Jenna glanced at me before answering Ryan. “I should have heard from her about twenty minutes ago.”
I could see the gears turning in Ryan’s head.
“Does she always text you when she leaves work?”
“Sometimes. She always does after visiting the family she was with today. There’s issues with the dad.”
“You’re not fucking serious.”
I jumped a little at the vehemence in his voice.
“Easy, man,” Dylan warned.
“Sorry,” Ryan muttered, running a hand through his hair. “Where is she? I’ll go check on her.”
Jenna and I looked at each other. If Ryan knew that Nicky shared her schedule with us because she was that worried about it, he’d go through the roof. He also wouldn’t be happy to know where she was working. We’d begged Nicky to stop taking these dangerous jobs, especially this one, but she wouldn’t listen. A small part of me wondered what would happen if we let Ryan loose on her. Would it be worth her wrath to keep her safe? But knowing Nicky, she’d just do something even more dumb and dangerous, like hide it from us.
“I don’t know where she is,” I answered before Jenna could. Jenna looked at me with a question in her eyes. I held her gaze.
“I don’t know, either,” she said.
Ryan pulled out his phone, jabbed at the screen and stared at it while it went straight to her voicemail. He left a stern message to call him. We looked around the table, unsure what to do. Guilt ate at me for not telling the whole truth. It wasn’t my place totell, though, especially to Ryan. I prayed I wasn’t making a huge mistake.
“She’s here,” Liam said, nodding toward the entrance.
Nicky looked around from near the door and then rushed over when she saw us. “Sorry,” she said, appearing frazzled.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Ryan grasped her arm and pulled her towards the door without giving her a chance to respond.
“I’m almost as curious about what’s happening with her and Ryan as I am worried about her,” Jenna said, breaking some of the tension.
A few minutes later, they returned, holding hands. Very interesting. Ryan still looked angry, but then again, he often did. Nicky looked more relaxed, although I could still see the tightness around her eyes.
“What are we drinking tonight?” Nicky asked before she even sat down. I knew this version of Nicky well, but it had been a while since I’d seen her.
The waitress came over, and Nicky ordered a round of lemon drop shots and a margarita on the rocks. Jenna and I each got a frozen margarita too, while the guys ordered beers.
“To the best lead therapist!” Jenna said as we clinked our shot glasses together.
Nicky finished off Jenna’s shot after her own.
Ryan waved down the waitress and ordered a ton of appetizers. I think he was catching on to what Jenna and I already knew.
After a lot of talking and laughing, too many fried apps, and a couple of drinks, Dylan suggested darts.
“You guys go ahead,” Jenna said. “We’ll be there in a few, okay?”
“Gladly. We’ll take a few practice rounds so we’re extra ready to whoop your asses,” Ryan jeered at Nicky.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
“Don’t tempt me, darling.”
Dylan kissed me, and we watched the men walk away, shamelessly ogling those gorgeous backsides.
“What’s going on?” I asked Nicky as soon as they were out of earshot. “And no bullshit now. It’s just us.”
“Nothing new. It was just a rough session. I feel so useless about Luca and his mom. I don’t know how else I can help them. I stayed for a little extra, and then while I was driving here, I was distracted thinking about them, so that’s why I didn’t call. Sorry to worry you.”