He let himself smile, a tiny bit.
“Look, I suppose if it was happening to someone who wasn’t me, I would be able to find the humor in it a little more.”
She patted him on the arm.
“Ahh, there’s the real Luke Williams. I was also laughing because this whole thing is so not you. You always do the right thing, never get into trouble—hell, I’m surprised that you even went out the night before you started a new job. Honestly, if you found this as funny as I did, I would be concerned that you’d been replaced by some sort of impostor.”
His small smile turned into a grin.
“This whole thing is all your fault; you’re the one who pointed out the Barrel to me when we drove by my building.” He looked around at the parking lot. “But you have to keep this a total secret, okay? I shouldn’t have even told you, but honestly there was no way I could meet you for dinner tonight and answer questions about how my first day of work was and keep this in.” He shook his head. “I should have known this would be a problem after I kissed her outside the bar and she said we couldn’t do that there, that too many people knew her around here. Do you know the kind of women who say things like that? The kind of women who end up being your new boss, that kind.”
Avery laughed again, and this time he laughed along with her. It was funny. He supposed.
“I gave her my number. Monday morning, after I drove her home,” he said.
Avery stopped, her hand on the car-door handle.
“Wait. I thought this was just a one-night stand. You were going to see her again?”
“I wanted to,” he admitted. “She was . . . We had a great time.” Avery got that grin on her face again. He was suddenly irritated, far more than he probably should have been. “That’s not what I mean.” Well. Not just what he meant. “We talked, for a long time. At the bar, I mean. I really liked talking to her. She’s smart, funny, interesting, easy to talk to. We had fun.”
Avery’s eyes were wide.
“Did you want to date her?”
He shook his head.
“Date her, no, I’m not going to be up here for that long. But I thought maybe Margot and I could be . . . friends.” He couldn’t hold back a smirk. “The kind of friends who have really great sex sometimes.”
Avery made a face.
“Ewww, I wasn’t asking for details, but okay.” She opened her car door. “Now can we please go inside and get some drinks and food? I need wine after that conversation.”
Luke laughed and got out of the car.
“How’d your mom take the news?” Avery asked after they sat down at a table and ordered drinks. “Of you quitting your job and moving up here and all?”
Funny that she asked.
“Mmm. About that. I didn’t . . . quite . . . tell her that I’d quit.”
Avery raised her eyebrows at him.
“You didn’t ‘quite’ tell her you’d quit? What did you tell her?”
He sighed.
“I told her I was on sabbatical. Which, yes, was a total lie. It’s just . . . it had already been a long day, what with the Margot thing and all, and my mom is just so proud of me, and I didn’t want to . . .”
Avery put her hand on his arm.
“You didn’t want to disappoint her. Especially since you feel bad about quitting in the first place. I get it.”
He looked up at her.
“How did you know I felt bad about quitting in the first place?”
Avery rolled her eyes.
“Luke. How long have we known each other? Come on.” She patted his arm. “What did your mom say to the sabbatical thing? Did she believe it?” She looked at him and then narrowed her eyes. “Oh no. What’s wrong?”
Avery really was going to kill him.
“The thing is . . . when I told her I’d come up here to help you move, and everything”—Avery looked away at the reminder of her breakup, and he quickly rushed on—“I—accidentally—said something that led her to believe that we were together. You and me, I mean.”
Avery’s eyes widened.
“Your mom thought we were dating? Oh no. She must have been even more disappointed when you told her it wasn’t true.”
Luke looked down at the table.
“LUKE.”
He cleared his throat and looked up. She was giving him her fiercest glare.
Where were mashed potatoes when he needed them?
“I didn’t . . . exactly . . . tell her it wasn’t true.”
Avery kept staring at him.