I laughed quietly and finished the bruschetta, nodding in agreement.
“Unfortunately Greyson said he had to go, he had somewhere to be tonight,” Michelle said shrugging.
Oh great, what if he actually thinks I’m showing up at the pub tonight? Surely this guy can’t be that delusional, right?
“Well, I have plans too,” I responded. “Some wine, maybe a bath. I have a bunch of magazine reading to catch up on too, so I’d better get out of here. Sounds like a wild Saturday night for me, right?” I smirked. I really was exhausted after spending so much time this week preparing for this event. “If everything is going well, I’ll head out.”
Michelle pouted. “Thanks for leaving me with all the dads. It should be a wild Saturday night for me as well. I’ll call you next week to discuss the other events we have coming up. After the success of tonight, I’m sure we’ll be booking you and Luca’s for our events for the rest of the year.”
I smiled and thanked her, and then made my way out the back door. I was quite pleased everything went so well. This kind of repeated business was exactly what my bakery needed since it was still a little slow during the week when I didn’t have big event orders. I so badly wanted to call Addie to tell her the good news but I knew I shouldn’t bother her while she was on vacation, blissfully in love in her whimsical romantic relationship.
I got in my car, finally realizing in that moment that I looked awfully cute to only be out in public for less than fifteen minutes. Maybe I should go out tonight after all, at least for some dinner and maybe a few drinks.
I dialed my friend Megan first. She was always up for a night out.
“Hey Megan, what’s up? What are you doing tonight?” I asked casually.
“Going out with Alex,” she replied dreamily.
“Who is Alex? You have a date tonight?” I added, a little surprised. I just saw Megan yesterday afternoon and she never mentioned him to me.
“I met him last night, Mal. He is so hot. I’m on my way out now to meet him at Harrigan’s Brewhouse and then we’re going to some beach party. I think he’s perfect,” Megan said breathily.
“You haven’t even known him for twenty-four hours yet! You think that about every guy, and then you’re over them in a week,” I said mockingly. Megan wasn’t exactly a relationship type of girl.
“I know Mal, but who cares. One of these days it will be the right guy, so I may as well give everyone a shot,” she said cheerfully.
“Okay Meg, if that’s what you want to call all of this serial dating. Just be careful tonight. Call me if you need an escape plan, alright?” I asked sincerely.
“Sure thing. Thanks Mal,” Megan replied, hanging up the phone.
I quickly dialed Steve, then my other guy friend Johnny. They both had plans as well, so apparently I wouldn’t be going out tonight after all.
Greyson crossed my mind for a moment. Would he really just be sitting at Eastwick’s Pub waiting for me? Perhaps he was actually meeting a large group of friends there and wouldn’t even notice if I never showed up. I did have to pass by there on my way back home. It wasn’t exactly on the same route I took to get to the gallery, but technically it was between my present location and my apartment.
I turned down a side street, making my way towards Eastwick’s Pub. I had no intention of going in, but for some reason I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind that perhaps Greyson was just sitting there at a table, waiting for me. I at least wondered if I would be able to see anything through the restaurant windows if I just did a quick drive-by.
A few minutes later, I turned onto Third Street, slowly making the drive down past Eastwick’s. I certainly didn’t see a Luca’s van parked nearby, but he probably wouldn’t be driving his work vehicle tonight anyway. I guess that didn’t make much sense.
Just as I approached the pub, I slowed down a bit, hoping to get a glimpse inside the large restaurant windows that faced the street. I could make out men and women inside, but certainly not well enough through the glass to actually recognize anyone. I slowed down a little bit for traffic, still trying to peer inside. It definitely looked like there were a lot of people in there, but...
Crunch.
“Damn,” I muttered, focusing back on the road. I had just rear ended the car in front of me. The silver Mazda Miata in front of my car pulled off to the side of the road, so I followed suit and parked right behind him. A man in his sixties stepped out of his vehicle and walked around the back to assess the damage. He then walked up to my driver’s window. Please don’t expect me to get out of the car. What if Greyson was inside the pub? What if he could see me right now? He would probably think I was on my way to met him, which I certainly wasn’t. This was mortifying.
“I’m so sorry sir,” I said sincerely as I rolled down my window. “Look, I am having a really terrible day. Can I just give you…” I rummaged through my wallet, “two hundred and eighty bucks? That’s all I have on me. Do you think that will cover it?” My eyes pleaded with him to just take the money and let me drive away.
“Are you okay? You aren’t hurt or anything?” the man asked politely.
“Just my pride,” I muttered with embarrassment. “I’m just on my way home and I clearly wasn’t paying attention. I am so sorry. Do you think this will cover it?” I asked again, holding the cash out to him.
“Oh dear, no, that’s too much. It looks like it just busted my taillight. My nephew owns a shop. He can probably take care of this for eighty or ninety bucks,” he said, shaking his head. “You keep some of that to fix up your bumper,” he said, patting me on the hand.
“Sir, really, I feel awful. Just take this in case it costs more, that way we don’t have to deal with insurance and all that. It’s really been a long, bad day for me. I just need to get home,” I said pathetically.
The gentleman took less than half of the bills out of my hand and smiled. “I really hope your day gets better, dear. Just promise me you’ll watch where you’re going so you’ll get home safely,” he said, still smiling.
I assured him I would, happy this was much less of an ordeal that it could have been. I apologized again and then rolled up my window. I hastily drove back to my apartment. I was pissed off at Dillon for leaving me this morning. Pissed off at Greyson for annoying me and expecting me to meet him out for a date I never agreed to. Pissed off that I was all dressed up and had nowhere to go. I pulled into the back of my apartment building and huffed up the metal steps to my door.
Chapter 3
The week flew by uneventfully, which was nice. I had been so busy the past few weeks with catering events, birthday parties, and summer cook-outs, so I was happy to have a slow week. Michelle had contacted me with rave reviews on my spread at the art gallery, and we negotiated our contract for a couple other events in the upcoming months.
I hadn’t heard from Dillon all week, which surprised me a bit. I mean, I heard his speech loud and clear. But things were just starting to get serious, so I thought he would still come back around after being apart from me for a few days. Apparently I didn’t understand men too well.
I was so relieved when Thursday morning rolled around, because my best friend Addie finally returned from her romantic getaway. She called me as soon as her plane landed, gushing about her vacation. I told her all about the art gallery event and how we had picked up some additional events from it. I knew she wasn’t coming into the bakery right away so she had some time to recuperate from her trip, but we made plans to hang out that night with the rest of our friends.
As the evening rolled around we all met up at a tapas restaurant we loved. Addie and Griffin were there, looking extremely tan from their trip. Megan showed up with Steve, good friends I had known since school. Our friend Johnny showed up with a new girl he recently started dating, but the jury was still out on her. We were a really close-knit group of friends, so it was hard not to scrutinize whatever new person they were dating at the time. Megan knew this well, which was likely why she nev
er brought any dates around when we all got together.
“So, before we start eating,” Addie said, grabbing our attention, “Griffin and I have something to tell you.” The table fell silent. Addie stuck out her left hand and the entire group gasped at the sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
“You guys got engaged?” Megan squealed, covering her mouth. It had only been a few months since Addie and Griffin started dating, but they were inseparable. We all knew they were perfect for each other.
“I know. I had no idea,” Addie gushed. “We were just taking a stroll on the beach one night. The moon was bright and the stars were gorgeous. I thought we were going to see some newly hatched baby turtles on the beach, but instead there was a giant heart drawn in the sand and there was a note in the middle of it held down by a small shell.” Addie’s face radiated as she spoke, and my eyes felt a little misty.
“What did the note say?” I asked. I was still in shock that two of my best friends were getting married.
“It just said ‘How about forever?’ That was it. It was perfect. And then I noticed the ring inside the shell,” Addie said, staring at her new jewelry.
“It was my Grandma’s ring, originally. But I had a friend of mine update it a little bit. He added the smaller diamonds around the center one. I’m just glad she said yes to me. I’ve been worried about that since day one,” Griffin said, staring lustfully at Addie. They kissed and the entire group congratulated them and started firing off tons of questions.
“It’s actually only been a few days, so we haven’t decided on much,” Addie said, still beaming. “But I can’t wait. I thought maybe us girls could go out tomorrow night for a girls night to celebrate?” Megan and I agreed, happy for the great news.
Dinner was fabulous, and we heard more about Addie and Griffin’s vacation. They went snorkeling, zip lining, and even parasailing. I wished for a brief moment that I had someone to take on a vacation, but I guess that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. I explained to everyone what happened last weekend with Dillon.
“I’ll find you someone new, Mal,” Megan said as we ate dessert.
“Yeah right Meg, your relationships expire faster than a gallon of milk,” I chimed in as the others laughed. “I’m so busy with the bakery right now anyway. Who has time for a guy? Except for you, apparently,” I said, squeezing Addie’s arm. I was truly happy for her.
“I can’t wait to go out tomorrow night to celebrate! I’ll see you at the bakery in the morning. What time? Seven a.m.?” Addie asked, sounding eager to get back to work.
“Seven sounds great. See you then,” I replied, giving everyone a quick hug.
I spent the rest of the night soaking in a hot bath with a bottle of red wine. This wasn’t so bad. Even though everyone else was out for the night, I didn’t mind spending a quiet night alone. It was relaxing at least.
The next day Addie and I spent nine hours at the bakery. It was a pretty busy day; Fridays usually were. We had quite a few birthday orders on the weekends, so we tried to prepare anything we could in advance. Addie came up to my apartment after we were done so we could get dressed up for the night. She was a bit fashion-challenged, so I loved helping her pick out some adventurous clothes for a night out on the town.
“What about this one, Addie?” I asked, holding up a green dress. I thought it would go well with her long blonde hair and her striking blue eyes.
“It looks a little loud, don’t you think?” she responded, crinkling her nose up at me. “What about this plain black one?”
“I wore that one to the art gallery last week. It’s a little boring, but I have some great jewelry you can wear. I’ll wear the green one then. I guess I feel like a loud outfit,” I said smiling.
We both got dressed and put on our make-up, applying a little more than we usually did since we were going out for a girls night. Megan swung by the apartment to meet up with us, and she was dressed to the hilt. She had on a short black sparkly miniskirt, which made her legs look even longer and skinnier than they already were. Her low-cut form-fitting magenta blouse wasn’t leaving much to the imagination either. It was no wonder guys flocked to Megan every time we went out.
I pinned back a few short dark curls away from my face. The green dress really made my hazel eyes sparkle. Unfortunately my summer tan brought out the freckles I had under my eyes. They always bothered me, even though guys always told me they were ‘cute.’ Not exactly the greatest compliment though. That word better applies to puppies or homemade cards. Surely no guy would ever call a girl like Megan just ‘cute.’
We grabbed our purses and called a cab. It was a short ride to the clubs downtown, but just far enough of a distance that it would kill Megan to walk that far in her stilettos.
We headed first to a sushi bar called Fire. I wasn’t a big fan of raw fish, but they had some other good things on the menu. Addie just recently discovered her love of sushi, so we humored her by agreeing it would be a great place to eat dinner to start our night. After all, this girls night out was to celebrate her and her engagement. Megan of course agreed to the sushi bar because she liked the sake bombs and a few of the bartenders.
After the sushi bar we headed to a nightclub called Flash. It was one of our favorite places to dance. The music was always good and we always knew some other people there as well. We did a few shots, which I knew I would regret tomorrow morning. Otherwise we laughed, we danced, and we people watched. As much as I loved having our guy friends out with us most nights, Johnny, Steve, and Griffin, it was nice to be out with just the girls on occasion. We mocked other peoples outfits and made up signals for each other so we would know to cut in if one of us was dancing with a guy we didn’t want to dance with. So much for the direct route of just telling a guy you weren’t interested in him.
Addie was the most reserved, for sure. I suppose now that she was engaged she felt uncomfortable when guys approached her. As for me, well, I just wasn’t interested. After the Dillon saga, I figured I needed a relationship break anyway. Some time to myself to work on my business far outweighed my need for a boyfriend. Especially a boyfriend who found me unlovable. Damn that was harsh.
Megan on the other hand, she disappeared twice for extended periods of time. She did that a lot. She was probably off flirting with her next three-day fling. Every year our group of friends got together for an annual camping trip. We would all blindly draw a name out of a box and we had to dare that person to do something, usually something beneficial or helpful for themselves. I was dared to start my own bakery, and then to open it up full-time into an actual career. Megan’s dare this past camping trip was not to sleep around for a consecutive three month period of time. It’s a good thing she had a full year to complete her dare, because so far she didn’t seem to even be attempting celibacy. Especially not tonight in that skirt.
“So this is Eric,” Megan said, her arm draped around the shoulders of a handsome guy with thick dark hair and dark eyes. “He’s meeting some buddies over at Mister’s Tavern. I thought maybe we could all head over there as well?” Megan’s eyes suggested she eagerly wanted Addie and me to agree.
“Sorry guys, I don’t feel so hot,” Addie said, looking a little pale. “I told you I should’ve never done those shots, Meg,” she said shaking her head. “I think I might have Griffin come and pick me up. I know it’s only eleven-thirty. I feel so bad for ducking out early, but I just don’t think I’ll make it much longer. I definitely can’t drink anymore.”
I honestly would have preferred to go home as well, but Megan’s eyes pleaded with me to stay out with her.
“Come on Mal, his other friends will be there. He’s a baseball player. There’s this other guy on his team he was telling me about, his name is Mitchell. I think you’d really like him,” Megan said enthusiastically.
“Sure. Why not? But a baseball player named Mitchell, is that his first name? I’m not going to be set up Meg, so don’t bother,” I responded, knowing she would be thrilled I agreed to
stay out. She was one of my best friends, so it was hard not to want to make her happy.
Griffin came to pick up Addie and we said our goodbyes. Megan and I got into a cab with Eric for the five minute drive to Mister’s Tavern. I may have gone there back in college once or twice, but otherwise it definitely wasn’t our type of hangout. It was in an older section of downtown, a little bit outside of the glitter and lights of the casinos directly on the downtown strip. They tried to rehab the tavern to make it a little more trendy, but I imagined it was still full of townie college-aged kids or groups of bikers. Not exactly our crowd.
I sure wasn’t in the mood to meet anyone tonight, whether it was this tool Mitchell I heard all about in the cab or some forty year old motorcycle dude, but I figured a little more face time around this Eric guy Megan was into would help ease my mind a bit if Megan ended up going home with him.
The tavern wasn’t very crowded. Not nearly as crowded as the nightclubs were on a Saturday night anyway. There were a few guys sitting up against the large wooden bar area, probably some young townies who were ‘too cool’ to be seen in one of the trendy downtown bars. Other various couples and groups were sprinkled at tables and booths around the large, dimly lit room. As I suspected, a middle-aged group of men wearing leather vests were gathered around the dart boards in the back of the tavern. This definitely wasn’t my scene.
Megan of course looked ridiculously out of place in her short sparkly miniskirt, but I don’t think she cared. I doubt she even noticed that there weren’t a lot of mid-twenty-somethings in this place, aside from the guys at the bar and a few around the pool tables. Megan clung to Eric as we took some seats near a shuffleboard table in the back.
“So this is Mitchell,” Eric said, introducing me to his friend. Mitchell was at least two inches shorter than me and looked like he would be bald within the next year or two. He also had strange patchy facial hair, and I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or if he was just lazy. I was sure, however, that he was far from my type. I glared at Megan, and she shrugged in apology.
Six Rules: Book Two in the SIX Series Page 2
