And you’ve never wanted that, so why does it bother you now?
Her eyes went to Jay. As if sensing her, he looked up, and their eyes met. He smiled, she nodded, and then Blue looked away.
“So, are you having a holiday?” JD asked her.
“Not sure yet,” Blue said, not wanting to outright lie, but also not wanting to get into the details of the hell that was her life right now. She really needed to tell her family first, which she’d been avoiding even as they were subtly digging for answers to their questions.
“Which means what?” Dan demanded. “Because Birdie told me that something’s off with you, but you haven’t told her what yet.”
“Nothing is off. I’m just having a break.”
“From what? Life? Work?”
“Don’t bring your investigative cop techniques into play with me, Deputy Double D. I’m immune,” Blue said.
“I think you should take Jay out on a date, Blue. You guys would be great together,” JD said. “He’s New York refined and has a few brains, so you’d get some decent conversation out of him. Plus, his table manners are great, and he’s funny when he wants to be.”
She just stared at him, shocked that those words had actually come out of his mouth.
“Yes!” Dan punched the air. “They’d be awesome together. He’s like this uptight, number-crunching freak with a secret life that he won’t tell me—his oldest friend—about. And Blue doesn’t take any shit from anyone, so she’d break down his walls. Plus, she’s hot.”
“Thanks, and I’m standing right here,” Blue drawled, although the words came out a bit more high-pitched than she’d intended.
JD thought she should date Jay Haddon. Oh, the irony.
“Great pairing,” Red agreed. “It has my vote.”
“Oh, well, if Red agrees,” Blue mocked them. “Now go away and let me work and stop meddling. I’m not dating Jay Haddon. He’s not my type, and besides, I’m going back to New York soon.”
“Disagree,” JD said. “I think you’re perfect for each other. Both big-city types. Both intelligent.” He ticked things off on his fingers. “Both hot.”
“It makes me feel uncomfortable that you think my best friend is hot when you’re married to my sister,” Dan said.
“I think you’re hot too.” JD patted his shoulder.
“Okay, you’ve had your fun. Now go dance or something,” Blue said as her nerves stretched tighter.
“We don’t dance on boys’ night. We shoot pool and talk shit,” JD said.
“Damn straight,” Dan said.
The men then launched into a debate about who was the hottest man in the Rollaway tonight.
Jay, she thought but didn’t say the name out loud.
The Rollaway got steadily busier as more of the locals came in for boys’ night, so Blue focused on what needed doing and not Jay, who had, as yet, not come to the bar.
“You take a break now, Blue, while it’s quiet. Go on out back, and here’s a basket of chicken sticks and fries for you,” Red said.
“How come Dee’s not working tonight? She usually loves boys’ night,” Blue asked, taking the basket even as her arteries clogged at the thought of eating all that greasy goodness.
“The youngest has an icky throat and fever. Dr. Hannah said bed rest. But this one is really clingy with her mom, so we didn’t get a sitter. She might pop in later, though, if things settled down.”
The thought of anyone being real clingy with Dee, the firebrand, made Blue smile.
“She’s a great mom, Red.”
He smiled a secret smile that people in love shared sometimes. The smile that made her feel like an outsider. Even her parents, who had been married forever, did that sometimes.
