“Well,” she waves a hand, already recovering, “drinks are on me tonight. Least I can do.”
“You really don’t have to, Mrs. Keller—”
“You can still call me Karin, sweety.”
Ryan lets out a quiet breath. “Right. Well, thank you, Karin.”
She looks between us expectantly. “What can I get you two?”
I jump in, still a little surprised as to how good that worked. “Uhm, two beers for Noah and my dad, please.”
Ryan nods. “Two wines for Liam and Mel.”
“Kiara wants something colourful,” I add.
Mrs. Keller—or Karin scribbles it down while the other woman starts lining up cups. “And for you two lovebirds?”
“Beer for me.” Ryan’s eyes flick to mine. “What’re you having,babe?”
I blink once and then recover fast. “Cocktail, please.”
“Good choice,” Karin says.
Ryan grins at her. “Just don’t put too much alcohol in it. Things tend to go… wrong.”
I snap my head toward him and I see a small smirk on his face like he knows he is messing with me.
“Oh, yeah,” I say sweetly, fake glare fully activated. “Don’t I handle my drinkssowell?” I smack his arm, hard. He jolts his arm, but tries to recover with a fake smile.
A minute later, the drinks are lined up across the counter. Ryan grabs most of them, balancing cups in both hands. Karin slides my cocktail over with a wink. “You two have fun tonight.”
“Always do,” Ryan says easily.
We turn back toward the fire, music and voices swelling louder the farther we get. The second we’re clear of the stand, I lean toward him. “I am not that bad when I’m drunk.”
Ryan laughs, adjusting his grip on the drinks. “I know, it’s just that your reaction was absolutely hilarious.”
I shake my head, then lower my voice. “Okay, but… did that seriously just work?”
His mouth twitches. “I think it did.”
I let out a quiet laugh, a little disbelieving. “That was disturbingly easy.”
“Yeah,” he says. “We might actually be good at this.”
I shoot him a look. “Don’t get cocky.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
I roll my eyes as we make our way to the group gathered near the bonfire. Heat rolls off the grill where Dad’s stationed, spatula already in motion, hisgrillmasterapron on, while Noah stands beside him looking equally occupied.
“Well, look at that,” Dad calls when he spots us. “You two made it.”
Mel looks up first from the blanket, her smile slow and immediately suspicious. “Hey, you two.”
She’s wedged between Kiara and Liam, the three of them very clearly mid-conversation before we arrived.
“Well,” Kiara says, lifting her chin slightly. “Hi there.”
