Page 76 of Enchanted to Meet You

But instead of breaking over the pier railing, the wave suddenly collapsed, dipping down beneath the planks upon which they were standing, and causing only their feet to get sprayed.

“And?” Derrick asked.

“And make her life easier,” Rosalie said. The words seemed to have been wrung out of her. “From now on.”

“Perfect.” Derrick drew his cell phone from his pocket to check the time. “Oh, look. It’s late. We’d better get back inside.”

“Please.” Rosalie’s voice was weak. “Please tell me. Whoareyou?”

He blinked at her. “You already know. I’m Derrick Winters.”

He left Rosalie staring after him, her eyes burning with resentment—and maybe a little bit of fear.

Back inside, a new pitcher of beer and carafe of wine had been delivered to the Get In, Losers table, as well as two cheeseburgers. Jessica was digging into hers, and looked up reproachfully when he appeared.

“Where have you been?” she asked. “Your food’s getting cold.”

“Sorry,” he said, and slid onto his stool. “Had to make a quick call. This looks delicious.”

He realized he was starving. The food smelled especially good after the small victory he’d scored.

“Here,” Jessica said. He could barely hear her over the din from the baseball and hockey games, the music, and the other customers. “Have some ketchup. Or are you a mayo and fries kind of person?”

“Both. Thanks.”

She grinned a little wickedly at him. “Both, huh? I like that in a man.”

He grinned back at her.

Mark and Dina had stopped arguing. They now had their arms around each other and were murmuring lovingly to one another.

“You guys.” Yasmin whipped around on her stool. “You guys, look. Dr. Steve has finished tabulating the results.”

And then she and Dina both let out ear-piercing screams. Because there, on the flat screen above their heads—and all the other flat screens in the restaurant that weren’t showing sports—was the trivia team with the most points that evening:Get In, Losers.

“We won!” Dina and Yasmin leaned across Sal to hug one another, while he protectively snatched his beer out of their way.

“Yay,” Jessica said, raising her glass. “Finally! To the Losers!”

“To the Losers!”

Everyone at the table raised their glasses in a joyful toast as Derrick noted Rosalie hurrying back into the restaurant from outside. The salt spray had nearly flattened her hair to her head. She had to have been cold and uncomfortable. But no one would have been able to tell from the way she was smiling and chatting with her friends and husband, looking everywhere but in Derrick’s direction.

He and Jessica and her friends were picking out their West Harbor Brewport T-shirts and accepting the congratulations of Dr. Steve when Esther’s father walked over and asked if he could borrow the trivia master’s microphone. When Dr. Steve told him of course, the restaurant owner’s voice came booming over the sound system.

“Sorry to interrupt the fun, folks,” he said. “But anyone with a car parked near the seawall might want to think about movingit. The tide’s acting up again, and the weather service just issued another coastal flood warning.”

A number of patrons stood up and reached for their coats, and even more groaned, but Esther’s father put out a hand to calm them.

“Come on, it’s not that bad. There’s plenty of room in the back parking lot. Sorry again for the interruption, and thanks, as always, for dining at the Brewport!”

“Well,” Sal said. “That’s us. I’ll go round up the kids. It’s past their bedtime anyway.”

“Yeah, we’d better leave, too,” Dina said, sliding an arm around Mark’s waist. “I have to go bone this one’s brains out.”

“Ew, Dina.” Jessica winced.

“Why?” Dina asked, a bright glint in her eyes. “It’s not like you two are going to go home and do anything different.”