Finally, Miguel grudgingly pointed them in the direction of a table they’d just cleared. “Your dinner’ll be out whenever.” He snatched the menus away from them. “You’ll get what you get, and that’s that.”
“The service here isdelightful,” Riley told Nick.
He gave her bare knee a squeeze. “Stay here. I’ll go make us some drinks. If you can handle more alcohol.”
“I slept off most of it and sweated the rest out here. I’m ready for some hair of the dog.”
He ducked behind the bar, nodded to the bartender, and got to work. When he returned to the table, Riley eyed the concoction he handed her.
“Cheers,” he said, holding up his glass.
“What are we toasting?”
“You said you loved me. I think that’s worth alcohol.”
She tapped a finger to her chin thoughtfully. “If I remember correctly, you said it first.”
“Of course I did. Because I’m much braver and more manly.”
“You also screwed up a lot bigger than I did.”
“I’m willing to drink to that,” Nick said, touching his glass to hers.
“To us,” Riley said.
“To us,” he echoed.
“Mmm. What is this?” she asked after her first sip.
“Sangria.”
“You’re a talented man behind the bar, Nick Santiago.”
“I’m talented everywhere. Except maybe in the putting feelings into words portion of life. So let’s talk.”
She raised her eyebrows. “About what?”
“About all of this shit. You’ve been in my head. Now there’s no secrets.”
“Alistair,” she said.
“How did you know?”
“You’re wearing an ironed shirt. I assumed he was involved.”
“I may have stopped by his place and briefly mentioned that I’d made a few practically insignificant mistakes.”
“You hired an eighty-year-old woman to follow me. That’s a little bigger than ‘practically insignificant.’”
“Good thing we’ve moved on from that part.”
She snorted.
“Here’s some damn calamari and whatever,” Miguel said, unceremoniously dropping an artistically plated appetizer onto the table with a crash.
“Thanks, Pop,” Nick said. He squeezed lemon over the exquisitely fried calamari before plucking a piece off the plate and feeding it to Riley.
“Oh. My. God. That’s good,” she purred.
