The Lying Season (Seasons #1) - K.A. Linde Page 0,20

his fist. “We’re all going out for drinks. Come on. You can walk with me.”

“Oh no, I’m beat. I just need to sleep before work tomorrow.”

He threw his hands out. “I gave everyone the day off. I wanted to celebrate our accomplishment while we have the time. Once we get to the primary, we’ll have few days off. Helps to keep morale up.”

I opened and then closed my mouth. “Oh.”

“So, no excuses!” he cheered. “Be a team player and come have a beer.”

I didn’t even like beer.

But what the hell was I going to say?

“All right. Sure,” I said with a nod, trying to search for that smile again. “One drink won’t hurt anything.”

“That’s the spirit!”

We headed out of the building and down the street to a dingy-looking Irish pub with Guinness signs all over the windows. The room was dimly lit with a long bar on one side, a row of booths on the other, and billiards set up in one corner. We easily spotted the campaign group, considering we were the only ones in evening dress attire in this dive bar.

It was about night and day from Sparks earlier this week. But it had its own charm. Something I never would have been able to acknowledge before working that year in Madison. You couldn’t walk a foot without hitting a bar in Wisconsin. It was the only state in that country that I was certain had more bars than people. You could even drink in the union on campus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I’d grown up drinking, but Wisconsin was something else entirely.

“What do you drink?” Shawn asked. “I’ll grab the first round.”

“Um…I’ll just have whatever you’re having.”

I was certain there wasn’t a good wine in the entire establishment. And I didn’t want liquor. It’d be easier to just pretend to drink the beer. I could probably pass it off to Aspen without Shawn even noticing.

I headed to the row of tables the campaign had commandeered. There were two empty seats next to Aspen and Demi, and I took the first one.

“You decided to come out!” Demi said.

“Shawn,” I said by means of explanation.

“Oh yeah, he gave us the day off.”

Aspen laughed. “What are you going to do with yourself, Lark? I didn’t think you took days off.”

I shrugged. “I was thinking of sleeping all day and eating a lot of junk food.”

“No way. You’ll come into the office anyway. Even if no one is there,” Aspen said, nudging my shoulder. “It’s who you are.”

She wasn’t wrong. I’d done it before. But with everything that had gone on with Sam, I felt like I needed a mental break. Work had always been my escape. The thing I loved so much. But now, he was there. At work. And when I went there, I thought of him. I needed a day off from that.

“Maybe,” I said with a shrug.

A shadow fell behind me. “Oh, I guess I’ll pull up an extra chair.”

I turned around in confusion. I hadn’t thought for a second why there were two open chairs at the end of the table. I figured that they’d held one for Shawn or maybe just that they had more than they needed. I hadn’t realized I’d taken someone else’s seat.

“Hey, sorry,” I said, standing. “Did I take your seat?”

I turned to face the girl who had spoken. She was dragging an extra chair over. And when I caught sight of her, my breath hitched. She was the blonde from the orchestra. The violinist who had been seated at the very back of the group. Her hair had been pulled back into a bun at the time, but now, it hung in loose waves to her shoulders. I couldn’t even get that look with a curling iron. And she’d managed it by pulling it out of a bun. She still wore the nondescript black dress pants and a fitted, long-sleeved black blouse. Somehow, it didn’t look stupid.

“Oh, no worries!” the girl gushed. “I can just grab another.” She stuffed a chair at the end of the table between me and Aspen. “See, this works for me.” She held out her hand. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Claire, Sam’s girlfriend.”

I took her callous hand in mine and shook. “Lark.”

“Ohh!” Her eyes widened.

For a moment, I worried that she knew. That Sam had confessed it all to Claire and that things were about to get really awkward.

But then she just grinned bigger. “Sam has told me so much about you.