Unexpected Rush (Play-By-Play #11)(32)

Okay, enough of that shit. He walked over to the bar. Harmony saw him and smiled. The dude smiled, too.

Whatever, buddy.

“Hi,” Harmony said. “Barrett, this is Ted Lester. He works here at the hotel. Ted, this is Barrett Cassidy.”

Barrett shook his hand. “Ted.”

“Barrett. You play for the Hawks, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Big fan.”

“Thanks. What do you do here at the hotel, Ted?”

“I manage the bar.”

Barrett had a burning urge to tell him he should go manage it. “Off duty?”

“My shift isn’t starting yet.”

“Ted was telling me about how much he’s traveled. He’s worked for hotels all over the world. Tokyo, Sydney, London, Beijing.”

Barrett cocked a brow. “You must love travel.”

Ted grinned. “I do.”

“So what are you doing in Tampa?”

“My family lives here. Grandparents are getting older and frail. Figured I’d set down roots here for a while, put the travel on hold for a bit, ya know?”

Barrett nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

Okay, so maybe Ted wasn’t an *. The guy loved his family, and you couldn’t hate on someone who wanted to be there for his grandparents.

Dammit.

“Are you two staying the night?” Ted asked.

Harmony lifted her gaze to Barrett.

“We have a room, yeah,” Barrett said.

“You should eat at the Salt N Pepper Bistro. Best French restaurant in Clearwater. Amazing food.”

“Thanks for the tip, Ted,” Harmony said.

Ted picked up his phone. “I gotta run. I hope to see both of you here in the bar later. Great to meet you.”

“You, too,” Barrett said, then slid into the chair after Ted left.

“He was a really nice guy,” Harmony said. “Since he’s come back home, he’s reconnected with one of his old girlfriends from high school. He was talking to me about her.”

Okay, so Barrett really had it wrong. “He was, huh?”

“Yes. He was telling me about how they went their separate ways in college, and how she ended up back here in Tampa at the same time he did. It’s like they were destined to meet up again.”

“Like a freakin’ fairy tale or something.”

She laughed and picked up her cocktail. “Something like that.”

The bartender came over and Barrett ordered a beer. “What are you drinking?”

She lifted the glass with the pink liquid. “A vodka and cranberry juice. And I had a mini snack in the room earlier when I was up there alone, so I don’t want you to worry about me and food and eating. I won’t be fainting on you.”

“Good.”

“And about earlier,” she said. “I’m sorry I went off on you.”

He nodded. “It’s okay. I’m the one who should be sorry. I was being a dick about relationships.”

“No, we were having a discussion. One where we didn’t agree on a few things. And I got mad and stormed off in a very immature fashion.”

“You were entitled to disagree.”

“That’s true. But storming off was childish. And for that I’m sorry.”

“I pushed too hard and I spouted a bunch of bullshit I shouldn’t have. And for that, I’m sorry.”

Her lips curved. “We’ll agree that we both acted badly. Let’s forget all about it then, and start over?”

“Agreed.” He grabbed her drink. “How about we get comfortable at a table. There’s one by the windows with a view of the water.”

“Sounds good.”

They sat and had drinks and, this time, had positive conversations about his work and hers and kept relationship talk out of the equation. Barrett decided he’d back off trying to get Harmony to see that she shouldn’t be with him. He intended to keep it neutral for the rest of their time together tonight. Probably safer that way.

And when Ted came over and told them he’d arranged a reservation at the French bistro he’d mentioned, Harmony grinned.

“Thanks so much, Ted.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Barrett said. “We appreciate it.”

“Hey, I told you. I’m a big fan, and Harmony put up with me talking about my girlfriend.”

“Nothing to put up with,” Harmony said. “From what you told me, you and Willow seem perfect together.”

“That means a lot to me. I hope the two of you enjoy your dinner tonight.”

Barrett paid the bar tab and they headed out front to grab his car. It wasn’t a long drive to the restaurant, which didn’t look like much on the outside. But Barrett had found many a great restaurant when he traveled that looked like hell on the outside but had great food.

They made their way into the restaurant and were seated by the waitress, who dropped off menus and said she’d be right back to get their drink orders.

“What would you like to drink?” Barrett asked.

“I’m going to switch to water.”

He nodded, and when their waitress came back, he ordered two waters.

“This menu looks amazing.”

Harmony nodded. “I can’t decide whether I want crepes or pasta or the duck.”