His smile widened. “It was a beautiful day today. What’s not to be happy about?”
Evan flashed me a glance that spoke a thousand words. He wouldn’t be so happy if he knew about you and Kiera. I already knew that, so I kept my mouth shut. If Denny was having a good day, I wasn’t about to burst his bubble. I had a feeling that explosion would injure me just as much as him.
Refocusing on Denny, I slapped on a breezy smile. “That’s true. How about a round on me?” I pointed at his empty beer by his half-eaten plate of food.
Griffin was all over that. Standing, he whistled to Rita at the bar. “Beer wench! Five cold ones!”
Rita narrowed her eyes like she was about to chuck all five bottles at Griffin’s head. Then a slow smile passed over her lips and she nodded and called Kiera over. I was pretty certain Griffin’s drink was going to have some extra body fluids in it. Hopefully Kiera didn’t mix up the bottles.
When Kiera approached our table, drinks in hand, she kept throwing concerned glances my way. It made her look like she had a nervous tic. I wanted to assure her that I was fine. Yeah, hanging out with Denny was awkward, and it made me feel really guilty, but I liked Denny, and if I could somehow push all of my inner turmoil aside, I didn’t mind spending time with him.
Kiera passed out the beers. Griffin’s was last. She watched him take a sip of his drink with clear disgust on her face. She always looked like that around him though, so it didn’t seem too odd to the others. A quick peek at Rita laughing behind the bar confirmed my suspicions—Griffin’s beer was…special. Rita winked at me, and with a brief smile and a tilt of my unspecial beer, I shifted my attention back to Kiera. Denny was thanking her for his drink…with his lips.
I stared into my bottle, but I could still hear them smacking. I clenched my beer and forced calmness into my body. This was temporary. I could handle it. I nearly prayed for Kiera to leave the table though, and when she did, I let out a long exhale.
“What’s the matter, mate? Your day not going as well as mine?”
Oh God, how to answer that. With a smile, I took a sip of my beer. “Apparently not. I can’t complain though.” Not to you at any rate.
Griffin snorted. “He’s just sore that I nailed his chick.”
Knowing where Griffin was going with his statement, I pointed my beer bottle at his. “How’s your beer? Taste all right?”
Griffin’s brows drew together in confusion. “Yeah…why?”
He took a long draw. My stomach roiled, and I silently hoped that I had never pissed off Rita. “No reason,” I said with a laugh.
Matt laughed along with me and Griffin shot him a look. “What’s so funny?”
Matt shook his head. “Nothing you’d understand.” Shifting the conversation, Matt asked Denny, “So, anything exciting going on, or just having a good day?”
My stomach churned again, but for an entirely different reason. I was 99 percent sure I didn’t want to hear this. “I got a job offer. A great job offer.” Matt and Evan congratulated him while my stomach clenched so tight, I was sure I was damaging my internal organs. “Thanks. Yeah, I’m excited about it. I thought I’d have to tell them no, because I was sure Kiera wouldn’t want to move that far, but she said she wanted to go.”
I felt like someone had just dropped me down a deep, dark shaft, and I was free-falling, but only for a moment. The ground was rushing up to meet me, and I would die upon impact, I just knew it. “Move…where?” I asked in a whisper.
Denny looked over at Kiera before shifting his eyes to me. “Back home. Australia.” He gave me a small smile. “I’ll be sad to leave here, I’ve enjoyed hanging out with you again, but this is an amazing opportunity for me, for us. This could be the start of something big, you know?” His smile warmed as he looked over at Kiera again.
Yep. I felt like I’d just smacked face-first into the bottom of that endless hole, and I was now a lifeless corpse. DOA. I heard the others telling Denny congratulations and wishing him well. I felt Evan clap me on the shoulder, in sympathy, I assumed, but it was like I was experiencing the moment outside of my body, like I was hovering in the air, looking down at Denny and the guys. External sounds were muffled, and all I could clearly hear was my heavy heartbeat.
She said she’d leave with him? Jesus…she chose him…
“Kellan…Kellan…?”
When it finally registered that Denny was speaking to me, I shook my head to snap myself out of the odd out-of-body feeling I was having. “What? Oh, uh…congratulations, man. That’s…that’s great news. I can see why you’re so…happy.”