Page 4 of Baby By my Best Friend's Daddy

Celine shook her head. “Doubt it. It doesn’t sound like my kind of place. If it has someone’s name in it, it’s below my pay grade.”

“Well, excuse me,” I said with a giggle.

“So, you’re a bartender?” she asked.

I shook my head. “A nurse. The bartender job was just to get me through college.”

Celine tilted her head. “Huh.” I had a feeling the concept ofworkingfor money was foreign to her. “I’m going to the bar. Join me.”

I nodded. I couldn’t figure her out—she was a bitch, cheeky, and full of shit. But I liked her. I had no idea why, but we could have a couple of drinks together. That worked for me.

“Where’s your date?” I asked when we ordered wine at the bar.

Celine rolled her eyes. “Clement had to leave and go back to work.”

“On a Saturday night?”

“Don’t ask me why or what for because I’ll be a total bitch about it, and my dad will skin me alive for talking behind his back. He wants us together.”

“And you don’t?”

She shook her head and sipped her wine. “He’s the wrong guy.”

“Ah,” I said. “I know what that can be like.”

“I knew I liked you,” Celine said and lifted her glass to clink it against mine. Just like that, I had an unlikely—albeit snarky—new friend.

The night passed in a blur. We drank wine. We talked to the different people who came to the bar. Celine decided I was her ward and introduced me to everyone. The more I drank and the longer we spent together, the more I liked her, and the more I felt like I fit in.

Brad came to talk to us for a while. So did Landon. We had a chance to speak to the bride and groom and tell them how wonderful they looked before they disappeared again.

By midnight most of the guests had left. But the Cavaliers were all together, drinking at the bar, talking loudly, making bets on something.

Celine had already left with her parents, and I sat alone, waiting for Brad to finish up so we could go too.

When he came to me, his cheeks were bright red, and his eyes were bright—a sign he’d had more than enough to drink.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded. “Drunk.” I giggled. “And tired. Are you ready to go?”

Brad shook his head. “Actually, the guys want to go to the club after this.”

“This late?” I asked.

“It’s not every day one of us gets married,” Brad said. “They want to celebrate at the Cavaliers HQ the way we always do. Are you cool with that?”

“Sure,” I said. “You don’t have to ask me for permission.”

“Oh, no, I meant getting home some other way,” he said.

I hadn’t thought about that.

“Oh, I—”

“I’ll make sure she gets home safe,” Landon said, coming up behind Brad.

“Yeah?” Brad asked. “Aren’t you coming with us?”

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