Page 19 of Last Night Was Fun

Alice cast her a sideways glance. Her giant sunglasses blocked out her eyes and brows, but Emmy could tell she was frowning at her. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

Emmy almost tripped. That was basically HR speak foryes. “Holy shit,” she muttered to herself. She and Alice arrived at the elevator, and Emmy threw one last glance over her shoulder to see Gabe stepping into Director Allen’s office. Their eyes connected for a long beat, and in it, a tingle bristled Emmy’s spine.

Apparently, hewasruthless.

Well, in that case. She would be too.

Chapter6

Piper:Got a date yet?

Piper’s pushy little text message buzzed around Emmy’s mind like an angry bee all day on Friday. Even with everything else crammed into Piper’s brain—the dress, the venue, the caterers, the marriage license, the menu, the officiant—the chance she’d forget about her sister’s plus one was about as good as, say, randomly guessing someone’s phone number. Although she knew Piper was asking in part to help spare Emmy the humiliation of showing up alone in front of Jacob.

She had notnotstalked Jacob’s social media for evidence of his new relationship, but she also hadn’t dwelled on it. She’d allowed herself five minutes for a rabbit hole into his life without her and found out Ben’s cousin was a cute blond dental hygienist named Katie. Surely she had a profession with more of a work-life balance than watching and analyzing 162 baseball games in six months. Emmy had nothing against Katie; that was unfair. But she had half a mind to DM her and let her know just what a tool her new boyfriend was. Alas, she’d resisted and decided the most satisfying move would be to show up to the wedding looking happy and fulfilled and prove Jacob wrong about being alone.

Which, unfortunately, meant she still needed to find a date.

She’d responded to her sister’s text with a vagueWorking on itand threw herself into a day at the office. Alice had decided they weregoing out in the Gaslamp Quarter that night after work. The home game started at seven, which meant their time at the office would bleed right into a night out in the surrounding bars near the park where the game would be on every TV.

Emmy had gone home between the end of work and the start of the game. She wasn’t sure what had come over her, perhaps her sister’s insistent reminder she was down a few runs in the plus one game, but she decided to channel Beth and actually dress up to go out. Sure, she was still in Boys Town, whatever. But at least with a game going on down the street, the bars and lounges would be flooded with all sorts of people to take the focus off her dressing up for once.

She picked out a little black dress with a scoop neck and short sleeves. She attempted the winged eyeliner thing with modest success and painted her lips shiny pink. Given that she knew there’d be a fair amount of walking involved, she skipped heels and went with a pair of Chucks. She threw a small crossbody purse with a gold chain over her head and stashed her phone, wallet, keys, and lipstick in it. She’d left her curly hair loose and knew it would continue to grow throughout the night thanks to the humidity. The whole look was a little punk rock, but she liked it. She didn’t sincerelyplanon finding a date to her sister’s wedding, but she thought the effort might give her a leg up.

When Emmy arrived at the bar Alice designated as the night’s starting point, the crowd already spilled from the doorway. She fought her way inside among all the jerseys and T-shirts, the backward hats, and pitchers of beer. She spotted Alice, Pedro, and Gabe near the bar half watching the game on a TV and half laughing about something. Alice still wore heels and a power skirt like she’d come straight from the office. Pedro also looked how he always looked, but Gabe had ditched one of his Easter polos for a jersey that hung open over a tight white tee. His hair was still neatly sculpted, and he too wore a pair of Chucks with jeans. Emmy could see his perfect smile glowing from across the bar like a beacon in the dim light.

A funny thing happened in her chest at the sight. And then sheremembered his comment in the staff meeting and decided the sensation was preemptive heartburn from all the booze they were about to make her drink, and she went back to despising him.

In the game, someone got on base and sent the bar into a cheering tizzy. The echo from the actual stadium a block away pounded like drums Emmy could feel in her bones. It sent a thrill zipping across her skin.

She walked up to her colleagues and stood behind them. “Hey,” she greeted.

“Hey,” Pedro said, distracted by the game and only glancing at her. Then, like a cartoon character, he did a double take and turned back around. “Jameson? Is that you?”

Emmy rolled her eyes. “Of course it’s me.”

Pedro managed to shove his bulging eyeballs back into his face and smile. “Holy shit, I didn’t even recognize you.”

Emmy fought to control the red she felt rising in her face. At least the bar was dim. She made knowing eyes at Alice, who gave her a tight smile. “Can I get a drink, please?”

“Of course,” Alice said. “First round is on me.” She turned to the bar with her hand up.

Gabe quietly cleared his throat from beside Emmy. She turned to him and saw a strange look on his face. A little like he was being stung by a thousand bees at once. “Jameson,” he said with a tight nod.

“Olson,” Emmy responded with a narrowed gaze. He smelled good again, damn him. Even in the grimy bar with competing odors of beer and fried food, his scent curled into her nose like orange cinnamon stick tendrils reaching out to grab her.

She took a deliberate step back and bumped into someone.

“Excuse me,” the person said politely.

Emmy turned to see it was Silas, and he too was doing a buggy-eyed cartoon double take at her.

“Damn, Jameson. I didn’t recognize you. You look... different.” He said it as if he could not put his finger on why.

“Yes, we’ve established that already, Ish,” Pedro said, and helped Alice hand them both shots.

Alice raised her shot glass to the center of the small circle they had formed. “To everyone’s hard work so far and a great rest of the season.”

They all clinked and drank. Whiskey. Alice’s favorite. Emmy fought not to squeeze her face too tightly as she swallowed. She slammed her glass on the bar and exhaled. Gabe did the same, and his arm brushed against hers for a hot second. They both wore short sleeves, and the skin-on-skin contact made Emmy break out in goose bumps. Or maybe that was the liquor.