“I’m glad to hear it,” Casey says as he sits back down.
Bailey and I gawp at him with astonishment.
“How did you get served so quickly?” she asks as he swigs from his bottle of beer.
“Dirk had it ready on the bar for me,” he replies, smacking his lips.
“But Dirk is an asshole,” Bailey says with genuine confusion.
Casey chuckles and shakes his head. “Nah, he’s okay. I’ve known him forever. This is the first place I got legally wasted. Dirk drove me home to save me ending up in a ditch.”
“How have I never heard that story?” she asks with a frown.
“I don’t know,” Casey replies with a shrug.
“I thought you hated it here.”
“I don’t hate it, but I don’t want to come here every other weekend.”
“Anywhere is better than the golf club,” Bailey says in a monotone voice.
My eyes have been darting back and forth while they’ve had this conversation, but then my half sister seems to remember I’m there and smiles at me brightly.
“Anyway!” she exclaims. “Wren likes it here, don’t you, Wren?”
“I do. The music’s cool.”
The two guys from the bar have made their way over to the pool table. Bailey sees where my attention is headed and glances over her shoulder, clocking them. She turns back to me and gives me a cheeky grin, raising one eyebrow.
“What?” I ask.
“What do you mean,what?”
“What do you mean, what do I mean,what?”
She bursts out laughing. “How can you say that without tripping over your words?”
“I’ve had six more years to perfect speaking drunk.”
“ ‘To perfect speaking drunk,’ ” she repeats, putting on a plummy English accent. I’m not sure if the added lisp is intentional, but it sounds hilarious.
Casey looks bemused as we both drunkenly crack up.
“Sorry, Casey,” I say when we’ve more or less calmed down. “You are way behind. I think you need to get a tequila shot or something.”
“I thought I’d drive you guys home. You left your car in the parking lot, right?” he asks Bailey.
“Case,NO,” Bailey shouts. “We can walk!”
“Come on, Casey,” I say cajolingly. “Join us for a few drinks. This is the best night out I’ve had in months.”
“Aah!” Bailey seems tickled by my statement.
“It’s true.”
She grins into her drink, oblivious to the pain I feel atwhyI haven’t enjoyed going out lately.
She hasn’t asked me about Scott. We’ve talked about work and our parents and lighthearted subjects like music and movies, but she hasn’t gone near the subject of my ex-fiancé.
