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Chapter Sixteen
It was Sullivan’s Pub’s first-ever trivia night and Noah had insisted they go. His exact words were, ‘Come on, man. I need your big, beautiful brain to help me win!’ To which Logan replied that his brain was neither big nor beautiful and they definitely weren’t going to win, but here he was.
The problem was, he liked Noah. He especially liked that Noah hadn’t grown up here and didn’t really give a shit about Logan’s lost father or his dead mother, had missed the Christmas-tree lighting debacle entirely, and just treated Logan like a regular guy. Plus, he talked so much that Logan rarely needed to when they went out, which suited him just fine.
He took another swig of his beer and checked out the crowd. It was a pretty big turnout, but he wasn’t surprised. This town loved an event. Give them a festival, a club, a meeting, a class and they were on board.
Noah had snagged them a high-top table surrounded by three stools, one for each team member. He’d also recruited book club Jacob onto their team, but the man hadn’t arrived yet.
‘Hey, there’s Hazel and the new café owner. What’s her name? Je
‘It’s Jeanie,’ Logan said, forcing himself to turn his head at a reasonable speed instead of whipping it around to get a glance at Jeanie.
‘Jeanie, right,’ Noah said, but his gaze was locked on Hazel, who nervously pushed up her glasses and glanced away.
Logan didn’t have time to unpack the way his friend was staring at his other friend right now. He was too busy playing over the past few days in his mind. He’d only seen Jeanie briefly every morning, right in the middle of the morning commuter rush, when he came in for coffee. He was sure he’d been more awkward than ever, giving her his order and trying desperately not to make his feelings for her known to the whole town.
How did he stand normally? What did he usually do with his hands? Did he always talk this loudly? It had been a taxing few mornings, but Jeanie’s bright smile and dark eyes were worth it. And now she was just a few tables over and he was paralyzed.
What was the protocol here? It’d be weird if he didn’t go over, right? Why had he thought doing this, whatever this was, secretly would be easier than doing it out in the open?
He should have stayed home with his chickens.
This was why he didn’t do things like this. This was why he didn’t go to trivia nights or secretly date women (Date? Secretly make out with women?). He was a big, surly, awkward-as-hell guy who did better with animals than women. If Lucy hadn’t come up to him at the bar that fateful night, he never would have had the nerve to talk to her.
He took another swig of beer, letting the bitter liquid wash away Lucy’s name from his mind. He should have let Nana make him that dating profile, after all. He could be peacefully dating someone from Colorado or South Africa or the damn moon right now. Anyone other than the new girl in town that had captured everyone’s attention.
Attention was the last thing he wanted. And yet he couldn’t seem to stay away from her.
‘We should go say hello,’ Noah said, clapping Logan on the back and startling him out of his thoughts about dating moon women.
‘Uh ... I should probably keep the table.’
‘No worries about that.’ Noah flashed him a grin, slapping a laminated card with a big number 4 on it in the middle of the table. ‘It’s reserved for us now. Go Team Four! We should probably come up with a catchier name, but first let’s go say hello.’
Noah had already hopped down from his stool and was pleading with his eyes for Logan to join him. Was his loquacious friend nervous about talking to Hazel? Interesting.
Logan took one more gulp of beer for courage and followed Noah to Jeanie’s table.
‘Hello, ladies.’
‘Hey, Noah, you remember Jeanie,’ Hazel said, feigning casualness, but Logan watched her fidget in her chair.
‘Are you guys ready to lose?’ Jeanie asked with a grin, her eyes bright in the dim room.
‘Wow, Jeanie. Coming in hot,’ Noah laughed. ‘I like it. And no, we are definitely going to win.’
‘We’ll see,’ she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She let her gaze drift to Logan.
‘Hey,’ he said, his voice sticking in his throat.
‘Hey.’ Her gaze slipped to his mouth for just long enough to send heat through his body. She had ditched her usual sweater for a fitted tank top. In the heat of the crowded bar, the sight of all that bare skin short-circuited his brain. His thoughts were nothing more than static and the memory of how soft she’d been when he’d slipped his hand up her shirt.
‘Um, hi everyone.’ A
Jeanie broke their stare first. ‘Nothing’s weird. Everything’s great! Very excited to kick these guys’ butts.’
Noah laughed. ‘More fighting words. Okay, new café owner Jeanie. I like you.’
She beamed at the compliment and Logan wanted to punch Noah in the face for making her smile like that. He shook the irrational thought from his head.
‘We should get back. I think it’s starting soon,’ Logan said.
‘Good luck.’ Noah flashed Hazel another smile and Logan didn’t miss the flustered look on her face. He’d be sure to hassle her about that later. Especially after her ‘crush’ comments.
Jacob was waiting for them back at the table. ‘Who wants a muffin?’ he sang. ‘They’re from A
‘Uh ... Is it supposed to be caved in like that?’ Noah asked, and Logan nearly choked on his beer.
‘Maybe I still need a little practice.’ Jacob frowned.
‘I don’t think muffins go great with beer,’ Logan added. Jacob’s face fell. ‘But I’ll take one home for the morning.’
‘Great! You’ll have to tell me how it is. I think maybe I undercooked them a bit.’
‘Alright, that’s enough muffin talk,’ Noah said, his attention fixed on Amber, the bartender and apparently the evening’s MC, as she stepped up to the mic they’d set up in front of the bar. ‘It’s starting!’
Logan groaned into his beer. Here we go.
Unsurprisingly, they lost.
By a lot. Like, it wasn’t even close. As it turned out, Hazel was a trivia master, which considering she spent her days surrounded by books, probably shouldn’t have surprised Logan as much as it did. Her team won, although Nancy, Linda, and Tammy came in a close second.
Noah ate the rest of Jacob’s muffins to console himself. Apparently, they weren’t that bad, after all.
But Logan didn’t really give a shit about muffins or trivia, or the fact that – drunk on either margaritas or victory – A
Every once in a while, her gaze would snag on his and her smile would grow. His body tingled with awareness as he tracked her movements through the bar, so when she started gathering her things to leave, he didn’t even have time to think before he was also moving toward the door.
He pushed it open, and they both tumbled out into the crisp, night air.
‘Walk you home?’ he nearly growled the words into her ear. Dry leaves blew past them on the sidewalk.