Maria put the car in park. “I thought we’d go to the Fireside Lounge. They rotate the bar menu, and this week is ground turkey apple sliders.” She waggled her brows. “Island mules are the drink special.”
Abby closed her eyes and slowly let out a breath. “Can we go somewhere else?”
“Why?”
Hunt, that’s why.
Maria stared at her, perplexed.
“I come here every day to drop off and pick up Noah,” Abby said.
“For the kids’ program. But you’ve never come here to chill. This will be fun.” Maria opened her car door and stepped out. When Abby didn’t immediately exit, Maria hung her head back inside. “Don’t make me drag you. Because I will. You need to get out. Even if we’re not mingling socially, you so need to be among the land of the young and single.”
Abby unlatched her seatbelt. She had no rational excuse, and she didn’t want to give Maria the truth. Telling Maria about Hunt—what he’d done for Abby, her unnerving attraction to him—would only give her dear friend ammunition to ask uncomfortable questions.
Club Tahoe wasn’t purely a singles hangout. There were plenty of families and couples who stayed at the resort. It couldn’t be that bad. Besides, what were the chances Hunt would be here? If he was a normal person, he’d run as far from Club Tahoe after work as he could get.
Apparently, Hunt wasn’t normal.
As soon as they entered the Fireside Lounge, Abby caught sight of Hunt at a table with a large group of men and women in the far left corner. And there was a woman perched on Hunt’s lap.
Abby’s throat grew tight. He was single; of course he’d be with another woman. Many women, most likely.
As though sensing her presence, Hunt looked up and glowered.
“You’re sure I can’t talk you into going somewhere else?” Abby said to Maria, but it was too late. Maria was already making her way to a two-person table. Right next to Hunt and his friends.
Abby ducked her head as they walked across the room. Great. Just perfect. Why was he here? He should be at Blue Casino, drinking and hitting on women there.
How in the world would she be able to relax with Hunt staring her down? And whywashe staring her down? He was the one with an attractive woman on his lap. The woman’s chest was so close to his face that he could have turned his head and motorboated her breasts.
God, this was awful.
Abby straightened and plastered on a smile, ignoring Hunt’s table as they approached the two-person table next to them. Until Maria took the seat that forced Abby to face Hunt and his friends.
She was here to get out and form a plan about Noah’s grandparents. Who cared if Hunt was here too? She could ignore him and the butterflies he caused.
They ordered the famous sliders and island mules, and Abby tried to look anywhere except at the scene in front of her. The men with Hunt must be his good friends. They were laughing and having a nice time. Except, it seemed, Hunt, who hadn’t lost his frown, though at least it wasn’t directed at her anymore.
Now that Abby paid attention—because of course she was still looking, even if she told herself she wouldn’t—she realized that one of the women at the table was the program manager from Club Kids. Abby had met Kaylee and her baby when Kaylee returned from maternity leave.
“So, I’ve been thinking about your problem,” Maria said, breaking into Abby’s thoughts of Hunt. “What if you get a roommate to help you split expenses?”
“I tried that a couple of years ago when I considered finishing my nursing degree. Have you interviewed people in this town for a roommate? It was nuts. Half of them were high on something, and the other half were too young.”
“Abby, you’re not even thirty.”
“I realize that, but I might as well be forty-five. I’m not a partier, I don’t do drugs, and I have a son to think about. There’s no way I’ll let anyone remotely sketchy into my house.”
Maria’s mouth twisted. “That does make it a challenge.” She waggled her head. “I could always move out of my place—”
“No,” Abby said. “You love your apartment. And you won the lottery with your roommate.”
“True. But what will you do? Vicious is putting on the heat. Every week you come into work with something new she’s done.”
Abby dropped her head into her hands. “I don’t know.” A pounding at her temples increased at the mention of Vivian, a.k.a. Vicious. She raised her head to flag the waitress for a glass of water, and saw Hunt walking past their table with the woman who’d been sitting on his lap.
He was an attendant at Club Kids whom she barely knew. He was good to her son, that was true, but other than that? She shouldn’t care. She really, really shouldn’t care.
