“What can you tell us about him?” Vic asks. “Where’s he from?”
She fixes him with a pointed look. “Like I told you this morning, he’s a paying guest at the pub. If you want to know anything about Charlie, you’ll have to ask him, not me. Or Char,” she adds on quickly.
Something clicks in my brain. “Was this why you two were all squirrely this morning?”
Hailey laughs. “You so weren’t subtle.”
“In my defence,” Sean begins, “it was all Vic’s idea.”
Vic gasps and glares at his husband. “Really?”He faces me. “We just wanted to introduce you two again. See if that spark was still there.”
My eyes narrow. I only told one person about New Year’s Eve. “Sadie.”
“She was here with Tim when I took the booking.” Hailey winces. “I may have mentioned that Charlie had been here at New Year’s and was left stranded by his boyfriend. Sadie said he must’ve been the one you’d spoken to outside.”
My gaze shifts to Vic. “And you overheard, I take it?”
“It’s not like I was eavesdropping. It was right here at the bar.” He knocks my shoulder. “We thought you might like to seehim again since he was back here. Sadie said you thought he was hot.”
I am going to kill my sister.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, then sigh and give up trying to be offended. These are my friends, and as interfering as they are, they all mean well. “You can all stop now. Like I said, I’m meeting Charlie for drinks after we’ve had food—which we still need to order by the way—and I’ll take it from there.”
All three of them stare at me, waiting, until they realise I’m not going to say anything more.
“Okay, then.” Hailey claps Vic on the shoulder. “I need to ask a quick favour, Vic, so why don’t you come with me and you can order food at the same time.”
As soon as they’re out of earshot, Sean turns to me with a serious expression. “You know, I almost messed up with Vic because I didn’t think I had much to offer him. That he wouldn’t want someone who wanted to live out in the sticks.”
I scoff because Vic and Sean are perfect for each other. “You’re a national park ranger, and you look like that.” I wave a hand at him. He’s blond, broad-shouldered, and hot. “What’s not to like?” Despite Sean saying more or less what Sadie said to me the other day, I still can’t get past the fact that maybe I’m the problem.
Sean bites his lip before saying quietly, “You remember my ex, right? The one who left me when I refused to quit my job and move to the city?”
It takes me a minute, but eventually it clicks. “Oh.”
“It wasn’t fair, but my experience with him made me second-guess everything with Vic.” He gives me a pointed look. “Sound familiar?”
I sigh because I can see what he’s saying, but... “That was one guy who made you feel shitty. When it’s the last three or fouryou’ve been with, you start to think that maybe the problem is you.”
To my surprise, he laughs. “Yeah, okay, I get why you’d feel that way. And I know it’s easy for me to sit here and say there’s someone out there for you, Pete. Especially when I’ve already found my person. But I used to feel like you did, and if I hadn’t given Vic a chance, then I’d have missed out on one of the best things in my life.”
He has a point, I guess.
“I’m not saying Charlie’s that guy for you. You might be right and the two of you have nothing in common.” I snort and he shrugs. “But don’t write him off before giving it a chance. Even if all you do istalk—” He rolls his eyes, pulling another laugh from me. “—what’s the worst that can happen?”
He gets bored in the first five minutes and leaves?
I don’t say that out loud though, because even I can recognise how defeatist that sounds. I glance over Charlie’s way, again. The pub has got busier in the last twenty minutes and he’s partially blocked, but I catch a glimpse of his dark hair. “Fine,” I mutter. “I’ll give it a chance.”
Sean reaches over and clasps my shoulder. “If nothing else, you might gain a friend and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
About an hour later,Sean sets his empty pint glass down and rubs his hands together. “Right,” he says, catching Vic’s eye. “We need to get going.”
“Do we?” Vic looks confused until Sean raises his eyebrows. “Oh. Yes, we do.”
“Subtle.” I almost don’t want them to go, but I refuse to let nerves get the better of me. I’m a grown man, for fuck’s sake. I can have a drink with a guy and not have a meltdown.
The two of them stand and shrug into their coats. I glance over at Charlie’s table, easier to see now that the crowd has thinned, and find him watching me.
