Then Fox asked sweetly, “Do you have a death wish, Penny?”
“Is that how you talk to the woman who signs your paychecks? The other tables are full.” She gestured to the dozens of empty tables around them.
Fox sighed, and Jack gave him a pleading look. Penny simply stood next to Hazel, and Cian gave her his most charming smile. “Hey, Hazel, long time no see.”
“Cian.” She gave him a friendly nod. “You haven’t changed a bit. How’s Ada?”
“Good. She’d rather talk to goats than me.”
Hazel laughed…and Gareth hated his best friend’s ability to coax merriment from Hazel so easily. By God, the last time Hazel had beamed like that for him was when they were poring over law books in a stuffy library…and he’d told her he loved her. Yeah, probably then. Back then, he’d been unable to concentrate on anything but her, let alone the text in front of him, and the words had just burst forth from him.
He looked away.
“So she’s in the thick of puberty?” Hazel continued, ignoring him as expertly as she usually ignored his emails.
Cian grinned. “Yep.”
“Speaking of people in the thick of puberty,” Jack muttered, stepping aside to make room for Leon.
“Have you asked him yet?” he said as he greeted the hockey players among them.
Gareth frowned. “Asked who what?”
“We all knowwhohas to ask, Alvarez,” Fox replied stonily.
Leon grimaced. “Okay, this is awkward!”
Gareth got the feeling this was about him.
“Leon…” Fox gave him a stern look.
“Fine!” Annoyed, the young player turned and fixed his gaze on Gareth. “Boss, where are our damn Snickers?”
Gareth frowned. “Why are you asking me? Did you draw the shortest match?”
A gentle blush spread across Leon's cheeks. “Nope. It was a straw. So what about it? Seriously, that email was the ultimate joke, about Milky Way being objectively better than Snickers. What the hell, Clark?”
Hazel laughed loudly, and for a fleeting second, her gaze landed on Gareth. “You don’t still believe Milky Way is a main course, do you?”
If you ate enough of it, it was, yes. But he found it best not to reply. It was difficult to control what came out of his mouth around Hazel, and today, too much depended on it.
When he didn’t respond, Hazel blinked, irritated, before adding suspiciously, “Leon’s right. You’re wrong: Snickers is better than Milky Way. Like crossword puzzles are better than Sudoku.”
His shoulders tensed, and he bit his tongue. She was provoking him. She knew he usually defended Milky Way to the death, and that Sudokus stimulated significantly more brain regions than a stupid crossword puzzle. But today he wouldn’t strike back. Because today his sister was standing next to him, scrutinizing the slightest twitch of his hands — and every word that came out of his mouth.
“I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” he replied calmly, even though something else was on the tip of his tongue. Even though he wanted to reply that he wasn’t going to listen to nutrition advice from the woman who had eaten approximately two tons of pizza, gummy bears, and peanut butter cups throughout college. Except when she was alone — then she refused to eat anything at all because eating alone was the saddest thing in the world, and she couldn’t stand it.
But he would remain rational. Friendly.Nice.
So he said none of that and instead fumbled for his cell phone to distract himself. Of course, he couldn’t find it, because his phone was in Penny’s pocket. Damn. Instead, he took one of the champagne glasses filled with orange juice from the waiter who had just stopped at their table. Drinking alcohol and having to be nice to Hazel didn’t seem like a smart combination.
Hazel looked extremely confused by his words, but she also grabbed a glass, as did the rest of the group, who had been glancing tensely between the two of them. Gareth’s stomachsank. He was used to people dancing on eggshells around him, but that didn’t mean he liked it. Quite the opposite.
“Okay, everyone!” a loud, amplified voice rang out across the beach. Lucy, the Hawks’ PR consultant and the bride’s sister and maid of honor, was standing on the promenade. “Matt and Maddie are about to have their first dance as a married couple. But so that no one sees what a terrible dancer Matt is, they've asked that as many couples as possible join them. And, so that as many as possible make fools of themselves…” Lucy sighed heavily. “…Maddie suggested that the whole thing be combined with a game of freeze dance.”
Oh God.
“I know, I know. But she’s the bride, so I couldn’t say no,” Lucy said, sounding distressed.
