Page 171 of Love Unspoken

He flashed us a grin as he shook up drinks. His name tag read Ritchie, and he moved with the kind of practiced ease that only comes from years of experience.

"What can I get you ladies tonight?" Ritchie asked, his voice a deep rumble that matched the bar's ambiance perfectly.

"I'll take a French 75." I needed a light drink but with a kick.

"Whiskey sour, extra sour," Gemma added, grinning at me. "Gotta keep the edge."

Ritchie set to work, the sound of ice clinking in the shaker as he mixed our drinks. I watched as he poured the pale champagne and gin mixture into a flute, topping it off with a twist of lemon. Gemma's whiskey sour was poured into a heavy glass, the liquid a rich amber with a frothy egg white top and a garnish of a single maraschino cherry.

"I told him I loved him," I confessed to Gemma, who, along with Basil, was getting a play-by-play of everything happening in my relationship with Lucas.

"Hallelujah!"

"I think I finally gave up because I'm desperate for…."

"Dick?" Gemma quirked an eyebrow.

I flushed. It was too much to assume Ritchie didn't hear us because he did. He grinned wide as he placed our drinks on napkins. "Here you go, ladies. Enjoy."

I raised the glass to my lips, tasting the bubbly sweetness of the French 75 with just enough tartness to make me pucker. Gemma held up her glass in a toast, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"To you getting some tonight." Her tone dripped with amusement.

"Whatever." I clinked my glass against hers.

"You happy?" Gemma asked.

I thought about it and nodded. "I…he's really made an effort, you know?"

"I know."

"I still can't believe Basil helped him with that women's health communication project idea." I swirled my drink and watched the bubbles float up.

"Why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't think you guys liked Lucas. He's not…you know, an academic and is probably a little spoiled."

"You mean like Jax?" Gemma stated.

I smiled. "I guess. We all like Jax."

"And we all like Lucas. We didn't like that he hurt you. We don't doubt he loves you, Amara. I think he's being sincere when he tells you how he's working on himself."

"I'm working on myself, too." I lifted my glass and took a sip. "I'm getting better at telling him how I feel and not assuming he can read my mind."

"This is why I don't do relationships," Gemma declared.

"Oh, please." I rolled my eyes. "You and Basil are in a relationship."

"We're friends who have sex," she protested.

"That's the definition of being in a relationship," I said, exasperated.

Gemma burst out laughing. "OMG! That's so true."

We settled into our usual banter, which came easily after years of friendship. Gemma filled me in on her latest situationship—a term she'd coined for her struggles with a colleague who she was working on a paper with. The colleague, a male, expected Gemma to do all the work, but he wanted his name as the lead author. The dean had suggested a male lead author would make the paper more readily accepted by journals, which was a reality in our world, regardless of how unfair it was.

"I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if I'm in the wrong university, you know?" Gemma finished her drink and waved to Ritchie for a refill, who nodded at her.