“If he gets hit on during our date and leaves me there for another girl, I’m blaming you,” I told her.

She snickered. “If he sucks, blame Grandpa Gus. He’s the one who picked him out.”

Oh, Grandpa Gus.

“He’s really proud of himself, by the way. I swear he had a list and was checking names off of it over the last few days. I saw he had a comment next to one guy’s name that said ‘too hairy.’”

It was my turn to snicker. “I love that man.”

Lenny shook her head. “Me too, but I swear the only person who loves him more than I do is himself.”

She so had a point. While Mr. Cooper was calm, easygoing, and had every personal trait that was fatherly and comforting, Lenny’s Grandpa Gus was… something else.

“Hey, we’re going to Mickey’s, right?” she asked, referring to where I had told her my coworkers were getting together after hours to celebrate Rogelio abandoning us.

“Yup.”

After my gynecologist appointment ended, I had headed over to her gym. Grandpa Gus had waved us off, telling me to take her away. We had left and gone shopping at the nearest strip mall, and then gone to eat afterward. Now, I was dragging her along with me to Mickey’s. Except we’d ditched my car at my house because she was the worst back seat driver, and I didn’t feel like getting griped at for driving too slow. Should she be driving with one arm in a sling? Probably not, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her that.

“Is Rip going to be there?” she asked.

“Doubt it.”

Her muttered “shit” made me laugh. She’d been trying for the last three years to make seeing him in person finally happen. I couldn’t exactly get her to come over while I was working.

“I just want to see him. Just once,” she said.

“I’ve shown you pictures.” Pictures I had maneuvered to get him into the background.

It was her turn to make a noise. “It’s not the same.”

“It’s the same,” I tried to argue.

“Maybe it’ll be my lucky day and he shows up.”

“Don’t hold your breath or you’ll end up passing out.”

We both cracked up just as her phone started ringing from where she had set it in the cupholder between our seats. Connected to her car’s Bluetooth, GRANDPA GUS came up on the screen of her dashboard. She didn’t hesitate to hit answer.

“Grandpa.”

“Can you head back to Maio House?”

Concern flashed across my friend’s face. “What happened?”

There was some rustling, then just barely the sound of Grandpa Gus whispering, something like I will pop you if you ever use that tone of voice on me again filled the car, but he wasn’t talking to us.

I had to press my lips together to keep from laughing, and it was obvious that Lenny was too because she shot me a funny face.

“There was an accident,” he came back on the line after a moment, his tone mysterious.

“What kind of an accident?”

There was a sigh and another whisper that sounded like I don’t want to hear it before he came back on the line to respond with, “Someone needs a couple stitches and doesn’t want to go to the hospital, and Peter says he’s not doing it.”

That must have been enough of an explanation for Lenny because she groaned, obviously knowing who someone was and why her grandpa’s best friend didn’t want to give someone stitches. I’d heard enough from her over the years to know he set noses regularly, glued things back together, and could fix just about every kind of dislocation without a visit to a hospital.

“All right. I’ll be there in twenty,” she agreed with a grimace.

“Okay.” He didn’t even say “bye” before he hung up.

Lenny sighed, but I beat her to it.

“You know I’d go anywhere with you, but you know I’ll faint if I see blood.” That was a true story. I was really squeamish. “Can you drop me off at Mickey’s since we’re closer? If you get a chance to come back, then come. If not, I’ll catch a ride home with someone.” Or take an Uber. I wasn’t planning on drinking.

Her fingers were already up at her nose, pinching the tip of it. For one brief moment, I wondered who that someone was. “You’re sure?”

“Of course I’m sure, bish. Keep my stuff, and I’ll get it from you this weekend.”

She was still pinching her face. “I have to work at the gym tomorrow but text me after your date. We can do something Sunday,” she said, just as she got us a block away from Mickey’s.

I sighed at the reminder I had a date the next day. I already didn’t want to go. That wasn’t a good sign.

Lenny pulled her car up to the curb right outside the bar and gave me an almost half-ass wink that told me how aggravated she was that she was going to give someone stitches… or take them to the hospital. I didn’t really want to ask. “Let me know when you get home, okay?” she asked. “I can come get you if you’re still here when I’m done.”

I smiled and nodded at her. “Drive safe.”

Lenny blew me a kiss. “If Rip shows up, call me.”

I shook my head as I got out of her car and slammed the door shut behind me, clutching my purse to my chest.

She honked the horn the second I was on the curb, and we waved at each other before she busted an illegal U-turn that made me shake my head as she sped away.

It only took me a second to find my license and flash it at the bouncer who didn’t even look at it. He’d seen me enough times to know I was over the age. It was already eight o’clock by the time I walked in and found six people I knew: three coworkers and three wives and girlfriends.

I waved at them before making my way over and giving them all hugs, and it was just as I was turning around to see who else was there that I spotted the small table directly beside the one where I was standing at.

Sitting there, all alone, was Rip.

He’d come?

The surprise must have been evident on my face because Owen shrugged at me and said a little too loudly, “I didn’t think he liked Ro that much.”

Honestly, neither had I.

But he was there.

It made me sad that he was sitting by himself, when it only took me a moment longer to spot four more people I recognized. The thing was, none of the chairs at the table he was at were pulled out. He really was sitting alone.

He’d come and no one wanted to sit with him.

I was sure the argument he’d had with Mr. Cooper earlier hadn’t helped but….

I knew what I was going to do before my feet moved. I shrugged back at Owen and tipped my head to the side to tell him where I would be. He gave me the same look I gave Lily when she ate steamed carrots in front of me. Like really?

And, yeah, really.

I was going to need to text Lenny and let her know she’d jinxed herself.

Trying not to come off too aggressive, I headed toward the bar first to get a Sprite. Then I turned around and headed back the way I had come. Rip hadn’t moved. He was still sitting there, not on his phone, not doing anything else, but sitting there. Present. I thought it was a lot sweeter than I had any right to think.

“Fancy seeing you here,” I told Rip as I crossed around the front of his table and stopped there.

My boss, who I wasn’t positive had seen me up until that point, blinked at me. “Luna.”

So much enthusiasm.

Just as I was about to ask if I could sit with him, I decided not to even bother. I pulled out the chair and took the seat anyway. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

That stubble-covered cheek kind of twitched. “Didn’t know you were either.”

I lifted a shoulder as I took a sip out of my Sprite. “My sister left, and I don’t want to be home alone.”

He lifted his own glass up to his mouth, some amber-looking liquid, and took a sip. I didn’t expect him to say, “Thought college didn’t start till August.”

I didn’t mean to give him a sad smile, but it happened, and I tried to cover it up by keeping my voice light. “It doesn’t. The plan had been that we were going to move her to Lubbock at the beginning of August so she could get settled in and find a job before everyone goes back to school, but… her friend’s family has a restaurant in Galveston and they invited her to work there for the summer.”