There was a sigh and another whisper that sounded like I don’t want to hear it before he came back on the line to respond with, “Someone needs a couple stitches and doesn’t want to go to the hospital, and Peter says he’s not doing it.”
That must have been enough of an explanation for Lenny because she groaned, obviously knowing who someone was and why her grandpa’s best friend didn’t want to give someone stitches. I’d heard enough from her over the years to know he set noses regularly, glued things back together, and could fix just about every kind of dislocation without a visit to a hospital.
“All right. I’ll be there in twenty,” she agreed with a grimace.
“Okay.” He didn’t even say “bye” before he hung up.
Lenny sighed, but I beat her to it.
“You know I’d go anywhere with you, but you know I’ll faint if I see blood.” That was a true story. I was really squeamish. “Can you drop me off at Mickey’s since we’re closer? If you get a chance to come back, then come. If not, I’ll catch a ride home with someone.” Or take an Uber. I wasn’t planning on drinking.
Her fingers were already up at her nose, pinching the tip of it. For one brief moment, I wondered who that someone was. “You’re sure?”
“Of course I’m sure, bish. Keep my stuff, and I’ll get it from you this weekend.”
She was still pinching her face. “I have to work at the gym tomorrow but text me after your date. We can do something Sunday,” she said, just as she got us a block away from Mickey’s.
I sighed at the reminder I had a date the next day. I already didn’t want to go. That wasn’t a good sign.
Lenny pulled her car up to the curb right outside the bar and gave me an almost half-ass wink that told me how aggravated she was that she was going to give someone stitches… or take them to the hospital. I didn’t really want to ask. “Let me know when you get home, okay?” she asked. “I can come get you if you’re still here when I’m done.”
I smiled and nodded at her. “Drive safe.”
Lenny blew me a kiss. “If Rip shows up, call me.”
I shook my head as I got out of her car and slammed the door shut behind me, clutching my purse to my chest.
She honked the horn the second I was on the curb, and we waved at each other before she busted an illegal U-turn that made me shake my head as she sped away.
It only took me a second to find my license and flash it at the bouncer who didn’t even look at it. He’d seen me enough times to know I was over the age. It was already eight o’clock by the time I walked in and found six people I knew: three coworkers and three wives and girlfriends.
I waved at them before making my way over and giving them all hugs, and it was just as I was turning around to see who else was there that I spotted the small table directly beside the one where I was standing at.
Sitting there, all alone, was Rip.
He’d come?
The surprise must have been evident on my face because Owen shrugged at me and said a little too loudly, “I didn’t think he liked Ro that much.”
Honestly, neither had I.
But he was there.
It made me sad that he was sitting by himself, when it only took me a moment longer to spot four more people I recognized. The thing was, none of the chairs at the table he was at were pulled out. He really was sitting alone.
He’d come and no one wanted to sit with him.
I was sure the argument he’d had with Mr. Cooper earlier hadn’t helped but….
I knew what I was going to do before my feet moved. I shrugged back at Owen and tipped my head to the side to tell him where I would be. He gave me the same look I gave Lily when she ate steamed carrots in front of me. Like really?
And, yeah, really.
I was going to need to text Lenny and let her know she’d jinxed herself.
Trying not to come off too aggressive, I headed toward the bar first to get a Sprite. Then I turned around and headed back the way I had come. Rip hadn’t moved. He was still sitting there, not on his phone, not doing anything else, but sitting there. Present. I thought it was a lot sweeter than I had any right to think.
“Fancy seeing you here,” I told Rip as I crossed around the front of his table and stopped there.
My boss, who I wasn’t positive had seen me up until that point, blinked at me. “Luna.”
So much enthusiasm.
Just as I was about to ask if I could sit with him, I decided not to even bother. I pulled out the chair and took the seat anyway. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
That stubble-covered cheek kind of twitched. “Didn’t know you were either.”
I lifted a shoulder as I took a sip out of my Sprite. “My sister left, and I don’t want to be home alone.”
He lifted his own glass up to his mouth, some amber-looking liquid, and took a sip. I didn’t expect him to say, “Thought college didn’t start till August.”
I didn’t mean to give him a sad smile, but it happened, and I tried to cover it up by keeping my voice light. “It doesn’t. The plan had been that we were going to move her to Lubbock at the beginning of August so she could get settled in and find a job before everyone goes back to school, but… her friend’s family has a restaurant in Galveston and they invited her to work there for the summer.”
“Galveston?” he asked in that amazing voice, still surprising me by keeping our conversation going.
“Yeah. Staying at a beach house and everything. Totally slumming it and having a miserable time, you know?” I gave him a real smile that time.
Rip just raised his brows.
“I promised her I would go visit, and she promised she would come up too... What’s that face for?” I surprised myself by laughing. “I don’t believe it either. I’ll get lucky if she comes once. I’m not that delusional.”
I didn’t imagine the way his cheek twitched again, just a little, just enough to keep the smile on my face.
“I’m stuck making my own lunches from now on. I have nobody to watch scary movies with who’s more dramatic than I am screaming at the scary parts. And my house is empty,” I told him, going on a roll.
“Your lunches?” was what he picked up on.
I wasn’t sure how much he’d had to drink that he was asking me so many questions, but I wasn’t going to complain. “I can’t cook to save my life, boss. I thought everyone knew. Baking is the only thing I can handle.”
“You serious?” he asked in a surprised tone.
I nodded.
“For real?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “I can’t even make rice in an Instant Pot. It’s either way too dry or it’s mush.” Oh. “An Instant Pot is—”
“I know what it is,” he cut me off.
It was my turn to make a face, but mine was an impressed one. He knew what an Instant Pot was but not a rom-com. Okay. “Sorry.”
He didn’t react to me trying to tease him, instead he asked, “You can’t even make rice in that?”
“Nope.”
“You know there’s instructions online.”
Was he messing with me now? I couldn’t help but watch him a little. How much had he drunk already? “Yeah, I know.”
“And you still screw it up?”
I blinked, soaking up Chatty Cathy over here like a plant that hadn’t seen the sun in too long. “I wouldn’t say I screw it up. It’s more like… you either need to chew a little more or a little less.”
It was his turn to blink.
“It’s a surprise. I like to keep people on their toes.”
If I hadn’t been guessing that he’d had a couple drinks before, what he did next would have confirmed it.
His left cheek twitched. Then his right one did too, and in the single blink of an eye, Lucas Ripley was smiling at me.
Straight white teeth. That not-thin but not-full mouth dark pink and pulled up at the edges. He even had a dimple.
Rip had a freaking dimple.
And I wanted to touch it to make sure it was real.
I couldn’t help but think it was just about the cutest thing I had ever seen, even though I had zero business thinking anything along those lines. But I was smart enough to know that I couldn’t say a single word to mention it; otherwise, it might never come out again.
What I did trust myself to do was gulp down half of my Sprite before saying, “You can make rice, I’m guessing?” If he wanted to talk, we could talk. I was good at talking.