The Best Friend (Red's Tavern 1)

“The Ice Princess consists of pomegranate soda mixed with currant syrup and a twist of lime,” he said proudly as I took a sip.

“Damn, Red, you’re as good at fake cocktails as you are at real ones,” I said. “This is awesome.”

“And there are nine other ones on the menu. High school students ain’t gonna know what hit them.”

I forced a smile, taking a deep breath as I nervously glanced around the room again.

“If you’re looking for your man, he isn’t coming in until six o’clock,” Red said, giving me a knowing look.

“He isn’t my man,” I said, frowning and picking the drink back up.

Red gave me a look I couldn’t read. “You should really talk to him tonight, though.”

“I’m not going to be doing that. I have a million things to be managing tonight, and Mitch isn’t one of them.”

“Damn. Cold,” Red said.

I let out a sigh. “I don’t mean it like that. Of course I’m going to be talking to Mitch. But we aren’t on great terms.”

“He didn’t tell me details, but... I heard,” Red said.

“I’m tired of it, Red,” I said, looking over my shoulder to make sure no students were nearby. “I’m tired of constantly having my hopes up and then having them squashed like a fucking bug. I need something real, and that’s why I applied to this thing in Switzerland. It’s radical, but it would be totally my own.”

“Switzerland?” Red asked, furrowing his brow. “Oh. Jesus. That explains a lot about how he was acting.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Mitch? How was he acting?”

“That’s for you to find out yourself. Talk to him,” Red said, walking off toward the bar.

When the event started, I didn’t even have to try to avoid Mitch. Because the place was absolutely packed. I had invited the same number of people I usually invited to the occasional shelter fundraisers, but so many more had actually showed up this time. Maybe because this was the first time the event was hosted at the Tavern, or maybe because the weather was unseasonably warm tonight.

I hadn’t even seen when Mitch walked in. The whole tavern was full of people of all ages, families, and Red’s regulars. Red had 80s music pumping through the speakers, and there were activity booths all around the place. Zach and Sophia were currently at the picture booth, wearing top hats from the prop basket. Red was currently manning the trivia game at one side of the room. There was a karaoke setup for later, ready to go. People were actually bidding on the silent auction items, where all proceeds would go to the shelter.

When I was checking on the bids, I saw Mitch emerging from the back office and setting up behind the bar. He was wearing a t-shirt that had the shelter’s logo on it. It was a little tight on him, and it hugged every single muscle of his chest and his upper arms. Sam must have also draped a rainbow-colored feather boa around his neck, and I hated how adorable it looked.

He didn’t see me from across the room, and I quickly made my way over to the trivia game.

“All right, and for a 500 point question… which dog breed is known to be a professional truffle hunter?” Red said, reading off the question like a professional game show host. He gave four possible choices, none of which I’d even heard of.

“It’s option D,” I heard from behind me. I turned and saw Mitch standing near me and I swear I almost jumped.

Zach and Sophia were sitting in chairs right in front of us, and Zach turned around. “Is that right, Dad?”

“Yes. Trust me.”

“I’ve never even heard of that breed. Lagotto?” Zach said.

“Give it a shot,” Mitch said.

Zach waved his hand in the air and gave red the answer.

“Lagotto Romagnolo, option D, is correct!” Red said. “500 points for Zach and Sophia’s team, which means they win this round.”

Zach turned around and gave Mitch a high five. “How did you know that?”

“Let’s just say I couldn’t sleep the other night and I watched a lot of Animal Planet.”

In another moment, Zach and Sophia were bounding to the front to claim their t-shirt prize. Mitch was still standing next to me, and I could smell his shower-fresh scent.

“Ev,” he said softly, turning to me. He was trying to seem normal and steady, but I’d known Mitch for years. I could tell he was just as nervous as I was right now.

I hated feeling nervous around him. It wasn’t right. It was like everything between us had shifted.

“Hey, Mitch,” I said.

“I know this is probably the absolute worst time in the world, and you probably have about ten things you’d rather go check on. But could you come out front with me just for a minute?” he asked.