I’d spent a full thirty seconds debating the advisability of my next course of action before I knocked on his partially open door. He was laying on his bed in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Even a casual outfit like that made him look good.
He glanced up from a book. “My help?”
“I need to learn to bartend.”
“Is there any particular reason for this desire to learn?” He set aside his book.
I walked fully into the room. “Max offered me a bartending job if I can learn. It’s better pay and tips, and Maddy always makes it look like fun.”
He sat up. “Why wouldn’t you ask Maddy for help?”
“She’s going to be helping me at work, but that’s hard because she’s so busy. I’d ask for her help outside of work, but she has too much going on. I don’t want to bother her.”
“Let’s ignore the fact that you think I have so little going on that you weren’t worried about asking me,” he teased. “The important question is what does she have going on?” He didn’t hide the suspicion in his voice. If I didn’t have his attention already, I had it now.
“It’s nothing.”
“Nuh uh. Out with it.”
“I can’t. I promised I wouldn’t tell.”
“You promised Maddy you’d keep a secret from me?” He was off his bed and halfway across the room.
“Well, I actually promised to keep it from Colin—well and then I told her to wait on telling him, so it actually isn’t such a promise anymore.”
“Just tell me. I won’t tell her, but I need to know what’s going on.”
“I don’t know. I don’t want her to feel like she can’t trust me.”
“If you don’t tell me I’ll ask her myself. Which is worse? I’m serious, I have to know.”
I sighed. It would be tons worse if he asked her himself. Plus he was her best friend, maybe he could help.”
“Maddy’s pregnant.” I kept eye contact, wanting to watch his reaction.
Shock crossed his face. “As in she’s having a baby?”
“What other kind of pregnant is there?”
“Wow.” He went back over to his bed. “This is insane. How could it happen?”
“You don’t really need me to go over those details, do you?”
He laughed, and his eyes racked over me. Once again with the mixed signals. “What does Colin think?”
“He doesn’t know yet.”
“Why not?”
“Well, first she was scared, and then I convinced her to wait. He needs to propose to her first.”
“What? Ok, you need to sit down and explain all of this.” He patted the spot next to him on his bed.
I walked in. Considering he’d spent time in my room it shouldn’t have felt so weird to be in his, but it did. I took a tentative seat on his king sized bed. He definitely had the master bedroom.
“Colin already has a ring, but he isn’t planning to propose until the perfect moment or something. Maddy is afraid if she tells him she’s pregnant, he’ll only propose because he has to.”
“So you want Colin to propose first to save them both the trouble.”
“Exactly.”
“So why not just tell Colin? Then he can propose right away and act surprised.”
“Because it’s not my news to share, and he’s a horrible actor.”
“How horrible?” His eyes twinkled.
“Horrible.”
“Okay… but if she waits too long he’ll be mad.”
“So we need to get him moving.”
“Do you have any idea on how to?” Sometimes it’s easier for a guy to figure out how another guy ticks.
“We can work on that, but what about that bartending stuff? Does Maddy want to quit or something?”
“No. Max is opening up an upstairs bar, but I’m guessing she’s going to have to quit eventually, or at least take time off.”
“I can help with Colin, but I have no idea how to bartend.”
“Maybe I should ask Brody when he gets back. He’d probably help. I know he doesn’t really drink, but—”
He sat up with a start. “Let’s learn together.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
“Ok, so Max gave me a book. We can start there. Do you want to start tonight?”
“Sure. We’ll do the bartending thing tonight and we’ll talk to Colin tomorrow.”
“Deal?” He held out his hand. It felt so nice and warm in mine.
“Deal.”
Chapter Fourteen
Macon
I have no idea why I agreed to help Carly learn to bartend. Maybe it was how desperate she sounded, or because I was incapable of saying no to that pretty face of hers, but I found myself rummaging through the cabinets with her at nearly one a.m. I had a pretty decent supply of liquor, but evidently my bartending supplies were lacking. Brody was away visiting his parents, so for once I wasn’t worried about pissing him off by making a mess in the kitchen.
“You seriously don’t have a stirring rod thingie?” she whined. Usually I hate when a girl whines, but there was something cute about hers.
“Last time I checked I wasn’t a bartender. A spoon or knife works just fine.”
She groaned. “Well, I guess that will have to do for tonight, but we’ll have to get one for our next session.”
“Our next session? You really think we’re going to be doing this a lot?”
“I have to get this stuff down. Maddy took a whole class to learn. I have you.” She turned her head to the side slightly.
I sighed. “Okay, what else do we need to find?”
“I think we have everything we need for the next few drinks I want to try.”
We’d already spent an hour taking shots of different liquors. The idea was to make sure we knew the taste of each one. It had sounded like a good idea at the time. We drank seconds of a few just to make sure we had the taste down. By the time we were ready to start mixing drinks, I was definitely feeling the last round.
She stood leaning over a dog eared page in a book. “Your favorite drink is a Long Island iced tea, right?”
“Yeah, but that’s a more complicated one. Are you sure you want to start with that?” I was trying to be nice.
“I know, but if I can master the harder ones, the easier ones will come, well easier I’d think.” Of course I needed to memorize the ingredients first. I downloaded two apps to help with that part while Macon pulled out the liquor.