“Oh.” Bree pursed her lips. “I didn’t consider that.” She furrowed her brow. “He didn’t have a phone in his hand,” she said finally. “He was just standing there, and he turned in such a way that made me think he was waiting for me specifically. He didn’t react with surprise when I left the bathroom.”
“Which means he was waiting for you.”
“How could he even know it was me, though?” Bree asked. “He would have had to have been watching me.”
I arched an eyebrow and waited her out.
“I didn’t see him hanging around tonight,” she argued after a beat.
“I didn’t either. But I can’t say I was looking.”
“Yeah, I can’t say I was either.” She was rueful. “Thank you. If you hadn’t showed up when you did…”
“You would have been fine. You’re loud. All you had to do was yell.”
“You made that unnecessary. At least I didn’t have to cause a scene. I got really lucky that you had to use the bathroom when you did.”
The look in her eyes, profound gratitude for the bare minimum again, made me distinctly uncomfortable. “Yes, well … I actually came looking for you.”
“You did?” She straightened. “Why?”
“Because Blair was rude to you, and that wasn’t right.”
“You mean Blair the superfan with your face stretched across her superboobs?” Bree’s lips curved at the corners.
I made a face. “I have been rigorously trained not to comment on anybody’s boobs.”
“Like… at a camp or something?”
“Yes, the camp of common sense,” I said. She laughed, and I felt myself relaxing. “She was really rude to you, and that wasn’t right. I just got thrown there for a second. Sometimes my brain isn’t as fast as it should be. I wanted to apologize once I got away from her.”
“Yeah?” She tilted her head then smirked. “Where did you land on Basilica?”
I wanted to ask her when she’d read my book. No, I wanted to ask herwhyshe’d read my book. I didn’t. Instead, I shrugged. “We’ve agreed to disagree.”
“You do realize when you kill off Basilica in the next book—which is obviously coming—Blair’s going to hunt you down and castrate you, right?”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “Hopefully, she’ll have moved on to somebody else by then.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.” She glanced through the opening that led to the bar. “I really appreciate what you did. Nobody else would have done that. You defused the situation quietly without causing a scene. You were great.”
I hoped that wasn’t true—the part about nobody else stepping in. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
“It was a huge deal. I appreciate it.” She took a step away. “I guess I should be going. I don’t want to get stuck waiting for an Uber alone again.”
For some reason, the idea of her fleeing and ending the night on somebody else’s terms didn’t sit well with me. I was suddenly in a panic to stop her.
“Dinner,” I blurted.
Her brow knit as she glanced over at me. “What?”
“Dinner,” I repeated. “I told Joey I was taking you to dinner. Just to be on the safe side, in case he’s waiting outside, I should follow through.”
“You want to take me to dinner?” Bree was understandably dubious.
“You didn’t get to eat all the appetizers you ordered. You were hangry before the event started. You must be fangry by now.”
“What’s fangry?”
