“The current show? You’ve had dozens of great reviews.”
“Yeah, well, the one bad one pissed me off.” Rick threw in another ice cube.
“I’m surprised he hasn’t hunted the man down.” Dan giggled.
“What did he say?”
“That the dialogue was choppy and unnatural, and the romance completely absent from the page.”
“That’s ridiculous, the exact opposite of what everyone else is saying. Can’t you just chalk it up to bad taste and forget him?”
“Cozyouwere so good at ignoring bad reviews?”
“That’s different. All my detractors were clearly morons.”
They laughed, but Teddy would stand by his statement.
“Who was it anyway?”
“Who can remember?” Rick grunted, proving he likely had the man’s name and home address memorized but was trying to avoid an assault charge. “You too, babe?” he asked Dan with a swirl of his drink.
“Sure. Teddy? Or can you not have anything?”
“In moderation. Tonight, I may need to push that.” Teddy kicked his feet up onto the coffee table, thinking of all the people from his professional life he was bound to run into later.
Like Hartley.
Scooting across the sofa to get closer, Dan put on his most potent puppy expression. “How are you doing, Teddy? Really?”
Normally, Teddy hated when Dan got invasive like that, just like he’d been wary of Finn’s oozing sympathy, but it didn’t feel as strained anymore to be open. “Better than I thought I’d be. Some days more than others, though.”
“Hot young piece of tail helps, I bet.” Rick chuckled.
“Rick!”
“It does,” Teddy admitted with a grin.
“Well, in that case.” Dan scooted closer.
“In that case, what?” Teddy leaned away from him.
“Tell us about him!”
“What are we, schoolgirls?” Rick snorted.
“Daniel was a Girl Scout,” Teddy couldn’t resist teasing, and both he and Rick snickered.
“Funny,” Dan said, crossing his arms petulantly. “And it was Eagle Scout.”
They laughed harder, and before long, Dan was unable to resist twitching with a smile of his own.
After the first few sips of the drinks Rick made them, Teddy loosened up enough to tell them things about Finn he hadn’t shared over the phone.
When the hour grew late, however, between their drinks and catching up, it was time to get ready. They wouldn’t see Erina until after the ballet, entrenched as she was in preshow responsibilities, but Laverne had insisted on dinner and would be joining them for the show as well.
Rick and Dan had brought their tuxes along to change at the hotel. Teddy’s felt snug once he got into it, but it still fit, thankfully.
“There’s my baby,” Laverne gushed when they arrived at the restaurant. She was a beautiful woman, all class, in a glittery black evening gown. “How are you, sweetheart?” She kissed Teddy’s cheek after embracing him.
