Page 56 of Beautiful Place By the Sea

“If you say so,” she replies with an annoyingly knowing glance.

“Get out of here.” I playfully shove her with my hip. “Be safe. Have fun.”

“Okay, Mom,” she jokes cheerfully. “Ready?” She slips her arm over Porter’s shoulder. He nods emphatically, the “ready” of a man who knows he’s about to get some.

Porter takes one last swig of his beer, then wipes foam off his mouth with the side of his hand. “Nice meeting you,” he says to Oliver, who he’d been regaling with talk about his job at a hedge fund, then throws his arm around Laurel and waves goodbye to me.

“See ya.” I wave at their retreating backs. “Well, shall we?” I ask Oliver.

“Shall we what?” He stares at me blankly.

“Shall we go?” I raise an eyebrow. “Unless you want to stay.”

He shrugs. “If you’re ready to go, I can walk you home.”

“Oliver,” I grin, trying to make sense of the disappointed look on his face, “do you want to stay?”

He gestures toward the cocktail table where Laurel and Porter had been canoodling while we danced. “I mean, they left behind a perfectly good plate of nachos.” He shakes his head in mock disgust. “I don’t think they even ate any.”

I laugh loudly. Laurel had wanted those nachos so badly. “Okay, nachos it is.”

He holds up his glass with a pout. “And my whiskey is empty.”

“I guess I did promise you a drink,” I say with a small smile. “I’ll be right back.”

I get myself another whiskey, too, because there are a lot of nachos, and I figure we may be here a while.

“So tell me something,” I say, swirling the amber liquid in my glass. “What did you really think of me when I came into the bookstore that first day?”

Oliver looks at me seriously. “You reminded me of my ex.”

I choke on my drink. “Are you serious?”

He nods slowly. “Bethany also had light brown hair and exuded nervous energy.” He takes a sip of his Jameson, but I see the snicker he’s trying to hide before the glass covers it up.

“You’re such a jerk,” I say, throwing a chip at him.

“Guilty,” he replies, catching it in his right hand and then eating it.

“So, tell me about Bethany. She must have been quite the woman to be able to tolerate your angst.” Two can play at this game.

Oliver snorts. “She didn’t tolerate it. I just hid it from her for as long as I could. And then, when she got to know me better, she decided I was ‘too grumpy’ for her, and she left.” He lowers his fingers from the sarcastic air quotes he just drew.

My face falls. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up a sore subject.”

“It’s okay,” he shrugs. “I met her at NEU, and she moved to New York City after graduation. It wouldn’t have worked out anyway.”

I nod slowly. “So if I’m understanding you correctly, I remind you of your ex, whom you couldn’t be yourself around?”

Oliver shoots me a rakish grin. “Nah, I take it back. I’m comfortable being my true dickish self around you.”

Now it’s my turn to snort. “You’re something else.” I down the rest of my whiskey. It burns all the way to my stomach, but I like it. I haven’t been drunk since the night I found out about Kyle and Melinda, and I think I’m due.

“Likewise,” he returns. “Are you in a hurry to leave, or something?” He gestures toward my glass.

“Oliver,” I say as if making an important announcement, “I think I’d like to get drunk tonight.”

His eyebrows go up. “Oh, really?”