“Cheers,” I said as I clinked my glass to his.
Meredith and I had gone to a whiskey-tasting event together, and I had a feeling that she’d hooked us up with something top-shelf. I didn’t love whiskey, but I wasn’t about to let it go to waste. I took a sip and watched as the hostess led another couple to a table across the patio. The woman was petite, blond, and ridiculously pretty, with her hair slicked back in a low bun and wearing a simple cropped black shirt and jeans in the unstyled-but-definitely-planned way of all great influencers.
I tried not to stare as she and her date took their seats because she lookedreallyfamiliar. Did I follow her on Instagram? I took another sip of whiskey as I glanced at her date, then launched into a choking fit of shock and horror.
It was Leo.
“Are you okay?” Owen asked as I tried not to make a spectacle of myself. He glanced over his shoulder to follow my gaze, then back at me, his brow furrowed with concern. “Take my water.”
He handed his glass to me, and I gulped it down in between coughing fits that I tried to keep quiet, because thelastthing I wanted was for Leo to spot me red-faced and runny-eyed.
I tried to formulate a plan as I collected myself. Dessert hadn’t arrived yet, but it wasn’t like I could remain at the table, speed shoveling caramel mousse in my face, with my ex and his perfect girlfriend just a few feet away. Maybe I could slip out, have the waitress box everything up, and meet Owen on the sidewalk?
“What’s going on?” Owen asked when I could finally breathe normally again. “Who are those people?”
Had I beenthatobvious, or was Owen just that perceptive?
We leaned toward each other at the same moment.
“My ex,” I whispered hoarsely. “That’s Leo.”
Owen’s face went stormy as he seemed to process that my backstory was invading our present. The ghosting, resulting writer’s block, Kai, and our pickleball connection all stemmed from the handsome man across the patio.
I stole a glance at Leo, who was unfortunately positioned so he’d see us if he could tear his eyes away from Isodora. His superpower was his ability to get away with extreme amounts of bullshit because he was so damnadorable. Dark hair, light eyes, and a mischievous smile that suggested all sorts of naughtiness. Old ladies thought he walked on water.
“Is this the first time you’ve seen him since...?”
I nodded mutely.
“Well, you look amazing,” Owen said. “No matter what, you’ve got that going for you.”
It was the kindest thing he could’ve said, because my first reflex was a quick inventory of my outfit and hair. I’d fixed myself up for Nia’s event in summery pink, and Owen had noticed.
“Is he watching us?”
Owen tried to surreptitiously peek over his shoulder, then opted to swing his chair over so that he was closer to me and had a straight line of sight for easier spying.
“Not that I can tell.”
The waitress interrupted us again, this time to deliver a tray of desserts that had a hissing sparkler sticking out and “Happy Birthday” written in chocolate on the plate. Flying under theradar was impossible now, because the stick of dynamite shooting fire on our mousse was the equivalent of a searchlight on the dim patio.
“What?” I gaped at Owen. “Is it your birthday?”
Then it hit me. Meredith.
“Happy birthday tobothof you,” the waitress said in a louder voice than she’d used all night, which made a few people turn to look at us. A woman at the next table clapped.
I couldn’t bear to check if Leo was looking over, but how could he not? It was a spectacle, and all we needed was for the waitstaff to come out and sing to us. I doubted Leo would know that it wasn’t actually my birthday. He’d asked me about the date and then recorded it in his phone, but we’d never shared a November.
“He’s watching,” Owen whispered to me through a smile. “I think it’s payback time.”
“Huh?”
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “You fake dated for me; now it’s my turn to do it for you. It’s only fair.”
I gripped the whiskey glass in my hands so tightly I worried it might shatter. “Oh, you don’t have to...”
“But Iwantto.”
