Page 86 of Dream a Little Dream

“I knew you’d say that,” she said, leaning up against her car in front of BeLeaf. “But those flowers were killer. Were they not?” She popped sunglasses on and grinned.

I wondered what it was like to come with that brand of confidence. MJ just might own the world one day, and I looked forward to watching her conquer it. “They were damn beautiful. You know how to send ’em.”

“Thank you. Come to my birthday gathering at Ronnie’s next week.”

“Yeah? I’d love to.”

“You can buy me a platonic drink.”

“You’re on.”

The gathering, it turned out, was no small affair. The group of MJ celebrators had taken over half the restaurant. After only being in town less than a year, she’d managed to collect a lot of friends. Even Kyle?

“I’m a little surprised to see you here,” I said, forearms on the bar next to hers as we each waited for service.

“Why is that? MJ and I are mature adults. She was pumping gas next to me today and told me to come. I follow orders, especially on my nights off.”

The whole time she was talking, I was captivated by the sound of her voice. I realized I missed it and I wanted nothing more than for her to keep speaking. The easiest way to make that happen was a question. “How are things going at work?”

“A lot better. I’ve found my groove, and use my outlets whenever there’s the slightest hiccup.”

Before I could answer, Sean was in front of us responding to Kyle’s gesture for two. He placed a frosty longneck in front of her and poured a dirty martini from his shaker for me. He knew our orders because of course he did.

“I owe you one,” I said, accepting the drink.

“No, you don’t,” she said over her shoulder with a smile that showed off the dimple that would never not snag my entire focus. As she disappeared with her beer into the throngs, I gave my head a little shake. God, she scared me more than any other human being. She just happened to have a medical degree and my heart. Neither were easy feats.

I spent the rest of the night moving from group to group, chatting my face off. Martinis came and went like celebrity marriages. Time felt strange and so did my balance. I always knew I was drunk because my neck muscles checked out on me. I became floppy-necked and rather ridiculous, which was what was happening to me now.

Elizabeth caught my gaze across the room and crowd-surfed over. “You look worried.”

“Is that code for overserved?” I asked. I blinked to clear my wayward vision. “What does Sean put in these things?”

“How many have you had?”

“Enough to dull the pain that decades of loss have dumped on my plate.”

Her eyes went wide. This was likely more than Elizabeth Draper had planned to handle on one little birthday party evening.

“You can relax. I’m just wallowing. But maybe five? That might be a lifetime record.” All my fault, too. The Kyle feelings and bar conversation had me wishing I was by her side tonight and arguing withmyself all over again about why love and lust should be kept separate at all costs, and then to silence that argument, “Another martini, Sean!”

“Would you like to sit down?” Elizabeth asked.

“No. I’d love the love and lust intersection to take a seat, though.”

“The intersection?”

“The double whammy. Those are the ones that get ya.”

The room was too loud. My stomach was too sideways. I needed a murder doc and my PJs with the blue squigglies on the side. “I’m gonna close out and walk home.”

“I’ll walk you,” Elizabeth said without hesitation.

She was, after all, the town do-gooder. She’d likely never gotten drunk in her life. Wait. Not true. I seemed to remember her singing on top of a roof one New Year’s Eve. I was taking back her points.

“I volunteer as tribute,” a calm voice said.

I turned to see Kyle standing next to us. “No, no, no,” I said. “You’re literally a walking intersection and you know it. Just look at you. Where’s the caution tape?” I made a circular gesture. “Wrap her up, Draper.” Whoa, the circle thing left me spinning.

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