Page 54 of Pick Six
Harper
Tonight we’reat a restaurant and bar opening for one of the other guys on the team, Gabe. I know who he is from watching the team play but I’d never met him in person like I had some of the other guys. He’s just opened the place and half the team is here alongside a whole group of VIP invites celebrating opening night. I feel ridiculously out of place. At the charity event, even though it was black tie, I at least knew a lot of the people attending because of our involvement in the same events and conferences. But here? In this restaurant that’s dripping with high-end atmosphere and cool-kid vibes, I’m not exactly in my element. The guys, including Alex, are off on a tour of everything behind the scenes with Gabe, so the girls and I are busy having drinks and chatting.
“Oh, try this one.” Mackenzie slides her drink to Violet, and she tastes it.
“Wow, that’s really freaking good.”
“Right?”
“I need one of these. So do you Harper. I’m gonna head to the bar. Be back in a few.” Violet runs off and Mackenzie smiles at me.
“I feel like I’m not cool enough for these places.” Mackenzie looks around the room, and I follow her gaze.
“I’m glad it’s not just me.”
“Oh no. It’s not just you at all. I love getting a night out with Waylon and you guys, but I feel like I’m too old or too married or too much of a mom sometimes to be here. One of those things.”
“You fit in here way better than me. I’m just happy to be included.”
“Oh, you fit in. We love you. I’m so glad you and Violet found each other when she moved here. And it’s been great having you around more with Xander. I’ve never seen him look so… smitten. Christ. I don’t think I ever expected to use that word when talking about Xavier. I thought he was incapable.”
“Yes, well… don’t get too excited. Remember this is mostly for show.”
“Mostly?” Mackenzie’s eyebrow raises.
“I mean we are friends of a sort. He is attractive. I don’t have to fake everything.” I grin.
“I bet you don’t.” She laughs, taking a sip of her drink. “And attractive? I think he’s a little more than attractive. Attractive is the barista with the cute glasses or your optometrist who has the cute lopsided grin. Xavier is… well I guess what Waylon would have become if he didn’t get me as a ball and chain in college.” She grins.
“I think Waylon would describe you a little differently.” The man absolutely worships the ground she walks on. I’m fairly certain he thinks she’s a goddess in mortal form.
“Oh, it depends on the day I think. Like… did he leave his socks on the floor and a container of peanut butter open on the counter? Or was it game day and I’m ready to devour him by the time I finish watching him play?”
“So married bliss then?” I laugh and give her a knowing look.
She laughs for a moment and then her smile falters a bit.
“I’m sorry. What your ex did to you. So fucked up, and if Waylon ever did that, I don’t think I’d ever recover. I had an ex like that myself, and I don’t take for granted how lucky I am with him. I hope you get your own version of that.”
I shrug, “It is what it is. I’m certainly having a better time faking it with Alex than I did the last year or so trying to make things work with Drew. So focus on the positives, right?”
“Right.” She smiles at me.
Violet returns with our drinks and begins telling us how excited she is for us to meet her friend Joss who’s coming to town soon, giving us some gossip on how talented she is and how many famous people she’s had the opportunity to photograph. We talk about how we all have to get together and go to the latest exhibit at the museum, and meander into some side discussions of Violet’s current client projects while the guys continue on their tour.
After a while,I head to the bar to get a refill and a glass of water when I see Alex talking to a stunningly gorgeous woman. She’s tall, even by my standards, blonde, with pale blue eyes, and effortlessly gorgeous in the outfit she’s wearing. She has the kind of face that’s just come off the pages of a magazine and I feel the same jealousy I’d felt the other night flicker up my spine.
This was the problem with the way we’d been crossing boundaries and blurring the lines between what was real and fake. Because at the end of the day, wearefake. His loyalty to me is only because of the need to save his career, not because he’s given any indication that he actually wants to be in a relationship with me. Flirting? Kissing? Hooking up? All in his wheelhouse. Especially when it’s time limited by this act we’re putting on, and he’s stuck with me.
But more than that isn’t something we’ve discussed, and it’s not even something I’m sure I want to discuss. Especially now when things between us are pretty good. I’m having fun, enjoying the time with him, and getting to go to events like this one with Violet and Mackenzie. It definitely beats sitting around my house watching reruns and eating TV dinners by myself while I scroll dating apps for other divorced people. I’m not in a hurry to wreck the good parts of it by stressing out Alex with my concerns about what it all means and whether or not he wants more.
What would more even look like? Drew would die if he knew some of the things we’d done already. Die or murder us both, one or the other, assuming he wasn’t too distracted by his current girl of the moment to notice.
The bartender slides me a drink and I slide my card back in return, glancing up again to see the woman touching Alex, running her fingers over his arm. In his defense, he pulls back, putting distance between the two of them but it’s clear that she wants him even from here. When the waiter gets back to hand me my card and the receipt, someone comes up next to me.
“Well shit, I’m a second too late. I would have put that on the house.”
I look up and it’s Gabe McGregor, the owner of the restaurant and the kicker for the team. Where the other guys are big and broad, Gabe is built more like a soccer player, tall and lean but still muscular and tattooed. I’m pretty sure I heard that he’d played soccer before switching teams in college. He’s a little bit older than the other guys but every bit as good looking and charming.
