my pressing Haunted Mansion question.
Toward the back of the restaurant, there was a bar filled with elegant couples and postwork happy hour meetups. On the last stool in the row sat none other than Nolan, looking at his phone with one hand while sipping a beer with his other. He looked comfortable there, with his thick brown curly hair slightly damp from the rain falling forward into his eyes. I debated whether to say hello. It was always strange to see work people out in the real world in their natural habitat. But when Nolan laughed at something he read on his phone, something inside me urged me to walk over to him.
As I took a hesitant step toward the bar, a swish of fresh blown-out golden hair swung right past me.
Nolan looked up from his phone, offering her a warm and inviting smile that I’d never seen before. With both hands, she swooshed her golden locks back over her shoulders and went in for a hug right away. He hesitated at first, but then reciprocated. Who wouldn’t? I didn’t need to see her face to know she was smoking hot.
After the embrace, she patted his shoulders. A ripple of jealousy pulsed through me as her hands traveled down to his chest, then down, down, down . . .
“Did you want to stop for a drink?” the hostess asked, breaking my trance-stare at the bar. “I can wait here if you’d like.”
“Oh, no, thank you. I . . . I was going to say hi to someone but he’s busy.” I placed my cold hands on my cheeks to cool them down as we continued walking.
“Here you are, ma’am.” She gestured toward a tiny private dining room lined with walls of wines. I breathed in deeply, then put on a cheery smile and entered.
Sean, Jane’s fiancé, gave me a little nod to acknowledge my arrival. He gestured for me to join his conversation with a dark-haired guy with a serious look on his face.
“Hi. I’m Zachary. Sean’s friend from the hospital.” His stoic demeanor didn’t change, even though I smiled widely. We shook hands.
I took a glass of white wine from the server walking by with a tray of them. “So are you a doctor, too?”
Still, the grave face. “Yes, I’m in OB-GYN. Sean and I go blow off steam after long shifts at work at the pool hall.” It was hard to imagine anything riling this animatron up enough for him to need “blowing off steam.”
Candace flurried through the double doors, peeling off her damp coat and shaking out her umbrella on the carpet. “Sorry I’m late,” she said.
Sean brought her over. As soon as Candace saw Sean’s doctor friend, her hand flew up to cover her open mouth. She gasped instead of saying a customary hello.
“Do you two know each other?” Sean asked. I looked at Candace, then back to Animatron. Maybe he did her pap smears?
Jane stood by the doors and clinked her wineglass with a spoon before Candace could answer. “Please take a seat, everyone.”
The bride-to-be saved a spot for me by her side, a reserved seat for the maid of honor. Quite literally, I was Jane’s right-hand woman.
We all sat. I sipped water to replenish all the fluid ounces of sweat I’d lost from walking up that hill. Candace whispered to me behind her menu. “I have to tell you something.” She used the prix fixe insert to fan away the heat rushing to her ruddy face. It was impossible not to notice Dr. Zachary watching her from across the table, in tune to her every move, slightly more animated with his anxious glimpses over at her. When their eyes met, her gaze quickly shifted to her menu.
Was Candace cheating on her longtime boyfriend?
My pulse quickened at the thought as a familiar voice boomed into the room. “Sorry I’m late. Work was a fucking pain in the ass.” I briefly suspended my Zachary-Candace surveillance detail to look up.
Asher stood in the doorway.
His eyes darkened the instant he saw me.
My eyes widened as his narrowed to slits.
Oh god, no.
Sean stood up. “You made it! Everyone, this is Asher, my best man. So good to see you!” He stood up and gave his frat brother a bro hug that ended with a two-man hair tousle. Asher found his seat next to Zachary and continued to shoot over little blasts of hateful stares. I couldn’t believe that directly across the table was Satan himself.
I grimaced but tried to