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“Meddling is a fun pastime.”
“I’ll remind you of that the next time I meddle in your business.”
Heidi and her date, it seemed, had come to the end of their meal. I could see the check on their table. They stood and were walking toward the exit. Was she really going to leave without drinking that full glass of wine?
“Hey, Heidi!” Patrick said, waving at her and her date as they passed us.
Heidi stopped in her tracks and sighed. She seemed to be bracing herself for impact.
“Hey, Patrick,” she said as she faced us. “Austin. Landon.”
“Heidi,” Austin said with a knowing look.
I nodded my head at her, but she wouldn’t even look in my direction.
“Hey, y’all. I’m Nick,” her date said when it was clear that she wasn’t about to make an introduction.
“Hey, Nick,” Patrick said.
We each shook hands with the guy. I lingered longer than the others and squeezed a little too tight. I couldn’t help myself. I instantly disliked this guy. It wouldn’t have mattered if he were the nicest person on the planet.
“Austin and Landon,” Nick said with a thoughtful expression. “Wright brothers?”
Austin nodded his head. “Yep.”
“So, you all work for Wright Construction, too?” Nick asked.
Heidi jumped in right away. “Yep. Landon is my boss.” She wielded the word like a weapon.
“Oh,” Nick said, his shoulders relaxing.
It was as if that word, boss, carried weight and told him I wasn’t a threat.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
“You aren’t going to drink your wine?” Patrick prompted.
I nearly groaned aloud. Why had I ever let Austin tell Patrick about what he thought had happened that night with Heidi?
Heidi gritted her teeth. “We were already finished, and I’m not feeling that well. So, I was going to forgo it. But…thanks.”
Her eyes briefly met mine, and they said anything but thank you. The fire in them said, What the hell are you doing?, and, Fuck off.
“Well, you know what would make you feel better?” Patrick said.
“A Xanax, ice cream, and some sleep?” she muttered under her breath.
I had to fight from smiling at her words.
“Pool,” Patrick said.
Nick furrowed his brow. “How would a swimming pool improve her well-being?”
I nearly face-planted into the bar at those words. So, this wasn’t a guy she had been dating a while. This wasn’t real competition. He didn’t even know that she played pool, which showed how very temporary the entire situation was. Not to mention, the faking-sick bit.
Maybe I shouldn’t walk away from this. Maybe Patrick had a point. I could play into this and step up my game. I could get rid of good ole Nick in one night. Then, Heidi and I could finally have that talk. I’d be back on track.
“Shooting pool,” I corrected him. “If you knew Heidi as well as I do, you’d know it was one of her favorite things to do.”
