“Hey, I said used to,” Leon clarifies. “Now that you have yourhusbandat home waiting, I’m not as worried.”
“All she needed was some balance,” Jacob says as drinks are dropped off.
I grab the lemon drop martini with the sugar rim and wait for the toast that I know is coming.
“Here’s to Alice,” Leon says. “For being a badass and putting our name out there and bringing in more business than I thought possible with one event.”
“Cheers.” I blush under his praise. “You know I love what I do.”
“And it’s why I love you,” Leon says.
“Now why didn’t that delicious husband of yours come out with us?” Jacob asks, sipping on his dirty martini.
“Practice.” I sip on my drink, loving the sweet and sour taste. “The season is starting soon and I don’t want anything to get in the way of another championship season.”
“You know, I’m surprised we even see you as much as we do,” Jacob says.
“What do you mean?” I lean back in my chair, crossing one leg over the other.
“Babe. You have the hottest man in the world at your house?—”
“Excuse me,” Leon interrupts.
“Hotteststraightman,” he clarifies. “Why in the world would you not climb him like a tree every chance you get?”
My head rolls back in laughter. “Did you not just say you were worried about me not having a life?”
“But not having a life and railing your husband are two very different things,” Jacob says.
Leon pats his arm. “He meant thank you for coming out with us before going home to your husband.”
“To climb him like a tree,” Jacob finishes.
“If this is how you two are going to be all night, I might go well past my two-drink limit.”
Jacob claps his hands. “I do love when five-drink Alice comes out. She always has the dish.”
“Then I might stay closer to three-drink Alice. She keeps it together.”
“You’re no fun.”
Our server comes by and takes our dinner order. It’s the perfect night with friends spent laughing and talking about anything and everything. The kind of night you’ll look back and remember because you love these people and the memories you’ve made together.
“I don’t know about you,”—Jacob sucks down the last ofhis cocktail—“but I’m thinking we need to go do karaoke tonight.”
“You know I’ll never say no to belting the ballads by Celine.” Leon flags down our server to get the check. “You up for it, Alice?”
“What was it you said?” I tap my chin with my finger. “Why am I not climbing him like a tree every chance I get?”
“That sounds much better than karaoke,” Jacob says. “Maybe we should do that.”
He grabs Leon by the hand and tugs him close as we descend the stairs. I pull up the rideshare app on my phone and request a car.
Leon presses a kiss to the top of his head as they wait with me. “After. Now that you’ve said it, I need to do some singing tonight.”
The small car moves closer and closer on the screen before it pulls up in front of us. “You two have fun.”
“Oh, we will.” Leon waggles his eyebrows. “You have fun with that husband of yours.”
