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“Yeah, you are,” I tease, clinking my glass against his.
“But you’re always coming out to Seattle, so you know,” he says, shrugging.
“Actually, I might be coming out again soon,” I say, remembering the email I got this afternoon.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, a work thing, conference,” I say, glancing at Zoey before turning back to my friends.
“You should stay with us,” Tracy chimes in.
I laugh. “It’s at a hotel, with a couple of dinner things and shit, so I’ll probably stay there, but I’d definitely be up for a few extra days with you two afterward,” I say.
“Maybe you should come too, Zoey,” Brandon says. I give his leg a hard kick under the table just as he takes a sip of his red wine. “What was that for?” he splutters out, clearly not giving a shit about how obvious he’s being.
I roll my eyes at him before turning to Zoey. “Actually, you should consider coming to the conference,” I tell her. “It will be a good networking opportunity.” I give Brandon’s leg another kick, a not so subtle warning for him to keep his mouth shut.
It’s not like I wasn’t planning to ask her to come, I just didn’t expect to be doing it with an audience, and especially an audience like this. Brandon can be pretty full on when he wants to be. It’s kinda how he won Tracy over when he first met her.
Zoey doesn’t answer at first, just looks at me with a curious expression on her face that kind of unnerves me. I’d love to know what she’s thinking right now. “Okay, sounds good, thank you,” she eventually says.
“And we should definitely catch up too,” Tracy chimes in, smiling at Zoey.
“Yeah,” Brandon says, laughing as he makes a point of ignoring the look I’m giving him while he gives me a subtle bird with his finger against his cheek. “And you’re also welcome to stay with us, Zoey. Anytime.”
Fuck my life.
The rest of our meal passes, the four of us falling into an easy conversation about living in Tahoe and Brandon and Tracy’s wedding plans. Zoey occasionally asks about our past, Brandon laughing as he regales her with stories of some of the shit we got up to when we were working together in Seattle.
She never once asks about our company though. Not what we did or how we became so successful or even how much we made and it’s such a refreshing change to spend an evening with a woman who isn’t just interested in my wealth.
I make no mention of Zoey’s family or backstory either and I’m not sure if Brandon or Tracy realize exactly who she is. It’s not really anything they need to know anyway.
“Ugh, guess we should call it a night,” Brandon says, yawning as he stretches his arms above his head.
“You’re getting soft in your old age, Brandon,” I joke, signaling for the check.
“Pfft, please,” he says. “It’s you I’m worried about. And don’t even think about getting that,” he adds when our server returns with the bill.
“But—”
“Nope, no chance,” he says, snatching it from my hand. “You gotta watch this one, Zoey, he’s a stubborn shit.”
Zoey smiles, leaning forward, her elbows on the table. “Yeah, but that’s what makes him so successful, right?”
“Amongst other things,” Brandon replies with a grin as he gives her a wink. Jesus, this guy is being about as subtle as a sledgehammer tonight.
“Come on, let’s go old man,” I say, standing.
I drive everyone back to the resort, stopping along the way to drop Zoey off at the condo she lives in. It’s not far from Badger Creek, but it’s still too far for her to be walking home from work at night alone.
Before she gets out, she makes a time to meet with Brandon and Tracy tomorrow to look at wedding spots, before turning to me and offering me a goodnight. As she does, I’m flooded with memories of the night she came to my house for dinner. To the kiss she gave me before she left to go home. She still has the sweater I lent her too and even though I don’t give a shit that she hasn’t given it back to me, I find myself imagining a whole bunch of reasons for why she might still be holding onto it.
We wait until she’s safely inside and the second her front door closes, Brandon is on me, just like I knew he would be.
“Okay, enough bullshit, you need to spill the beans now.”
I reverse out of her drive, not looking at my best friend as I say, “No idea what you’re talking about.”
