“You guys still good? I know you said it all worked out, but we haven’t really talked since then.”
“Yeah, we’re good,” I said. “That reminds me, though. The five of us haven’t really spent any time together lately. We should all get dinner together.”
Will shrugged. “I’m in. My social calendar isn’t exactly bustling right now.”
“If you want to message your sister, I’ll text Alex. If they’re free, maybe we could do it tonight? The snowstorm will probably miss us, but just in case.”
“Now who’s the jinx?” Will glanced up from his phone. “That’s how you guarantee we get a blizzard.”
He had a point, not that I’d admit it, so I busied myself sending a quick message to Alex. The bookstore must’ve been slow, because he texted back almost immediately and agreed. He even said he’d close up a little early to meet us after work, so it must’ve been an extremely slow day.
“Alex is in,” I reported without looking up from sending Alex an ‘I love you’ text.
“Cami and Raina are in, too, as long as it’s not too late,” Will said. “I will never understand how they willingly go to work at 4:00 in the morning. When we were kids, almost nothing would get Camille out of bed before noon, if she had a choice.”
“Sounds like Alex.” I slid the phone back onto my desk and stretched. We’d managed to kill a half hour, at least, and now we had something to look forward to.
“I guess I can try to get this paperwork done,” Will said with all the enthusiasm of a man walking to the guillotine.
Somehow, despite Will jinxing us, we were able to leave on time without any major emergencies cropping up. The five of us had decided on The Taphouse for dinner, which was only a block over from the police department. Despite the cold, it was easier to just walk rather than deal with parking, so we headed that way.
The Taphouse had started life as a bar, with one cook to make some basic bar snacks to keep people drinking. The food had turned out to be so good, though, that the owner wisely changed course and turned it into a restaurant. Alex and I had been here a few times and he’d filled me in on the local history.
We weren’t the only ones who’d decided to grab some food before the snow, apparently, because the place was already filling up. Despite living here less than a year, I spotted quite a few people I recognized. Mrs. Sharper, the infamous town gossip, sat at a high-top table with her husband and another couple, talking excitedly about something. A few of the night shift patrol officers sat together in a corner booth with the remnants of their dinner between them, relaxing before they had to go on duty. I even spotted Julian Delaney and his twins, Evie and Arlo, seated together at a round table by the window. The kids were talking away while their dad just listened with a look of pure love on his face.
Alex must have coordinated with the girls, because the three of them bustled through the door together about five minutes later. Alex spotted me immediately and I rose to greet him, smiling when he pulled me into a soft kiss the moment he was close enough.
“Hi,” I murmured against his cold lips.
“Hi,” he said, eyes lighting up when he laughed.
“I’m going to put you two at opposite ends of the booth if you don’t stop being disgustingly cute,” Raina complained and Alex just laughed again, lingering for another kiss before stepping away. He slid in beside me, with Raina in the middle and Camille on her left. Will and I ended up at the two ends of the booth.
“This is nice. Thank you guys for inviting us,” Camille said once we were all settled.
“Thanks for coming. I know we’re getting close to your bedtime,” I said. Alex sat pressed against my side and I settled my hand on his knee. He immediately laid his over mine, our fingers twining.
“We’ll be fine,” Raina shrugged. “I’ll have Rachel add an extra shot of espresso to my drink in the morning.”
“You most certainly will not,” Camille said. “The last time you had extra caffeine, you talked for three hours straight. I don’t think you took a breath the entire time.”
“And that’s different from her usual how..?”
Raina turned a scandalized look on Alex. “I’ll bring back that matcha lime latte and that’s all you’ll get for a week, Alexander Henry Copeland.”
“Ooh, we’re doing government names?” Will winced, but it looked like he was trying damn hard to smother a laugh. “I’d grovel now if I were you.”
“You know I was only kidding, Raina. I love you, and you tie with Camille for my favorite woman on the planet. You make the best coffee in the world, even when you experiment with things that should never go together. Without you, I would be adrift in a decaf ocean, and that would be a genuine tragedy. I would—”
“Alright, alright,” Raina laughed, cutting off Alex’s rambling apology. “Apology accepted. Now put the puppy dog eyes away and let’s order some food.”
“You used the big sad eyes on her? That’s not playing fair,” I murmured in Alex’s ear once everyone else was distracted by the menu.
“Worth it. You never had to try that latte. I’ll use whatever weapons I have to in order to avoid ever doing that again.” He leaned against my side, a soft smile on his lips when he looked around the table. The girls shared a menu, giggling about something Raina had said, and Will watched them with a fond smile.
“We should do this more,” Alex said, loud enough for the others to hear him this time. “We don’t hang out enough as a group.”
“That’s because you guys always get sappy around each other,” Will said, rolling his eyes. “As the resident single member of this group, I have a limit on how long I can deal with it when you’re all acting twitterpated.”
