you been home to talk to your parents?” Harper asked with a strange sideways glance that put Amber on alert.

“I was running late. Dad’s here, right? I want to ask him for a strawberry daiquiri. It still kills him to serve me alcohol. Somehow, they’ve missed me turning thirty-eight.”

“I know. My folks still think I’m twelve,” Harper shared.

Amber looked over Harper’s appearance, noting her cute sundress, sandals, makeup. “Do you think I look okay? I figured rumpled jeans are a fashion statement, but you look amazing. Did I miss dress-up requirements in the schedule of events? I know, I’ll put on my vamp shoes. They’re in the back.”

“You look gorgeous in everything,” Harper assured her as Amber rustled through the trunk.

Silence stretched between them as Amber spiffed up her outfit with the killer stilettos until Harper blurted, “There’s something you should know before you go inside. Want to call your folks and tell them you’re here?”

“You tell me,” Amber ordered in her stern—don’t mess with me—nurse voice.

“Well… Let’s go inside and get that daiquiri first.”

“What in the world’s going on? Are you okay?” When Harper nodded her head, Amber checked, “Is everyone else okay?”

“Everyone is great. In fine form,” Harper rushed to assure her as she guided Amber into the bar.

“Wow! I hope everyone has a nametag. I don’t recognize anyone. They all got old,” Amber whispered to Harper as she looked around.

Checking for her dad at the crowded bar, Amber froze and clenched Harper’s fingers as her eyes locked on a handsome figure behind the bar.

“I think I’m hallucinating.”

As Harper leaned in to whisper something in her ear, the bartender looked up. Rio. It was him. His hair was silvery black under the bar lighting.

“Rio?” she whispered to no one in particular.

She recognized her name on his lips in response as he spotted her. In a familiar surge of muscles and pure masculine power, Rio braced his hands on top of the bar and vaulted over it in a display of strength and grace that drew everyone’s attention. As he stalked forward, their gazes locked together.

“Amber,” Rio exclaimed, running his hands down her arms as if he needed to touch her to reassure himself she was real.

He studied her face before glancing at her bare left hand. “I am so glad to see you.”

“What are you doing here, Rio? Are you back working behind the bar?” she questioned.

Rio laughed and nodded ruefully. “I enjoy working behind that bar. It feels good—familiar. And you’re here.”

“I just accepted a job at the hospital,” Amber blurted, then looked around for Harper. She hadn’t told anyone yet. Amber had saved the news for a surprise.

“Congratulations.” He studied her face before adding, “Your folks didn’t tell you, did they?”

“What? Are they okay? Is that why you’re here?”

“I think they’re probably better than we are. Your dad told me they were going on a ten-day cruise through the Mediterranean Sea.”

“They never leave the bar for the weekend,” Amber said in shock.

“Now they can. Go talk to your friends. Then, come see me,” Rio directed with a steely tone in his voice.

“You won’t disappear?” she challenged.

“I won’t.”

Amber paused to watch him walk away. Could he have gotten hotter? When her friend cleared her throat, Amber shook off the fog surrounding her.

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