He nodded and tried to swallow and inhale at the same time, which went about as well as expected. While he choked andthen hocked up a lung into the nearest napkin, Ginny rested her head on his heaving, trembling shoulder, the coconut scent of her shampoo filling his nose as his eyes watered.
“We’re in love.”
Deandra’s mouth fell open. But Mr. Martin rolled his eyes. “This is old news.”
Shepherd downed the rest of his water.
Ginny rubbed his back, her fingers tracing his spine, not that he was distracted by it, or even noticed. “How do you mean? We only started dating recently.”
“Oh, dating?” Mr. Martin said. “I thought you said in love. That’s old news. Max and Chris have told me all about it. There’s a pool going. I was off by a week,apparently.” He glared at Shepherd, though why it was Shepherd’s fault his landlord lost a clearly illegal bet about when he’d start dating his employee, he didn’t know.
Noah delivered two more cooladas and two refills of water to the table. “You doing OK, Boss?”
Nope. Not at all. Terrible. Awful. It was a shame the bite of pizza he choked on didn’t finish the job and kill him. Shepherd offered him a thumbs-up.
“Well, you all enjoy,” Noah said. “Yell if you need anything. We shouldn’t get busy again until closer to dinner, so enjoy your break, you two lovebirds.” He grinned. “And you too, Boss and Ginny.” He laughed at his dumb joke and went back to tend bar.
Shepherd glared after him. His only friend. Except for Ginny. But she was new and she was pretty and she’d leave, eventually. She wouldn’t stick around. She was too good for this punny restaurant. Too good for him.
“Anyway!” Ginny took his hand in hers until they were palm to palm, threading their fingers together. “Mom, Shepherd is my boyfriend. My serious boyfriend, who owns a successful business. As you can see.”
Deandra’s ice-blue eyes narrowed. “I see,” she said. “And you’re aware of this … relationship, Michael?”
Mr. Martin sipped his second drink of the afternoon. “Very.”
Shepherd glared at the black-and-white checkered floor. Itstill needed a good mopping; the spilled beer was still there somewhere, probably growing a new life form.
How dare the sinkhole still not arrive? He wanted to be dead, damn it! There was no way this could get any worse. This had to be the most mortifying meal of his entire life.
But then the bell above the door jingled, announcing the local locksmith and his wife as they walked inside, two kids trailing behind them.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Shepherd said.
FOUR
Of course.
Everything was out to get him, all at once. Why not throw his ex-wife and his daughter into the mix right now? Why not throw the ex-best friend who had knocked up his wife into the group? Why not throw in the son that wasn’t Shepherd’s—and thank God for that, because that boy was Strange with a capital S—into the drink? Mix it around. Toss it all about.
“Hey, Lex!” Noah shouted from the bar. “I didn’t know you were gonna be here! Karaoke night, all right! Shepherd!”
Shepherd closed his eyes. His right eyebrow twitched.
“Shepherd! Shepherd! Shepherd!”
“What, Noah?”
Noah flashed him a sheepish smile. “Your daughter is here.”
“I see that, Noah. Thank yousomuch.”
“You have children?” Deandra asked.
Shepherd nodded. “A daughter. Let me go see what’s up. I’m not supposed to get her until Saturday.”
“Hurry back, um, dear,” Ginny said, totally naturally.
He nodded again. He was nodding a lot. His neck was starting to hurt.
