Game Changer by Kelly Jamieson Page 0,32

Harrison join us at that moment.

“Who has ovaries?” Harrison asks. “Jax?”

We all grin.

“Molly. We were talking about Molly and Steve Shevchuk,” Everly informs him.

“Ugh.” Asher shakes his head as he pulls out a chair. “What a douche.”

“Are you close friends with him?” Everly asks me.

“Eh. Not super close.” I sit back so the waitress can set my drink in front of me. She takes orders from Asher and Harrison as well.

“Did you know he was cheating on her?” Everly pierces me with her stare.

“No. Definitely not.” I shake my head. “I was as surprised as everyone else at the wedding.”

“It must have caused quite a scene.”

“Oh yeah.”

“And you were her knight in shining armor, riding in to swoop her up and rescue her.”

“Ha ha. Funny.”

Everly grins. “She said that, the other night at the party. Hey, where’s Riley? I need another woman here.”

I frown. Since when has Everly ever wanted Riley around? Those two have never really gotten along.

As if she summoned her, Riley and Noah walk in together. I rise to give my little sister a hug.

I wait until we all have drinks and have ordered dinner, and then look around at the table. “Okay. Fill me in on what’s going on with Grandpa. And Chelsea.”

10

Molly

I never mind having dinner and drinks alone when I’m in a different city. I have my phone to keep my company, but I like people watching and making new friends. I sit at the bar and the bartender is very helpful in picking out a cocktail to have.

“Are you here for the conference?” he asks me as he slides a drink with gin, honey and lemonade over to me.

“No. Just a little vacation.” I smile and take a sip of the drink. “Oh, this is good! Thanks for the suggestion.”

“No problem. Would you like a food menu?”

“Yes, please.”

The place is filling up and soon every seat the bar is occupied. I exchange a polite smile with the man on the stool next to me. He’s probably about forty, wearing a suit but no tie.

“What’s that you’re drinking?” he asks.

I show him the cocktail on the menu. “It’s really good.”

“I’ll try it.” He orders one also. “Here for the convention?”

I repress my smile. “No. Just vacation. How about you?”

“Yeah, I presented today.”

“Oh, awesome. What was your presentation about?”

“Domain-driven design for modern architectures.”

I blink. “Oh. Cool. I have no idea what that means.”

He laughs. “That’s okay. What do you do for a living?”

“I teach third grade.”

“Fun. Maybe?”

“It is. I love kids, and I love teaching.”

“Do you have any of your own?”

“No. I almost got married…a while back.” Okay, four days ago. “But it didn’t work out.”

“Ah. Sorry to hear that.”

We chat back and forth about the resort and the weather. I learn his name is Ben and he’s a software developer and architect, apparently an expert in domain-driven design, whatever that is. He’s being a little flirty, and I’m not looking for anything more than casual conversation, but it’s fun.

“Ben.”

A woman’s voice speaks behind us. We both turn to see her standing there. She’s about his age, wearing a suit also, and she’s looking at me like I just tried to steal her purse.

“Oh, hi,” he says. “Done already?”

“Yes.” Her tone is frosty, her eyes ice blue and narrowed at me.

“Let me just settle up for this drink.”

I want to tell the woman I’m not interested in her husband or boyfriend or whatever he is to her, that I wasn’t the one flirting, but that probably wouldn’t be helpful so I just give her a friendly smile and turn away from her to check my phone.

Why are men such douchewaffles? It’s not that I was really interested in him, but he sure as hell wasn’t acting like he was married.

“Enjoy your vacation,” he says, his tone completely different as he slides off the stool.

Asshole. “Thanks.”

I sigh as they depart. Another man takes the stool right away, smiling at me. I scrunch my face into a phony smile then focus on my phone.

I order a salad and scroll through social media, keeping my head down as I eat to discourage any chatter. I have one more drink, then I pay the bill and go outside for a walk, which is getting to be a routine while here. Except tonight I’m alone.

I really don’t mind being alone, and I totally didn’t want to go with Jax to have dinner with his family. They have a lot to talk about. I hope it goes well. Everly was a