be friendly. “Hi, Ash-hole.”
Oops.
He chugged his glass of water and continued to glare. Did he do this at work, too, while I took calls and typed? That would be pretty fucked up.
“You guys know each other?” Sean asked. Candace cleared her throat and tried to send me nonverbal questions through weird, obvious facial expressions and hand gestures, like, Who the heck is he? and Why the hell are you acting so weird right now? Like she had any room to judge me, with her strange lookie-loo stares at Dr. Zachary.
I let Asher be the one to answer Sean’s question while I chugged my wine. “Yeah, we work together. She even sits in my office.” He added, “I was late to dinner because she assigned a production deliverable today that required lots of overtime hours for our team. But I see she made it here on time.”
Jane squealed, “Wait, is Melody your BOSS?” She clasped her hands together in delight, like I’d given her this intense awkwardness as an engagement present.
Candace, who had no context about this work relationship but could tell the Melody-Asher dynamics were off, gasped and cringed behind her napkin. Even she knew not to say something like that. Why, Jane? Why?
“He and I share an office, and we’re on the same team,” I grumbled.
Sean responded with a single laugh. “You go by ‘Ash-hole’ now? You should go by ‘Hash,’ like we called you at school, bro.” Asher’s icy glare morphed into an exasperated eye roll. So he was a pothead back in college. No surprise there.
“Hey, Melody, did you see your boy toy intern outside?” Asher shot over a sardonic smile. “I’m sad to report that he’s moved on to another girl. A really hot one, too.”
Jane asked, “You have a boy toy intern?”
Asher added, “Yep. The CEO’s nephew, too—does she know how to pick ’em or what? But he’s heading out with a hottie tonight. Lucky guy.”
I coughed out my wine. “There’s no boy toy. Everyone, please ignore him.”
“Who’s hungry?” Zachary snapped open the menu. But between Asher being here, Nolan being on a date, and this weird Candace-Zachary tension hanging in the air, my appetite was nonexistent. On top of that, my heart beat so fast it was on the verge of exploding with any more stimulation.
Candace leaned over and said to me, “Mel, I need to tell you something later. After dinner.”
“Yeah, you have some explaining to do,” I said in a clipped tone. Focusing on the menu was difficult, with Ash-hole’s critical eyes watching my every move while he chewed dinner rolls with his mouth open. This was way too much Asher for one day.
The table chattered about appetizer options and the waiter came by with champagne. He poured generously and we all held up our glasses of bubbly to toast the soon-to-be married couple.
Jane smiled at us and then at her fiancé. “To marriage!”
Ah. Short and sweet.
We all clinked glasses (even Asher and I did) and I downed it all without taking a breath. Refill, please.
Jane asked, “Candace? Don’t you like champagne?”
Candace’s eyes widened like she’d just been caught reading a nudie magazine by her grandma. Candace loved champagne. “I . . . I . . . can’t have any.” She watched Jane with the fearful eyes of hunted prey.
Then it clicked. But Jane’s brain processed things more quickly than mine.
“You’re PREGNANT?” she screeched.
Candace squeaked, “Yes?” She glanced at me and then looked at Jane again.
A waiter walked by with a steaming, heaping bowl of seafood spaghetti alfredo. “Our house specialty!”
Candace yelped, “Oh god, I think I’m going to be sick!”
She bolted to the bathroom and I excused myself from the table to go look after her. Jane remained in the same motionless position, her color drained from her face, with her full champagne flute in her hand. She looked like someone had frozen her into a toasting pose. This night had been carefully planned and then . . . surprise! Candace dropped a bomb. A baby bomb. This had left Jane literally speechless, which I’d never seen before.
I swung open the bathroom door and found Candace standing over the sink, with both hands clenching the rim. A slightly green hue colored her face.
“Sorry, wave of nausea. I just found out about the baby and wanted to tell you. There’s already a heartbeat! I didn’t plan to announce it here publicly.” She entered a stall and, leaving the door open, dry heaved and slumped down next to the toilet. Thank god the