paula
Oh my God.Is he dying? I pat his back. I don’t know why it’s a gut reaction. Also, I’m pretty sure my mom did the same thing when I was a kid and having a choking fit. Or well, coughing, I guess.
“Tristan?” I try to lean over until I can see his face, but there’s a good chance we’ll bump heads.
He holds up a finger while trying to gain his composure. So, not dying. That’s good at least. My cheeks are probably bright red, and I can feel everyone in the bar staring at us.
“Damn, Paula.” I glance over the bar to see Eric studying the situation. “I thought your family was going to take him out, not you.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“I know.” Eric grins. “Tristan, do we need to call someone to come help you out?”
He shakes his head back and forth. “I—just—need—a minute.”
His voice is raspy between coughs, and I feel even worse. After this, he may not want to help me out anymore.
“I’m gonna hang around just in case,” Eric says as he leans against the bar. “You know, your family isn’t going to believe you’re dating if you don’t show up to spaces together.”
“You know about our arrangement?”
“Yep.” he nods. “I’m a bartender. I pull out all the best secrets.”
I watch Tristan pick up the glass and take a drink before clearing his throat. He’s okay. “Don’t act like you coerced me into saying anything. I did that of my own volition.”
“You told him?” This shouldn’t be shocking, but it is. I figured he found out from Caroline or one of my other coworkers.
“Yeah.” He takes another sip. Water would probably be better, and before I can voice my thought, Eric is sliding a glass across the counter. “Thanks. I wanted to see if he knew anything about your family.”
“You could have asked me.” Though I’d probably start ranting. They aren’t bad, just annoying. It’s probably best it came from an outside party.
“I know. And I will because we’ll need to get some key facts straight. Do you have a date, yet?”
“Yeah, two weeks from tomorrow.” Dread fills my stomach already and it’s not even time to leaveon this trip.
“Wow.” He shakes his head. “They really don’t give you a lot of notice.”
He’s not wrong. It’s completely normal, though. They plan something and expect everyone to move their schedules around to accommodate them. It’s actually pretty unfair.
“If you can’t make it, I totally understand.” Everything inside of me is hoping he can still go with me. I can endure my family alone, but why do it if I don’t have to.
“It should be fine. Dale told me to let him know the dates.”
Phew. The tension inside my body melts away with these few words.
“I guess it’s a good thing we have understanding bosses.”
“Yep. It helps that we aren’t touring right now. Otherwise…”
He lets the words drift off because that means I would be on my own, and he doesn’t want to voice it.
“Well, I’m glad I ran into you.”
He shoots a quick glance at Eric, and his cheeks blush. “Why’s that?”
“So, I could tell you the dates. Even though I’m pretty sure I also almost killed you.”
“Naw.” He waves me off. “It went down the wrong pipe is all.”
