Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(124)

“This your favorite place, then?” Krista asked Sean. He was transparent.

He smiled that secret smile, but spilled the secret by kissing her, “I love you, baby.”

“Love you, too. But seriously, your favorite place?”

Sean laughed and pointed her to the bar. “Busted. But it has a mean steak. Go meet your friends while I check in.”

It took a moment of confusion before Krista spied Kate, Jasmine and Ben waiting by the bar. She found her way to them quickly, was delighted to see they got her a drink without her having to ask, and blurted out, “What are you guys doing here?” She wiggled through the crowd to stand next to Kate. Between the three of them, they’d only managed to procure two seats.

“Your man invited us, naturally. Marcus is running late. Some boyfriend threw a tantrum so he had to deal with it before he met us,” Kate replied.

Sean leaned up against Krista’s back. There wasn’t enough room for him to get side-by-side. “Our table’s ready. Marcus is on his way, you said?”

“Yeah, and Ray is in the bathroom. Mary couldn’t come—their sitter was busy,” Jasmine informed them as she finished her drink and swiveled her long legs around.

“Really, Jaz? Need any more space?” Kate scoffed as she nearly fell off the stool. Ben staggered back, pushed out of the way.

Ray met them with a large smile. He had on jeans and a pressed, white suit shirt.

“Almost formal, huh Ray?” Krista asked with a smile, putting her hand in Sean’s.

Ray just shrugged, “If I could work in jeans, you bet I would!”

Everyone agreed, and they all filed up the stairs behind the waitress.

When they were all seated and orders for drinks were placed, Sean held up his glass, which was water. The orders were placed, but they hadn’t arrived. “A toast.”

“Dude, wait for the wine,” Jasmine said.

“We’ll do another one. This is just to fill the gap,” Sean answered.

They dutifully raised their glasses, “To the new…”

“You can’t have a toast without me!” Marcus interrupted as he pulled out a chair. He was looking sleek and glamorous. Some guy probably tried to throw himself off a bridge when Marcus broke up with him. “Who do you think you are?”

Sean laughed, waited patiently for Marcus to take off his trendy jacket, sit his trendy butt in the chair, put his trendy satchel under his feet, and stall with just enough trendy goings-on for the waiter to show up with drinks.

“Okay, let’s try this again,” Sean raised his glass of wine. Everyone followed suit. “I hate to see our team splitting apart, but glad to see some of our members are moving on to bigger and better things. To new opportunities.”

They all smiled as they clinked glasses. It was a bittersweet toast, and judging by Sean’s slightly shaking hand on Krista’s thigh, that was how he meant it.

“Great toast,” Marcus said, dismissing it. “But let’s talk about important things, shall we? For example, the new gossip that you two are doing the nasty!”

“Yeah!” Kate said, laughing. “I nearly shat myself when that crone Louisa said you were a slut. That you probably got the position on your back! I asked her if the job was a down payment, since you waited until you were leaving to ensnare the hot salesman. Sorry, Sean, but to them you’re just an object.”

Sean laughed, “I didn’t get any warning, either. She walked into the break room when Mable cornered me and made a show of…our status.”

“Oh! You were going to say I made a show of myself, weren’t you?” Krista said, slapping Sean’s arm.

Sean laughed and mock cowered from her, “I didn’t know how far you planned to go.”

“They call that improv, honey,” Marcus said with a wink at Sean.

Sean and Krista both went on point. No one was supposed to know about Sean’s little acting secret. Krista had never heard gossip on it, so it couldn’t have been around the company. But one look at the mischievous twinkle in Marcus’s eye was enough—he knew.

“How’d you find out?” Sean asked casually. He didn’t seem perturbed.

Marcus gave his Cheshire Cat smile, “You can’t act in my town and expect me not to find out.”

“Yeah, by the way, Sean,” Kate said, finishing her wine. It looked like it was bound to be a drunken affair. “That play was shit. Seriously. What the f**k?”

Sean looked at Krista. She raised her hands in defense. “It wasn’t me. I swear it wasn’t. I didn’t tell anyone.”

“Ray told me,” Kate said.

Sean looked at Ray with raised eyebrows. Ray just shrugged. “She was peppering me for information on the girl you were dating. Started recounting your schedule. I figured I’d just tell her. She would have figured it out eventually anyway. Krista did.”

“You knew!” Krista said, shocked.

“Yes, Krista, we knew you didn’t just happen to stumble into an out-of-the-way play that Sean was acting in. We thought it was cute.”

“You and Mary?” Ray nodded. “Oh, good, you and Mary are talking about me.”

“Honey, everyone’s talking about you!” Marcus said. “The girl that landed the big client and the big stud.”