Some time later, as my night was ending, I had the crazy idea of going into The Yard for a nightcap. Even after a couple of hours, I was still thinking about Miss Audra King in that dress. I hadn’t ventured into a bar in a long time, and I wasn’t even sure if she was still there. But what if she was? Truth be told, she had been living in my head since the flower shop, and I was dying to know if that feeling I had after seeing her was a fluke because it had felt so foreign. I was about three minutes from leaving when I saw that dress walk out the front door of the bar from the corner of my eye. This time, it was with a man.Maybe she was on a date, I thought. A jealous feeling pulsed through me as I watched from my window perch. It was so unfamiliar because I had never, and I mean ever, felt jealousy over a woman before. And with this one, I certainly had no right to feel anything like that, but nonetheless, I wasn’t happy. I couldn’t hear anything, but I could see the shameless flirting from miles away. When this guy went in to kiss her, she let him. At first, I couldn’t pull my eyes away, but a different movement grabbed my attention. I wasn’t the only person watching this show. Some guy was standing behind a car that was parked a couple of cars down, and I read his body language immediately. He was seething, glaring at the two of themwith his fists balled at his sides. It was odd, but I was well aware that my watching everything from the second floor was quite odd, too.
I wondered how many people Audra left in her wake. How many people could one woman charm? Because she sure as shit charmed me.
That’s enough stalking, I said to myself, and started to walk away. But more commotion outside brought my attention back to the situation. A twin had come out and started talking to the pair. I’m not sure if it was Bennett or Murphy, but he put a stop to anything going further. Now it was Audra who glared at him, incensed. Jesus, if I was so invested in this shit show, I should just head down for a front-row seat. Things looked tense for a second, and I thought the two men were going to throw punches, but the guy ended up getting in the car solo, leaving Audra and the twin behind. The tension between them dissipated after a couple of exchanges, and by the time they were heading back in, they were laughing. God, I was curious as hell right now. Looking at my watch, I realized there was still an hour left until the bar closed; maybe I would go for that nightcap after all. Call it nosiness, loneliness, or a moment of weakness, I hurried to shut everything down and head out the door.
Standing outside for a moment, I gathered myself. It really had been a long time since I’d walked into a bar like this. It’s not that I was socially awkward or shy; I just found it difficult to put myself into situations where I wasn’t crystal clear about the intentions of the people I was meeting or talking to. But I were being completely honest, maybe there was a speck of social anxiety that had taken root in the last few years. But tonight, it was just Audra, and maybe the twin, that I cared to see. And this wasn’t New York. People didn’t know me in the same capacity here.This is not a big deal; this is not difficult.You used to do this seven nights a week.I gave myself an internal pep talk.
I was dying to know if there was still a flirty spark between us, even after she was making out with that other guy. Maybe she was the female version of Murphy and Bennett, whom I’d heard so much about. Their friend, Jules, enjoyed the company of many suitors too, but if Maeve had been so forthcoming with all their escapades, I’m sure I would have heard about Audra. But I hadn’t.
When I got inside, I was drawn to her immediately. She was sitting at the bar with one twin and she was double fisting a water and a cocktail as I walked over.
“Donovan!” She gasped and stood when she saw me. “What are you doing here? Donovan, this is Bennett, Bennett, Donovan. This is Maeve’s boss,” she introduced us.
“Donovan Wright, great to meet you,” I extended my hand to Bennett. “My office is across the street, and I’ve been eying this place. It’s my first time checking it out, and it’s fantastic. I just left work and wanted to see if the band had anything left.”
“I wish,” Audra said with glassy eyes, clearly buzzed, “they were fantastic!”
“You thought something was fantastic,” Bennett replied, clearly ribbing her about whatever happened with that other guy as he playfully elbowed her.
“Oh, stop it,” she hit him back in the chest, and then looked at her watch when she realized what time it was. “Wait, Donovan, it’s midnight. Why are you still working?”
“I’m full throttle into my project, so there’s been more than a couple of late nights,” I responded.And no reason to rush home, I silently added to the thought.
“Feel free to stop by after those late nights. My brother, Murphy, or I are usually around here or Flyers. What are youdrinking?” He waved the bartender over, who wasted no time giving me the kind of look that told me exactly what her intention with me was. I didn’t hook up with strangers, but as strangers go, she wasn’t bad-looking. The woman sitting next to me was exponentially more beautiful, though.
“Weller. Neat, please.”
“I can’t imagine what it’s like working with Maeve. You have to be on your toes 24/7 with that one, but she has good things to say about you, man, so you must be keeping up,” Bennett said, tipping his beer up.
I chuckled, “Good to hear I’m in Maeve’s good graces. She’s great at what she does, quite overqualified, actually, and we work well together. You should give Tucker those accolades, though, not me.”
Both Audra and Bennett laughed at that. “You’re not wrong there. Hey, I have to wrap up a couple of things in the office,” Bennett said, standing up and gesturing for me to grab the seat he was just in. “You good, Audra?”
“I’m good, thank you,” she replied, and as he took a couple of steps, she shouted, “And thanks for the save, B.”
“Lose his number,” he said over his shoulder as he walked away.
“Losing a number, eh?” I wanted to see how much I could get out of her about it, because, truth be told, I was way more invested than I should have been.
The slightest bit of red traveled up her neck. “Yeah, I almost made a bad decision tonight by going home with someone. I don’t do that often or anything, but you know how it is,” she shrugged. “But apparently, this guy is horrible in bed, at least that’s what Bennett heard, and he knows everything. So, I’m glad I didn’t actually make it into the car with him. Would have been a waste. And holy shit”—she put her hands on hercheeks—“I’m not sure why I’m disclosing all of this to Maeve’s boss, so can we just pretend you didn’t hear any part of what I just said? And if you did, please blame it on alcohol. I’m so sorry.” The hands on her cheeks moved to cover her entire face as she went from a slight blush to tomato red. Well, that explained the entire shit show.
I glossed right over it. “Well, I’m glad things worked out the way they did. Maybe I wouldn’t have seen you if you were off making bad decisions. You can just call me Donovan, though, not Maeve’s boss.” I smiled at her. “Have you seen that band before?”
“It was my first time seeing them, and they were great! I’m glad I came. I can’t believe you’ve never been here. It’s literally across the street.” The words rushed out. I think she would have talked about anything at that moment to get the attention off her previous admission.
“Yeah, I know. Moving forward, I’m hoping to get out a little more.” I wanted to brush over my weirdness as much as she wanted to brush over her encounter with the other guy. “How was dinner tonight? I was hoping to get a glimpse of a certain tablescape photo.” I waggled my eyebrows at her.
The comment made her giggle, and in turn, I smiled like a fool at the sweet sound. “Argh, would you believe my family had to cancel on me? Now I’m left with a ton of food. I talked to Maeve and was going to bring it to the office before my shift. Is that cool?”
“Oh man, I’m sorry to hear that. It sounded like a lot went into it to just have it canceled. And, of course, that’s cool. Does anyone ever say no to home-cooked food? Wait. You’re not like a horrible cook or anything, are you?”
She laughed, and this light, uninhibited, authentic laugh was the one that always piqued my attention when I heard it inthe office. But toseeher head tilted to the sky in this palpable joy made it impossible to take my eyes off her.
“I’m not the best in the bunch, but I can hang. I was a little disappointed because after my twenty-four-hour marinade, the meat grilled up perfectly.”
“You grilled?” I asked in a surprised tone.
“Um, of course I did. You have to grill fajitas; there’s just no other acceptable way. Well, I don’t have a flat top yet, but that would be acceptable, too.”
