“And I heard this was one of the best places in town,” Mr. Greyson said.
“It is,” Nicholas responded dryly.
I took that as my cue. “Well, have a nice evening, Mr. Greyson.” I waved goodbye.
“You too, Kelli.” Mr. Greyson could hardly keep the laugh out of his voice.
It took everything I had in me not to roll my eyes, especially when he had parting words for my date. “Don’t have her out too late, it’s a school night after all.”
Nicholas didn’t respond to that ridiculous statement as Mr. Greyson walked away, finally letting his laugh out.
I turned my attention back to my disgruntled date. “Sorry about that.” I smiled in hopes to smooth it over.
He wasn’t smiling back. “Do you guys have like a thing?”
“No. He’s my boss,” I said indignantly.
He smirked. “Because that would be unheard of.”
“I think we should change the subject.”
Nicholas had no problem with that, but unfortunately, my first impression of him was dead on. He loved to talk about himself. I was treated to the highlight reel of his “fascinating” life. I didn’t even need to speak. All I had to do was sit there and occasionally nod or smile. And the only reason I was smiling was because someone besides my date kept staring my way from the bar. Several times I caught both Mr. Greyson and his brother-in-law looking my way and waving or pretending their hands were guns and shooting themselves in the head. That was exactly how I felt.
It got really interesting when the table next to us freed up. Guess who came to occupy it?
It was comical, in a way. At least it made my date take a breath and shut up. He was just starting in on his days as a star basketball player for the University of Tennessee, and I, for one, wasn’t interested at all. The new table arrangement also allowed me to be introduced to Noelle’s husband, and I had really wanted to meet him.
Mr. Greyson, with no regard, interrupted Nicholas. “Kelli, this is my very lucky brother-in-law, Sean Nixon.” My first thought was, that was kind of sweet. Mr. Greyson and Noelle had been close, and by how he introduced Sean, I could tell that was still the case. My second thought was, I bet Noelle didn’t love having Nixon for a last name, but I bet she loved Sean. I could sense he was a nice guy. He wore a goofy smile that fit his red hair and freckles perfectly. He looked like the sweet boy next door. I was sure Noelle kept him on his toes.
Sean held out his hand as the introduction was made. “It is a pleasure to meet you. Noelle will be jealous.”
“How is Noelle?” I took his hand, eager to know anything about my old friend.
His eyes lit up at the mention of her name. That was a good husband there. Holy envy was creeping in. I wasn’t attracted to Sean, but I hoped someday to have a husband who lit up at the mention of my name.
He grinned like he really was the luckiest man. “She’s Noelle.”
“Please tell her hello for me.”
“I’ll do one better.” He took out his phone. “Ian, stand by Kelli.”
Mr. Greyson zipped over to me and held his hand out to help me stand. Naturally my hand found its way to his. His touch made me wish . . . well . . . never mind. To make matters worse or better, depending on how you looked at it, he put his arm around my waist. I looked up at him. He grinned like a fool, and foolishly, I liked it. We smiled for one picture before I unloosed myself from Mr. Greyson. It was then I noticed how very unhappy my date was. He was shooting daggers at Mr. Greyson with his eyes. I bit my lip, pretending I was embarrassed, hoping that would ease the tension, but he wasn’t buying it. I shrugged it off. I wasn’t having that good of a time anyway.
I think Sean and Mr. Greyson could tell and were trying to help me out, either that or they were extremely rude. They kept interrupting Mr. I-scored-fifty-points-in-a-game-once with gems like, “Kelli, tell Sean about the time Noelle climbed out your window during one of our double dates and someone called the cops because they thought she was breaking in.” Mr. Greyson was playing dirty. He knew I wouldn’t refuse him in front of Sean, which meant I would have to talk about our past. Something I had been refusing to do up to this point. It also wasn’t lost on my date.
“You two dated?” Nicholas growled before downing his glass of chardonnay. “I thought you said there wasn’t anything going on between you.”
“It was a long time ago,” I informed Nicholas.
“Seems like yesterday to me,” Mr. Greyson said wistfully.
My brows shot up. What was Mr. Greyson playing at?
Nicholas sneered at him.
“Kelli, you didn’t tell me your story,” Sean jumped in.
Mr. Greyson dared me with his eyes to acknowledge our shared past.
