“Maybe I shouldn’t bring Nick.” I took a drink of soda. “After all, the first time I saw him, he had Evan by the collar of his shirt.”
“That’s because Evan can be a dick sometimes.”
“Chloe!”
“Well, it’s true. It’s just male posturing. Don’t worry about it.” She pulled a compact mirror out of her purse and examined herself, picking at her hair. “I need to get my roots dyed again. I look like hell.”
That was so far from the truth. Chloe was gorgeous, and dark roots showing through her sunny blond hair wouldn’t change that.
We finished off the rest of the pickles in record time and grabbed our dishes.
“You want my opinion?” Chloe said as we walked back to the kitchen. “Bring Nick along. If anything, it’ll make Evan jealous. And a jealous man is a motivated man.”
“I don’t know if he’d come anyway. He seems to like to keep to himself.”
“Oh, girlie, if he likes you at all, he’ll come.”
She pushed through the kitchen door, her blond ponytail swinging behind her.
A few minutes after eight, Evan came back to the kitchen, where I was putting in one last order. “Nick is here,” he said. “He’s at the bar.”
“The bar?” I echoed. I’d thought he was eighteen, nineteen at the most. But if he was at the bar, then that made him at least twenty-one.
“The bar,” Evan repeated, hardening his eyes. “I’m not sure about this guy, Lis. How well do you even know him?”
I slipped my pen into my apron. “I don’t. Not really. I mean, I owe him. I trust him, I think.”
“You think?”
“Just give him a chance tonight?” I tried. “Please? He’s a friend and I don’t want anyone to be mean to him.”
Evan softened. “Yeah, all right.” He smiled. “Anything for our Lissy.”
I blushed. “Thanks.”
With my order placed and a few minutes to spare, I went out front. Nick’s back was to the kitchen, but as soon as I entered the bar area, he straightened, shoulders leveling, as if he sensed me. And then I realized he was watching me through the mirror behind the bar. He turned as I walked up.
“Hey,” he said. There was a tumbler in his left hand, a couple of inches of brown liquid inside.
Everyone carded here. Merv was strict about that kind of thing. So Nick definitely was over twenty-one. Or had a very good fake ID.
“I’m almost done,” I said. “Give me a few more minutes?”
“Sure.” He brought the tumbler to his lips and drained the glass. He waved at the bartender for another.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tiny blond-headed girl weaving quickly through the tables as if on a mission. Chloe. She was grinning at me like a fool, her eyebrows waggling. When she bounded up, Nick went stiff as a cutting board.
“Hi,” Chloe said, and held out her hand to Nick. “I’m Elizabeth’s best friend. Her coolest friend.”
Nick stared at her hand, his face impressively blank. But then he blinked, smiled, and shook her hand. “Hey,” he said.
“Did Elizabeth talk to you about tonight yet?”
I cleared my throat and made shut-up eyes at Chloe. “Not yet. He just got here.”
“What’s tonight?” Nick asked, glancing between Chloe and me.
I told him about the group, and about the lake. After our break, Chloe, Evan, and I had decided it’d be fun to have another fire. It was supposed to be nice tonight.
“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” I added when I’d finished.
“I’ll come,” he said without giving it a second thought. “Something tells me there isn’t much else to do here anyway.”
Chloe slid onto the bar stool next to him. “You got that right.”
“Well,” I started, “I should go check on my order, and then I’ll be out. Chloe?”
She raised the line of her brow. “Yes, dear?”
“Be nice to Nick while I’m gone.”
She glanced at him, and a large smile spread across her face. “Never fear, Lis. I’ll be on my best behavior.”
I wasn’t sure I believed her, but the sooner I got my last order out, the sooner I could rescue Nick.
23
NICK
“WHAT THE FUCK?” I SAID IN A RUSH, once Elizabeth was out of earshot.
The smile on Chloe’s face disappeared like a snuffed-out flame. “Calm down. I’m not going to say anything.”
She was the girl. The girl I’d picked up at Arrow two nights ago. The girl who told me her name was Sarah.
Sarah/Chloe was Elizabeth’s best friend?