Chapter 2
Happy Hour
“What’re you drinking?” the tall, dark, and handsome bartender asked with a toothy grin.
“Gin and tonic with a twist of lemon, please,” I rattled off, eyeing him up and down.
As he went to work on my beverage, I cooed, “You’re Waylon, right?”
He nodded. “Yes ma’am.”
“Annabelle seems to be pretty taken with you,” I admitted quickly.
“I hope so.” He blushed a little, setting a rocks glass in front of me. “Is she meeting you here?” The excitement that laced his voice was adorable.
“She should be here pretty soon.”
“Why don’t I grab you ladies a table then?” He walked around the end of the bar, waving me over to follow him.
“Trying to get rid of me that quickly, huh?” I shot Waylon a knowing sneer, narrowing my eyes at him.
He chuckled. “Either I’m pretty transparent, or I saw your group walking in and wanted to make y’all a little more comfortable.
“Touché, sir.”
“I’ll be back with the other drinks in a minute.” He quickly walked away as my friends joined me around the table.
“Hi!” I greeted Sawyer, Caroline, and Annabelle with quick hugs.
“To another Monday coming to a cheery close.” Caroline chortled as she scooted into her seat.
“Amen to that, sister.” I giggled, sipping from my perfect cocktail.
“Ladies, welcome.” Waylon brought over the first round of drinks for the other girls in the group without us needing to order them as we sat down to begin our weekly ritual.
I was so thrilled to see Annabelle as excited as she was when she looked at Waylon. It had been too long since we’d seen her smile like she was now.
“Thank you, Waylon,” Annabelle cooed as her hand brushed over his forearm. Right then, all three of our jaws dropped. It wasn’t like Sawyer, Caroline, and I weren’t expecting it, but to see the subtle display of affection just took us all aback.
“You’ve very welcome. Enjoy. Let me know if you need anything.” Waylon pecked Annie on the cheek before retreating.
“Holy hell, girl!” I yelled before throwing my hands over my mouth. “We need details right the fuck now.”
“It was amazing. He came over, he cooked, we danced, we cleaned the kitchen, and then he left. That was all she wrote.” Annabelle rattled off the night’s events quickly.
“That’s it?” Caroline took the words right out of my mouth.
“That’s it,” Annie stated before devouring a cherry.
“Did he at least make a move?” Sawyer whined as I sat there speechless.
“I asked him to stay and he said he didn’t want to ruin how perfect the evening was.” Annabelle crossed her arms matter-of-factly as we all just gaped.
I had definitely been hoping for more of a juicy tell-all, but it was Annie’s first time dating since being with Freddy, her late husband. What more could we really expect?
“I am so confused. The fire between you two just now was intoxicating, but that sounds like y’all are friend-zoning each other. I am going to get to the bottom of this.” Without warning, Sawyer waved over to Waylon.
“Oh my God, Sawyer! What are you doing?” Annabelle yell-whispered at our nosy friend as her guy approached.