I’m not surprised that Darren made the connection that quickly, but I shake my head, amused by it all the same.
Another picture arrives: Who are the only siblings to have won Oscars for lead acting?
It takes me a moment, and I’m disappointed in myself for that, but before Darren can accuse me of looking it up, I answer him.
Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland
Of course. You a fan of old movies?
Not necessarily a huge fan, but I have some favorites. You?
Nah, that’s a Beau thing. I watch a bunch of shitty tv.
Guilty pleasures?
Except without the guilt
I have nothing to say to that, but it doesn’t matter when he sends me another question, and another after that, my eyes getting heavier after he and I have gone back and forth about a handful more. When I get a couple of them wrong, Darren gives me shit as well as he would’ve at the bar, but there are chancesfor me to tease him too, and I don’t miss. I yawn though, and at some point I need to admit it before I fall asleep and disappear on him entirely.
It's way past my bedtime and you need to close up.
Darren doesn’t respond right away, and I figure he’s either busy serving the last customers of the night or getting a head start on the closing I just mentioned. It’s only then that I wonder whether he’d thought about coming over tonight—to check on me or for anything else he’s just started to want—and while I don’t think he’d be bothered by my need to sleep, I’m close to making sure I haven’t let him down.
And I can’t figure out whether telling him about my shower would make anything better or worse.
Before I can worry about it, Darren’s back.
You’re working from home tomorrow?
I am.
And not coming to the bar right?
I don’t have the energy to chuckle, but I think I try.Have I been banned from trailhead? Do you plan to send Beau over to guard my door?
Maybe I’ll send Adrian instead
You really would
Lol
My eyes fall closed, and I tell myself to open them again, at least to be polite and say goodnight, but I’m so tired now. The shower and orgasm and painkiller, combined with being comfortable in bed and chatting with Darren, have relaxed me in away that I needed, and I’m not sure I have the strength to fight back against something that feels so good. I leave my phone somewhere in the space next to me—one I haven’t rolled into in the past nine years, and won’t move any closer to tonight—and a few seconds or several minutes pass before I hear the sound of one more notification.
A text I don’t read until morning.
Missed having you here tonight
As the next several days pass, I’m feeling better. At my age, it’ll take me a while to get back to the shape I was in before the accident, but I’m not limping, my bruises are on the other side of their worst, and I can sleep without meds, over-the-counter or otherwise. My broken bike is back in my garage, and I haven’t decided what to do with it yet, the damage done there separate from any other wound still healing. It’s fine, though. I’m fine.
My return to trivia night is fine, too.
Noah greets me with the relief of someone who’d believed I survived my accident, but needed to see it for himself. Adrian sits back with a predictably neutral smile while Beau hurries to smack an obnoxious kiss to my cheek. A moment later, Riley takes all of us by surprise when they slip out from behind the bar and wrap their arms around me. The words whispered in my ear aren't anyone else’s to know.
It’s all more than fine, actually, except that there’s a huge bachelor party taking up a third of the room and probably all of the beer garden. Beau, Adrian, Noah, and I all tip well, but we’re no match for the rowdy groom-to-be and his friends, so Darren rarely has time for more than a smile in our direction. With Riley around, I’m not sure I'm the quietest among us, but I sip my Guinness and answer every quiz question and say very little.
I watch Darren's back-and-forth more closely than usual, but my friends are easily distracted by noise and laughter, and Riley is the only one to raise an eyebrow in my direction. They could be curious about my recovery. I doubt it’s that simple.
My second beer is long gone by the time I unofficially win, and Noah has already ducked out. I need to go home too, but Darren catches my eye right after I’ve said a polite goodnight to Adrian and just before Beau wraps me in a hug. Meeting Darren at the other end of the bar requires effort I’ve never made at Trailhead—pushing past a crowd to get to a gorgeous, half-dressed man isn’t usually my thing—but he’s grinning when I get there, and I think it’s worth it.