Role Playing(26)

She was not going to make it a full hour in this nightmare. She glanced at her phone. She’d barely made twenty minutes.

Too bad. She was too old and too tired to hang at a middle-aged kegger. She didn’t even like football, and after years of nodding like a bobblehead when Trev bored her senseless about sports stats, she would be damned if she was going to keep pretending.

She’d done her time.

She pushed through the small crowd to the spare bedroom to grab her coat and give Duchess a good long skritch goodbye. But as she did, she paused, motionless.

There was a big guy already there, kneeling on the floor. Duchess was giving him her belly, completely shameless, her tongue lolling out in doggy ecstasy. The man was chuckling. He looked huge. He had big shoulders and was built solid: some extra pounds, padding around his middle, like an athlete who’d gone to seed. He had red hair . . . well, reddish hair. Not flame red, not copper, not blond, not quite brown. She wasn’t sure what she’d call it. A neatly trimmed beard, lighter, with more gray.

He looked at her over his shoulder. He had gray eyes, currently looking at her curiously. She thought she saw a little bit of a blush, high on his cheeks, above his whiskers. He gave her a little up-nod.

She up-nodded back. Then she grabbed her coat and fled. Fuck this social shit, she thought.

Then realized, abruptly, three things.

One: she hadn’t gotten proof or a picture of the party.

Two: she felt bad for that Aiden guy they were talking about. She could tell Deb had plans for him. Then again, if it was a choice between Deb digging into her life or trying to snare this guy—well, Maggie was going to throw him right under the bus.

And three: she wanted to play some video games. Immediately.





CHAPTER 11


TOO GOOD FOR THIS SINFUL EARTH

Aiden watched the woman go, scurrying away after snatching up a blue fleece jacket from the mountainous pile of coats. She’d looked unsettled, he couldn’t help but notice, and surprised to see him there. She’d also waved goodbye to the dog, which made him grin. He was a pet person and got the feeling she was too.

She also wasn’t a party person, if she was bailing this early. He couldn’t help but envy her the exit.

Suck it up. You just need to ask somebody on a date. To a wedding.

He straightened after giving the dog one last long scratch behind her ear, leaving her lolling in canine delight. He had a mission. He’d come to this party to ask a woman out. Riley was right. It wasn’t brain surgery, and it wasn’t going to kill him. For that matter, simply being social shouldn’t be that big a deal. When he’d been with Sheryl, she’d dragged him to restaurants and birthday parties for her friends, concerts and comedy clubs. He hadn’t always enjoyed it (okay, he had rarely enjoyed it), but he’d also spent time with Malcolm and his family, and he’d gone on outings with people from the hospice organization, so it wasn’t like he was a complete recluse.

With renewed resolve, he grabbed the tray of cupcakes he’d purchased at Tasty Great, and headed for the kitchen. Everybody knew that the kitchen was the epicenter of any party.

As he’d expected, Deb was there, talking to some women. She saw him, and blushed, even while smiling broadly. “Aiden! Welcome! So glad you could make it.” She reached for him, surprising him with a hug. He carefully held the cupcakes to the side.

“Thanks for having me,” he said. “I brought dessert.”

“Perfect!” She handed them off to a pretty blonde who stood beside her, brushing her long hair over her shoulder and studying him intently. “Patience? Can you put these out on the table? Maybe next to the cookies?”

“So this is Aiden,” Patience said. She looked him over like she was going to be tested on his appearance later. He tried not to squirm self-consciously.

Deb made a low, impatient noise. “Sorry. This is Patience, my cousin. She’s younger than I am, so you probably don’t remember her.”

“I would’ve remembered you,” Patience said. Flirted? He felt fairly certain she was flirting.

“The cupcakes, Patience?” Deb pressed.

Rolling her eyes, Patience complied. “I’m gonna be right back,” she promised.

Deb sighed, then lowered her voice. “She had a bad breakup, just moved back from Las Vegas. I’m letting her stay with me, since Harrison moved out. That’s my son,” she clarified. “He just graduated from the high school.”

“Congrats,” he said as she grabbed a glass out of a cabinet and got him water from the fridge door. He thanked her absently and took a sip, grateful that it gave him something to do with his hands.

“Aiden!”

Aiden looked up to see Riley walking over from the living room, where the bulk of partygoers were congregated around the TV, watching the game. “Hey, man,” Aiden said, giving Riley a half bro hug. “We winning?”

“Nah,” Riley said, with a laugh. “But hey, we’re trying.”

“Know how that feels,” Aiden muttered.

“Soooooo . . . ,” Riley said to the group at large. “Who here is interested in dating this guy? I mean, he’s a total catch, right?”

Aiden goggled. “The hell, dude?”

Riley shot him a don’t-worry-about-it look. “I am being your wingman,” he said, with no chill whatsoever.