Ivy got the chills. She rubbed her arms even though the feeling had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with Nash.
Ivy:Looking forward to it.
* * *
At the pub on Friday night, Ivy kept trying not to glance at Nash who sat at the bar. He had his hipster clothes on again. The beanie and beard were growing on her, but the sunglasses gave off a trying-too-hard-to-be-cool vibe. They also blocked her from seeing if he was watching her.
Ivy approached the table where two cousins sat. Someone had brought them drinks or they’d picked up their own waiting for a table.
“Having a girls’ night out?” she asked Alyssa and Jessie.
“A much-needed break.” Alyssa sounded tired. “Dusty is watching my son for me.”
Dusty, a chiropractor known as the biggest flirt in town, was Alyssa’s brother. He shared office space with Travis, another of their cousins.
“I’m sure both boys are having fun,” Ivy said.
Alyssa nodded. “As long as they don’t make a mess.”
“At least Dusty hasn’t been bitten by the marriage bug so he has time to babysit,” Jessie teased. She managed the calves and oversaw the cattle sales at the family ranch but looked nothing like a cowgirl tonight. “There will only be a handful of us singletons left if it keeps up.”
“I’ll be one.” Ivy had a feeling she might be the last single Quinn over the age of eighteen standing. She held out her left hand. “This ring finger is staying bare.”
Jessie and Alyssa laughed.
“What can I get you?” Ivy asked, trying not to notice Nash talking to Maggie again. Okay, bartenders talked to customers, but this was the second time. Or was it the third?
“Did you get that, Ivy?” Alyssa asked.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t.” She smiled at her cousin. “Could you repeat that, please?”
“I’d like the meatloaf special.” Alyssa handed over her menu. “But can you please put the gravy on the side?”
Ivy nodded. “Not a problem.”
Jessie held on to her menu. “I want the cabbage rolls with a dinner salad. Honey mustard dressing, please.”
Someone coughed. She recognized the sound immediately.
Nash.
Ivy glanced over her shoulder. He was still speaking with her sister. She forced her attention back on the table. “So I have one meatloaf special with mashed potatoes on the side and the cabbage rolls with a dinner salad and ranch dressing.”
Alyssa laughed. “No one will believe this.”
“What?” Ivy asked.
“You never mess up orders, but you got both of ours wrong.” Jessie touched Ivy’s arm. “You okay?”
Ivy’s cheeks burned. She couldn’t explain the real reason, because Nash wanted no one to know he was here and the NDA she’d signed. “Sorry, busy night and I didn’t sleep much.”
Not to mention a certain guy I can’t stop staring at tonight.
This was bad. Not that she’d lied to Alyssa and Jessie. Just withheld part of the truth.
“Okay, let me try again.” Ivy repeated her cousins’ orders and got both correct.
As she went to her next table, she didn’t let Nash’s presence distract her. Messing up more orders or, worse, dropping a dish or a drink on a customer would be bad. Somehow she made it through the next thirty minutes with only one person sending a plate back because they hadn’t liked the blackened catfish, which wasn’t Ivy’s fault.
