Page 65 of Living La Vida Mocha
“Welcome to the family, Cara. I’ve heard so much about you. It’s lovely to finally put a name to the face.” He shook his head. “I mean a face to the name. Welcome you two as well. Amanda and Silas, correct?”
His voice was deep but welcoming, and somehow it wiped away a touch of the uneasiness I was feeling.
He sauntered back to the carving station and resumed slicing the ham. “Cara, I hear you’re a marketing whiz and a bit of a trivia nut.”
“Oh, yeah?” Curiously I glanced up at Carter, who wasn’t trying to hide a smirk.
“Sorry,” Carter said, leaning closer. “I maybe mentioned the marketing part.”
“I’m more concerned with the trivia part.” I laughed and stole a quick glance to Bea, who was most definitely not laughing. Stiff as a board she glared in my direction.
“Do you play mostly online?” Jasper was either blind to the arrows being shot in my direction, or he simply chose to ignore them, either way, he gave me something pleasant to focus on.
“Amanda and I played at the bar on occasion. Friday night trivia.” For good measure, I smiled at my friend. Many good evenings were had at Crocodile Jim’s.
“Trivia, really?” Silas said to Amanda. I loved how they were still discovering new things about each other.
“Don’t expect to win aFriendstrivia night either. She’ll smoke you.” She was still the reigning champ but someday I hoped to take the title away from her.
He sliced another thick piece of ham. “I’d love to get something started at the bar.”
“Are you a manager?”
A smug smile stretched out across his rugged face. “The owner.” Because of course he was, it was the Ridge Heights thing to do. “And I’d love to chat with you about some ideas on getting a trivia night going.”
I rolled my bottom lip between my teeth. “I’m not sure how I can help.”
“With your marketing background, I’m sure you have some amazing ideas.” Jasper added a slice of ham to the serving plate after a quick glance at Carter. “But we can always discuss that later. Tonight is about celebrating. No talk of work, right, my little Bea?”
Bea cracked a smile at Jasper’s comment, and if it wasn’t already so cold outside, I would’ve thought the underground had frozen over.
Silas handed his liquor store purchase to Carter.
“Thanks, Silas.” Carter cleared his throat, pulled the cork out of the wine bottle, and filled three glasses with a rose-tinted variety, handing one to me and passing out the others.
Although I felt I didn’t have much to celebrate, I was grateful to be hanging out with my boyfriend again and for seeing Bea’s icy demeanour melt just a touch in my presence because of her boyfriend. He was a favourable fit for her.
“Bea, what can I help with?” I glanced at the table.
It was elegantly set for six, almost like it had been purposely planned that way, with cloth napkins in rings atop the plates. The food seemed to be all set out, aside from the plate of sliced ham.
“Nothing at all. We finished everything up while you were outside waiting.”
Carter cleared his throat again.
“What?” She whipped her head so fast in his direction, I swore her neck cracked. “I just mean there were only a few tiny things left to do, and we finished it off. It wasn’t a shot.”
Even though it felt like a perfectly aimed arrow.
My thinking may have been flawed, but I figured the way to soften up Bea was to A) be sweet, but not over the top with Carter, B) to get along well with Jasper, and C) to help Bea out with cleanup.
Over the course of the dinner, I tried all three. I lovingly touched Carter, which was impossibly hard to control and came much too easily. His jokes and good-natured ribbing kept the conversations going and even had Amanda snort laughing at one point. When I felt I had something to add, it was usually a piece of fun trivia or a factoid of some sort but Amanda could turn it into aFriendsquote, something Bea enjoyed. With her there, my gratitude soared and the nasty feelings ticking my thoughts settled down.
Surprisingly, I enjoyed dinner, the conversations, and being a part of something, even if one of the people kept casting a nasty, albeit brief, glare in my direction on occasion. Thankfully, by the end of the meal, it wasn’t every time she looked at me, just every third.
Amanda and Silas helped us bring the kitchen back to normal until it was no longer littered with dirty pans, stacks of plates, and multiple serving utensils, but sadly, they had to leave before the after-dinner walk and after-walk dessert.
I walked my friends to the door, where Silas helped Amanda into her coat.