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The next day they were getting married, so she’d agreed at some point. “Dating coworkers can make things complicated.”
“Sometimes. But I didn’t turn him down because we worked together. When Colby asked, I had a boyfriend. Someone I stayed with far longer than I should have. Wesley hated that Colby and I were friends. He didn’t like me being friends with men at all, but Colby bothered him the most.”
Everyone got jealous occasionally. And anyone who told you differently was lying. However, any relationship was doomed if one party suffered from constant jealousy and distrust.
“When I broke up with Wesley about a year ago, I wanted to pursue things with Colby. But, of course, by then, he was seeing someone.” Amari paused and checked her ringing cell phone. Either she didn’t recognize the number or it wasn’t important because she declined the call before setting it down and taking another sip of her drink.
“Then, about two and a half months ago, we attended a programming convention in San Diego together for work, and on our first night there, he asked me to dinner. We haven’t spent a day apart since.”
She’d have to fill Keith in on the couple’s backstory when they got back to the hotel. Maybe then he’d have fewer reservations about their marriage.
A large signwith a red lobster and the words “Maine Lobster Pound and Steakhouse” painted on it welcomed Maddie and Keith when he pulled into the parking lot behind Amari and Colby’s car a short while later.
“Looks a bit like a log cabin,” Maddie said before opening the car door.
The building’s exterior reminded Maddie of her dad’s old Lincoln logs that she’d played with as a kid at her grandparents’ house. The same set her grandparents passed on to Dad when they’d moved into a retirement community, and now her niece used them when she visited Maddie’s parents.
“Yeah, I’ve always thought that too.”
A paved walkway led from the parking lot to the restaurant’s front entrance. A flagstone fireplace dominated the lawn. Someone had placed colorful Adirondack chairs on the grass and along the walkway’s edge so people could sit while waiting for a table inside.
All the chairs were empty tonight, but there was a nice blaze going in the fireplace. If anyone sat outside while they waited for a table to open up, they wouldn’t have to worry about being chilly.
Although not typical for a restaurant to have an outside fire going, it wasn’t what Maddie found so unique about the place. Nope, that award went to the roof, jutting out from the building and covering what looked like an open porch near the entrance. From the parking lot, at least, it looked like it’d make a perfect spot for guests to sit outside to eat. A small outside bar might work well there too. However, there weren’t any tables or even a bar underneath the roof.
Instead, a sizeable, rectangular-shaped object with concrete sides sat in the middle of the space while four employees wearing red T-shirts and aprons stood around talking to each other.
Maddie gestured toward the area before following Amari into the building. “What’s all that about?”
“They keep the lobsters in the tank there. If you order one for dinner, you go over and pick out the one you want. Then it’s cooked and delivered to the table,” Keith answered.
She thought just knowing how they cooked the lobsters was terrible enough. Being forced to pick one out made the process a hundred times worse in her book.
She suspected they’d have to wait for a spot if it was a Saturday night in July instead of October. Although several customers enjoyed meals, only about half the restaurant’s tables were occupied, so that wasn’t the case tonight. And after leading the group past several booths and tables, the hostess paused at a table a few feet away from the double-sided, flagstone fireplace. Situated in the middle of the room, the wood fire burning inside it added both atmosphere and extra warmth. While the weather earlier had been mild for the time of year, the temperature had been dropping ever since the sun set.
The restaurant employee waited until they’d all sat before handing each of them a menu. Much like the sign out front, it featured the restaurant’s name and a picture of a lobster. “Luke will be over shortly.”
Maddie already knew what she wasn’t having. However, the menu contained four pages and included everything from seafood to steak and salads, giving her plenty to pick from. “Does anyone have some recommendations?”
“I usually get either the cod piccata or the shrimp scampi.” Instead of opening the dinner menu, Amari reached for the drink one the hostess had left. “Tonight, I’m getting the cod.”
* * *
If Maddie hadn’t suggestedthey invite Colby and his fiancée to dinner, it wouldn’t have occurred to Keith. He was glad she had, though, because he didn’t know when he’d get another chance to spend time with Colby. But as much as he’d enjoyed hanging out with the couple and getting to know Amari, Keith was looking forward to getting back to their suite, where they could put the king-sized bed to good use again.
Last night, although they were all adults, he’d been unable to get past the fact his parents were sleeping on the other side of the wall. So even though he’d wanted to make up for the time they’d spent apart that week, he’d done nothing but kiss Maddie good night when they went up to his old bedroom.
When they returned from their walk earlier, he’d joined Maddie in the shower because waiting until later tonight had been beyond him. But, although he’d gone in planning to pleasure her until her legs gave out and she collapsed on the tiled bench, Maddie had other ideas. Eventually, though, they found their way to the bed. But, unfortunately, the wedding rehearsal made lingering impossible.
But that was behind them, and they had the rest of the night to enjoy each other, both in the bed and in the hot tub. He’d booked a presidential suite rather than any other type because those rooms contained a private hot tub, a feature none of the other suites at the resort had.
“Amari lived in the same dorm as you and Colby freshman year.”
After pressing the button for the fourth floor, Keith watched the elevator doors close. “I don’t remember her.”
Maybe if they’d had some classes together, he would’ve remembered Amari, but roughly three hundred students called Browning Hall home his freshman year.
“They’ve also worked together for three years.”
