“I wanted an adventure,” Will said.
“Uh huh.” Jared gave him a knowing look. “Did you drive up there on your new motorcycle?”
“I talked him out of the motorcycle,” Emmy interjected.
Their server came by to get their drink orders, and they put their conversation on hold while they ordered. Emmy must have read the menu a hundred times. She couldn’t decide what to get; everything sounded so delicious that her mouth was watering. The two-and-a-half meals she’d already eaten that day were suddenly distant memories.
“You and I can share two entrees,” Will told her. “Just tell me what you’re thinking.”
Filled with gratitude, she decided to get the catfish po’boy for herself. Will got the shrimp jambalaya with a side of homemade cornbread. Drinks were served and orders were placed. Then Bright asked them for details about their impromptu coastal adventure. Emmy couldn’t help but like the woman. She was an active listener, her attention never wavering as they summarized their trip for her. Emmy pulled out her phone and showed off some pictures. When that topic was exhausted, Bright told them about some new artists she’d been working with to do a collection of upcycled jewelry and handbags for her shop.
The food arrived and Emmy dug right in. It was everything she was hoping for and more. When Will offered her a forkful of his jambalaya, she leaned forward and allowed him to feed it to her without a second thought. It only occurred to her afterwards that the exchange was quite intimate. When they’d spoken earlier about sharing,she’d assumed they’d put a bit of their meals onto each other’s plates.
“Aw, you guys are positively glowing,” Bright commented. “You are so good together.”
Emmy opened her mouth to correct her before she remembered that she and Will were supposed to be pretending to be in a relationship. Fortunately, Will picked up the slack. Taking her hand, he placed a gentle kiss on her fingers and said, “I think so, too.” Emmy swallowed. He was laying it on thick, but she couldn’t stop the flutter in her chest.
The meal went well right up until they were sharing coffee and a platter of beignets so fresh that they let out little puffs of steam when pulled apart.
“Emmy, I haven’t asked if you’re working on anything new,” Bright said.
Emmy’s mind went blank. “Working on…?”
“A writing project,” Bright clarified. Emmy’s expression must have worried her, so she added, “Unless… is it not cool to ask? Do you want to keep it a secret?”
“No! No, sorry. I just… got a little turned around. Mentally.” She barely resisted kicking Will under the table when he covered a snort of laughter by clearing his throat and sipping his coffee. He’d gotten her into this mess. And she knew just how to take her revenge. “I do have a new idea I’m working on, now that you mention it.”
“Oo! Can I get the details?”
“Well, it’s a work in progress, in the early stages, you know. But I’m thinking of setting it in a small town like Cobalt. Will actually inspired me, so I think the love interest is going to be a nurse.”
“Aww, that is so sweet.” Bright laid a hand over her heart. “You need to dedicate the book to him.”
“Oh, I absolutely will.”
“So does that mean the protagonist is based on you?”
That caught her off guard, but she rolled with it. “A little. I don’t want it to be autobiographical, but if you don’t pull in some of your experiences and emotions, it doesn’t feel real.”
“That is so true.” Bright was eating it up. She leaned forward, resting her chin on her folded hands. Jared stole the second half of her beignet right off her plate and she didn’t notice. “So how do the two love birds meet?”
Emmy barely resisted cutting a look at Will. “They wake up in the same bed and neither of them remember how they got there.”
Jared barked out a laugh. “Love at first hangover?”
“Something like that.”
“I like that. It’s not something you see every day,” Bright commented. “Which one of your characters has the tragic backstory?”
Beside her, Will stiffened. Emmy bought herself some time by taking a long drink of coffee.
“What do you mean?” Will asked, his voice quiet. Intense.
Oblivious to his tone and mood, Bright circled her hand in the air as she thought. “You know how these things go, even if you never read the books. It happens in movies, too. The guy—usually it’s the guy—is all broodily sexy and sexily broody because of his dark past. Then his lady friend helps him come to terms with his past. Usually with her vagina. Then he loses the broody, but not all of it because that’s what makes his character appealing in the first place.Andbam.” She clapped her hands together for effect. “You have character development.”
Emmy had a fleeting image of grabbing a trombone off the wall and whacking Bright across the head with it. That probably wasn’t going to work; she imagined the instruments were bolted down. Besides, the damage was already done. She didn’t have to look at Will to know that Bright’s words had struck a chord with him. Their server chose that moment to drop off the check, and Jared whisked it off the table.
“My treat,” he said, slipping his card into the folder.
