Page 123 of Champagne Nights

“Who knows? According to Keaton, there are plenty of women out there to explore.”

I knew after I said that a comment would be made.

“And men.” Charlotte smiled as she held up her glass of juice.

I rolled my eyes and prayed that the conversation didn’t go any further. After we finished off the entire large pizza and the bottle of wine and talked, Charlotte and Piper left. Romeo followed me into the bathroom as I started the bath andsprawled out on the rug. I climbed in and immersed myself in the water, thinking about whether I would go back to that support group tomorrow night. Ben had been popping in and out of my mind all week, and I didn’t know why. Yeah, he was hot as hell, but even though we didn’t know each other, we shared a bond – a mental connection of the same emotions and grief.

Chapter Twelve

FRIDAY

Ben

I was up early and out the door for my usual run. As I ran my usual route, I scouted the beach, mainly focusing on the surfers in the water, hoping I’d see Paisley. No luck. As far as I could tell, she wasn’t there. When I got home, I showered, changed, and went into the garage to start building the last two chairs of the dining set. The day went by pretty fast, and I was getting hungry. After I cleaned up the garage and myself, I headed to the Sunset Bar. When I walked in, David was sitting in the same spot as the last couple of weeks.

“You’re back,” I said as I sat down next to him.

“Couldn’t stop thinking about those fish and chips all week. It’s too bad they only serve them on Fridays.”

“Hey, Ben.” Damian smiled as he set down a bottle of beer.

“Hi, Damian,” I replied as I took a drink.

“How was your week?” David asked nonchalantly.

“Busy. What about you?”

“Busy as well.”

“What do you do for work?” I asked out of curiosity.

“I’m an independent business consultant.”

“What kind of business?”

“Mostly real estate. Did you end up going to that meeting last week?”

“As a matter of fact, I did,” I replied as Damian set our fish and chips down in front of us.

“How was it?”

“It was okay. I didn’t go unnoticed, though. I had to stand up in front of everyone and talk about Amy.”

“That had to be rough.”

“It wasn’t that bad. I met a girl there.”

When he turned his head to look at me, the corners of his mouth curved up. “Really? Who is she?”

“Her name is Paisley, and she’s around my age. Her husband passed away on their first wedding anniversary.”

“Wow. I can’t even imagine. Losing someone would be hard enough but on your wedding anniversary? Poor girl.”

“It was her first time there, too. She was just as uncomfortable as I was.”

“Did you talk to her?” he asked.

“Yeah. A little bit, and then the next day, I ran into her at the beach. She was going surfing with some guy. I will take a leap and say it was her brother because they looked so much alike.”

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