“Wimp!” Autumn shouted, then turned to me with a grin. “Well, since that game is over. What should we do now?”
“Please don’t tell me the night is over!” River shouted through the bathroom door. She whipped it open, still zipping her jeans, and added, “We haven’t had this much fun in ages.”
I dropped my head back against the couch cushions and closed my eyes. The world moved around me, swaying from side to side, but I felt good. River was right; this was one of the best girls’ nights we’d had in months. We skipped February’s get-together. Dahlia’s magic buzzed through her like an earthquake all month. She wouldn’t have been able to relax even if she wanted to and January was rough because it was the anniversary of Mom’s passing. Before that, there were the holidays, which carried their own kind of chaos. So, our last real girls’ night was back in October.
I also wasn't ready to call it a night yet, but a small part of me wanted to be elsewhere. It was hard to focus on my sisters when I kept thinking about Liam. He was working again and I was itching to see him. Ideally, without my sisters, but outside of Dahlia, they’d be none the wiser if we ventured to a bar or two and happened to see Liam while we were out. “Do you want to go out for a drink?”
The room went dead silent, save for the soft clink of a wine glass being set down. A flush of panic raced through me. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe I should have faked a migraine and pretended to go to bed, then snuck out to see Liam. Oh, my god. What am I? Twelve? I wouldn’t be sneaking out. This was my house. I owned it and lived by myself. I was a grown woman. I could do whatever or whoever I wanted, whenever I wanted!
I took a breath and forced a smile. Everything was fine. I was fine. This was just the alcohol panicking.
River gasped, clutching her chest like she was auditioning for a soap opera. “Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?”
Autumn squinted at me like she wasn’t sure she’d heard me right. “You? Go out? Like, leave the house?”
Heat crept up my neck as my thoughts spiraled down a new, terrifying path. What if they hated Liam? Or worse…what if they liked him? Like really liked him! Would I have to explain who he was, or better yet, who he could be? Would I have to fight my sisters off and claim him as mine? Dahlia wouldn’t be a problem; she could read a room, but Autumn was worse than a rabbit. She hooked up with more men in a month than I did my whole college career, and I practically lived on Tinder. River would back down as soon as she realized there was a competition. And I…
I was doing it again.
I grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it to my chest. My skin hummed with anxious energy ready to fight my sisters over a guy they didn’t know existed. Something was seriously wrong with me. “It’s just been a while since we’ve gone to a bar together. I think it could be fun.”
Dahlia arched a brow, suspicion dancing in her eyes. “Fun? Who even are you?” She paused for a beat, the pieces probably clicking in place, then added, “Where?”
I hesitated, suddenly very aware of how much they were all staring at me. “I was thinking…” Ok. Here I go. I just needed to play the suggestion cool and sound aloof. I could do that. I was a strong, independent woman with some very cool, very rare lineage.
I had this in the bag.
“Abbott’s.” My voice betrayed me. It squeaked and then went all breathy, which was one hundred percentnotaloof. I quicklyadded, “Unless there’s somewhere else you’d rather go,” and hoped I sounded less desperate.
River let out an audible gasp, louder and even more dramatic than before. “Abbott’s? The bar with the hot bartenders and overpriced cocktails? Yes. Yes. Yes!”
Autumn leaned forward, her expression skeptical but amused. “If we weren’t sitting in your house right now, I’d assume you’d been abducted and replaced by someone who actually knows what the word ‘fun’ means.”
If she had been anyone but my sister, I might have been offended, but Autumn was right. Fun was usually far from the top three words in my vocabulary. Work, family, and reading generally had the award-winning spots.
I stood, grabbing my purse and hoping that my newfound confidence—or insanity—would make up for my racing heart. “So, are we going or not?”
Dahlia shot me a look. She knew why I wanted to go to Abbott’s and who I wanted to see. I could tell she knew. The question was, was she going to say anything? “Oh, we’re going. There’s no way I’m missing this.”
The line outside Abbott’s stretched around the block and around the corner. It was still early in the night, barely ten, but laughter and music spilled into the warm night air. I wrapped my arms around myself, despite it being in the mid-seventies, and tried to fight off a chill and my nerves.
What was I even doing here? I didn’t do this. Unless it was St. Patrick's Day, I didn’t go out to bars, and I damn sure didn’t chase guys. If Autumn or River were to find out what I was actually doing at a place like this, I’d blame the alcohol. Its liquidcourage nudged me to stalk a handsome man. Yup. That’s what I’d say. I’d tell them my fuzzy thoughts followed a blurry path forged by an invisible string tied to the man who just happened to own Abbott's.
Dahlia would argue that this pull to be near Liam was more than a drunken desire, but I’m not ready to entertain that notion. Not yet. Not until I know more about him.
“Are you sure about this?” River asked, giving me a sideways look as we waited in line. “I don’t think I’ve seen you willingly leave the house in the past eight years.”
I rolled my eyes, but her comment hit closer to home than I wanted to admit. I didn’t leave my house very often because I was comfortable there. I’d accepted what my magic meant for my life and made peace with it years ago. Plus, there was always someone willing to hook up on some app or another if I got lonely, which wasn’t often.
“I’m sure,” I said, but the longer we waited, the more my buzz faded. My confidence teetered into nervousness and I was starting to regret coming out. But we were here. There was no turning back. “Let’s just get inside before I change my mind.”
Thirty minutes later, we reached the front of the line. By this point, I was so nervous I was nauseous. I stood wedged between Dahlia and Autumn, who were in a lively conversation about her newest vibrator and how Autumnhad to get one.We were at the front for less than a minute before the bouncer said, “Holly?”
I looked up, vaguely recognized him. “Uh, yeah?”
“I thought that was you. It’s me… Ralph.” The man touched his chest and beamed down at me. I remembered him now.
“How’d the game go last week?” I asked, and Ralph’s face lit up. I’m sure he didn’t expect me to remember the cryptic conversation with Liam, or to dig deeper into what they were talking about, but how could I not? It still makes me tingly knowing that Liam carves out time to support his friend’s kids.
