I saw him glance over at Pete and Andrea. I indicated the pair. “Greg, this is Pete and Andrea. They were on the team that went to Florida.”
Greg gave them a little wave. “Nice to meet you.”
Two servers arrived with half a dozen plates of food. Greg asked for a cup of coffee, which meant he probably hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before. I leaned over and asked, “You okay? You look beat.”
He shrugged. “I woke up earlier than I wanted to.” For some reason, a blush crept onto his cheeks. “And I didn’t sleep well when I took a nap this afternoon.”
I put some food on a plate for him. “Eat. You gotta keep your strength up.”
Both Marco and Michael snickered. “You’re such a mother hen,” Marco said.
I flipped him off before getting Greg a napkin. “The man needs to eat.”
“Thanks,” Greg said with a smile when I handed him his food. He looked over at Marco. “Congratulations on catching that guy in Florida.”
Everyone at the table chuckled. Greg looked confused. Marco put his arm around Liam’s shoulders. “I wasn’t on that mission. The only thing I caught was this one here.” He kissed the side of Liam’s head. “He said yes.”
Greg’s brows drew together, and then his eyes widened. “Oh. Oh! Congratulations! That’s wonderful.”
“Thanks,” Liam said, his cheeks rosy.
“Gabe and Michael ran that op,” Marco added. “They did a great job.”
“Hey! What about us?” Pete complained, indicating himself and Andrea.
Marco rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You did a good job too. Want a cookie?”
“I’ll take a whiskey, thank you very much,” Pete retorted.
Greg snorted a laugh. “Good choice.”
Liam took a break from devouring a basket of fries and said to Greg, “I had no idea you could sing. You’re really good.”
Greg smiled. “Thanks. I mostly learned to sing so I could do stuff like this. Piano is my first love.”
“Speaking of which,” Liam began, “I heard you’re going to teach Cody to play the piano. That’s so cool.”
He nodded. “Yes. It’ll be challenging because he’s so young, but I’m really looking forward to it.”
“You should have dinner with us the next time you teach at Jeremy’s school,” Liam said.
I could see by Greg’s expression that he was about to refuse. Then his brows drew together, and he blew out a soft breath.“That would be great. I’d like that. I’m down there every Friday, and I’m usually done by seven.”
Liam passed his phone over to Greg. “Put your number in so we can coordinate. Getting Marco, my brother, and Jeremy to be in the same place at the same time is like herding cats.”
“Hey!” Marco objected. “I’m very organized.”
“When you’re on a mission,” Liam retorted.
“I suppose you could just pretend it’s a mission,” Pete quipped.
The chatter devolved into snark and ribbing that Greg watched with a bemused expression. It was clear he wasn’t used to being in a group of friends like this.
I also realized that he rarely hung out with us after events where he played. Granted, they had been few and far between, but he almost always turned down our invitations for him to join us. I pursed my lips. I would have to start including him in more group activities. We might be friends with benefits, but clearly, I was slacking on the friends part.
Greg’s half-hour break went by fast. He wiped his hands on a napkin and rose. “Thank you so much for coming to see me. If I don’t see you before you leave, have a safe drive home.” He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Thanks for the food. I don’t mind you being a mother hen.”
I watched him walk toward the back of the bar, no doubt to use the restroom. When I turned back, five pairs of eyes were staring at me. I glared at them. “What?”
