We wouldn’t want that.
Thank you, they’re beautiful.
Levi
Not as beautiful as you.
I’m smiling at the screen when I hear someone clear their throat beside me. I quickly drop my phone and turn to see Kirstin grinning at me knowingly.
“He sent you flowers,” she gushes, plucking the card off my desk. “This is so goddamn cute.”
“I know,” I reply, rubbing my lips together as I sit down in my chair.
Kirstin sets the card down as she asks, “So things are going well?”
“We only spent a few hours together,” I inform her, leaning back and crossing my legs at the ankles as I look up at her. “He’s been away on a business trip, but he comes back in a couple of days.”
“Clearly you’ve been talking since, though, if these flowers are any indication.”
I glance at the roses. “We have been, yes. And he’s very sweet, but there are still some things I need to wrap my head around.”
Before she can ask me about it, my phone lights up on my desk and I see that it’s Nico from Stanley’s.
“Hey, what’s up?” I ask as I answer and watch Kirstin lean against my desk.
“The people who booked out the rooftop for tomorrow night backed out,” he tells me. “If you want to set up early, you’re more than welcome to. I already called the DJ, and he said he’d be here today to set out his stuff.”
“Amazing, thanks, Nico,” I say before hanging up the phone. I stand up and reach for my purse, tossing my phone inside before hiking it up on my shoulder and looking at Kirstin. “I’m going to set up early for this weekend. If you need me, just holler.”
She nods and stands to head back into her office as I head toward the door to catch the elevator.
I walkinto Stanley’s and am surprised to see it as busy as it is for three o’clock on a Tuesday. The hostess greets me and lets me know Nico has opened the doors upstairs for me and unlocked the storage closet where he let me dump all the boxes I had brought over the weekend.
Heading up the wooden steps, I push open the glass doors at the top and step onto the rooftop. There’s a bar tucked off in the corner to my right with lightly worn leather barstools around it.
Round tables fill the space, a mix of high-tops and low-tops with four chairs or stools at each. Along the left wall, there aresix sets of booths with wooden benches with nice grey cushions covering them. And as I look up, I smile at my favorite part of this rooftop: the pergola made of wooden beams with hundreds of lights hanging from them, which really makes this place come alive at night.
Tossing my purse down on one of the round tables, I turn the corner and open the small storage closet and pull out my boxes when I hear the glass doors open. As I stand, my eyes widen in surprise as I see who is standing there.
“Cole?” I smile as he walks over, the same look of surprise covering his features. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m here to set up for your event on Friday.”
A breathy scoff leaves my lips as I raise a brow. “You DJ on the side?”
“Needed something fun to do to make a little extra cash when I was in school, and I just didn’t want to give it up.”
Cole puts a hand on my lower back and slides behind me, reaching into the closet to grab more bins without my asking. I grab the two I had pulled out already and walk over to one of the booths and set them down as I pop open the lids.
Glancing over my shoulder, I see Cole heading my way with one of the heavier bins, and I don’t miss the slight limp that he has.
“What happened?” I ask once he approaches and sets down the large container.
“Oh,” he says with a shrug and a dismissive wave of his hand. “You know, nothing serious. Was just a klutz with too much to drink.”
My brows furrow at that. “I thought you didn’t drink anymore?”
Cole’s face pales slightly before he’s covering it up with a smile, so fast I almost think I imagined it. “I was out with mybuddies and just got carried away. It’s not a normal thing, don’t worry. I haven’t fallen off the wagon.”
