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I point my finger at my uncles. “They weren’t betting with you! They were testing Aiden.”
“But I was planning on using my winnings to pay my bar tab,” Suzie pouts.
Lenny snorts. “As if we ever let you pay for your drinks anyway.” She deflates because it’s the truth. The woman hasn’t paid for a drink in the pub since she reached legal drinking age.
“I think your date is here,” Lenny says with a chin lift toward the door.
I look over my shoulder to see Stephanie and her husband walk in the door. She’s wearing jeans, a blouse with way too many ruffles, and high heels. Did she think McGraw’s Pub was a honky-tonk bar? Honestly, I don’t know what a honky-tonk bar looks like, but I imagine what she’s wearing is how people dress at one.
“This is not over,” I hiss at my uncles before grabbing Aiden’s hand to lead him away.
“What’s the big deal?” he whispers in my ear. “I passed the test.”
Men. They’re all blockheads, aren’t they?
“I don’t have time to explain it to you now,” I tell him before pasting a big smile on my face to greet my nemesis. “You must be Stephanie.” I infuse my voice with enthusiasm I am not feeling.
Stephanie’s eyes scan the bar. Her lips turn down in a sneer, but when her attention returns to us, there’s a smile on her face. “This place is charming.” The way she says charming makes it clear she thinks the place is a dump. Bitch.
Of course, Aiden the total airhead when it comes to his ex, doesn’t realize she’s being facetious. “It’s great, isn’t it?”
“I’m Ronald,” Stephanie’s husband says when she doesn’t bother to introduce him.
I reach out to shake his hand. Despite his unfortunate name, he’s a decent looking guy. Not as sexy as Aiden, but who is? He’s more like the clean-cut boy next door. He’s wearing a suit with his tie tucked into his pocket. He grins as he shakes my hand and then shakes Aiden’s hand. Aiden is not looking friendly. Probably because Stephanie filled his head with bullshit about her husband which Aiden bought hook, line, and sinker. Did I mention how stupid men can be?
“Shall we grab a booth?” I ask and point to the corner the furthest from my uncles. I forgot to warn them about using the listening device, but they wouldn’t listen in on people they don’t know, would they? Snort. Who am I kidding?
Once we’re settled in the booth, a waitress approaches to take our drink order.
Stephanie’s lips purse as she looks at the drinks menu. “I don’t think I should order my usual at a pub.”
I want to wring her stupid neck, but the waitress isn’t fazed. “Pops can make pretty much any drink you can think of.” She winks at me.
“I’ll have a Bloody Mary. It’ll probably be made with a pre-made mix, but what the hell.”
Aiden’s hand on my shoulder tightens. I’m not about to lash out, though. I’d be playing right into her hands. Nope, I’ll simply show her how wrong she is. “Come on.” I stand. “Pops makes an awesome Bloody Mary. He will blow your mind.”
Stephanie doesn’t look happy, but she can’t back down now. Ronald steps in. “I’ll have one, too. I do love a good Bloody Mary.”
I smile at him. What the hell he’s doing with man-eater Stephanie is beyond me. I stare at her with my smile firmly in place. She can be a bitch to me all she wants. She’s not putting down Pops and his bar. She finally sighs and stands.
I walk to the bar with her dragging her heels behind me. “Two Bloody Marys, Pops.”
“Hey, Babycakes.”
“You let the bartender call you babycakes?” Stephanie’s disgust is plain to hear in her voice.
“Yep. Because this old man is my dad.” I jump up to lean over the bar and kiss his cheek.
Stephanie steps closer, and I can tell the moment she gets a look at Pops by her quick inhale of breath. Pops has that effect on a lot of women and some men, too. He ignores her and gets to work on the drinks. First, he pours some celery salt on to a small plate.
“What’s he doing?”
Typical. She complains he doesn’t know how to make a Bloody Mary when it’s actually her who has no clue. “Just wait.”
She stays quiet as he rubs a lime wedge along the lips of two pint glasses and then rolls the glasses in the celery salt until the lips are coated. He fills the glasses with ice and sets them aside. When Pops squeezes lemon and lime wedges into a shaker before dropping them in, she swivels on her heels and marches back to the booth. I widen my eyes at Pops who winks before lifting his chin toward the booth.
Shit. I can’t leave Stephanie with her man-claws alone with my man. I rush back to the table. I sit next to Aiden and he places his arm around my shoulder and starts to play with my hair. Suddenly I’m happy I spent an hour taming my curls into waves that fall down my back.
