The Player (9 page)

“Really, Garrett,” Aunt Debra mused, pressing her hand to her chest. “Haven’t you done enough?”

Garrett grinned at the waiter. “Make sure it’s extra cold.”

Neil ordered water, although he gave his father’s drink a longing glance, and his mother ordered iced tea. When the waiter turned to Blair, she looked torn, her previous steely presence returning. She cast a glance at Garrett for several seconds, then looked up at the waiter. “Hard lemonade.”

Garrett nearly laughed at her order. From the look on her face, it had to be killing her to order something fruity. She was more of a beer and hard liquor kind of girl, but she was obviously trying to make peace with his non-worldly aunt, who would likely miss the fact that she was ordering alcohol.

Neil tensed. “Are you sure you don’t want tea? Or water?”

Garrett leaned forward, unable to stop himself. “Let the lady have her lemonade, Neil. I knew you were a stuffed shirt, but I never figured you for a tightwad.” He turned his attention to Blair. “Does he make you buy bargain brand toilet paper too?”

Neil’s face turned red, and Blair glared at him, but he could tell she was fighting a grin.

“Of course Blair can have whatever she wants.”

Garrett’s grin spread as he looked up at the waiter. “Then a hard lemonade for the lady it is.”

“Lemonade does sound good on a hot day like today,” Aunt Debra said, chewing on her lower lip. “Maybe I should change my order.”

Blair’s eyes widened slightly, but not enough that anyone would notice unless they were watching her closely. Like he was now. A blind man could see the two women didn’t get along. This would be one more log tossed onto a fire that Blair now seemed eager to put out. “Maybe I should change—”

“Don’t be silly,” Garrett said. “Neil just gave you his blessing to spend another dollar or two. But Aunt Debra,” he turned to his aunt. “I’m not sure you’d like their lemonade. I hear it’s really bitter.” He shot the waiter a pointed glance, letting him know not to counter him.

The older woman shook her head and pursed her lips. “I’ll get whatever I want, Garrett Michael Lowry.” She turned to the server. “Why are you still standing there? Go get our drinks.” Then she made a shooing motion.

Garrett tried to keep from laughing. “On second thought, I think a glass of hard lemonade is exactly what you need, Aunt Debra.”

Neil shot Blair a look of dismay, then turned his attention to Aunt Debra. “Mother, I think you should get something else.”

She gave him a pointed glare. “Why?”

Neil shook his head. “Never mind.”

While they waited for their drinks, they all sat stewing in uncomfortable silence. Aunt Debra was fuming, and Uncle Gene was sneaking sips of his second bottle of beer behind his menu. Neil was outright surly, his shoulders tense as he tried to decide whom to shoot angry looks at, Garrett or Blair. Even the always-in-control Blair seemed slightly off kilter now that the dust had settled. Garrett didn’t regret throwing down the gauntlet with the ring, but in hindsight, he should have waited until later to do it. He didn’t want to cause Blair any additional stress. Since he was the one who’d stirred up this round of conflict, it was on him to make it more bearable.

The waiter brought their drinks and took their food orders, then hurried away. Not that Garrett could blame him after the way Aunt Debra had quizzed him about the various barbeque sauces, wanting to know which ingredients were in each. Thank God she hadn’t been so inquisitive about her lemonade.

Blair had started to drink in earnest while Debra gave the waiter the third degree, and her hard lemonade was half gone by the time he scurried off. His aunt eyed her with disapproval. “Really, Blair. That’s so unladylike.” But she then took a sip of her own drink.

Neil’s attention was glued to his mother, and Garrett waited for her reaction. Blair bit her lower lip.

“This is delicious.” Aunt Debra took another sip, then glared at Garrett. “Why did you tell me it was bitter? It’s actually very sweet and quite refreshing on a hot day.”

“My mistake,” Garrett murmured, lifting his beer bottle to his lips. “I must have confused this place with another one.”

His aunt took another long drink and turned to his uncle. “We should see about having some of this at the rehearsal dinner barbeque.”

“Rehearsal dinner
barbeque?
” Garrett asked, trying to keep a straight face.

Blair’s brow lowered. “It’s a western theme.”

Garrett fought to keep from laughing. Blair was hosting a western-themed dinner? “Will there be square dancing?”

Blair’s eyes narrowed. “
No.
”

His aunt’s mouth pinched with irritation. “As you can see, Blair put her foot down.”

“Come on, Blair,” Garrett teased. “Everyone loves a good do-si-do or an allemande, right?”

Blair’s eyes lit up with challenge. “You know how to square dance, Garrett?”

“Oh, you know me. I like to see the skirts flying.”

Neil pounced on his words. “How would she know that, Garrett?”

Something in his tone caught Garrett off guard. It was almost as if he knew about their past together and was challenging Garrett to admit to it. And he wanted to. But Blair’s eyes were wild with panic, so he vowed to himself that he would keep quiet about it, at least for now. He’d stirred up enough trouble for the moment. “Oh, just something from the deposition, right, Blair?”

She looked torn. It was a lie, and she hated lies, preferring omission as her word-weapon of choice. So she gave him a haughty look and took another drink of her lemonade.

Garrett needed to steer the conversation away from Blair. “Neil, Mom tells me that you’re a doctor here in town.”

Neil studied him for several seconds as if gauging whether he was serious. “I work at St. Luke’s in infectious disease.”

“So do you spend more time in the hospital or in an office?”

Neil’s eyes narrowed. “You just laid claim to my fiancée’s ring and now you want to make polite conversation?”

His cousin only had it half right, but then he’d always been an idiot. Garrett had no idea how the guy had managed to fumble his way through medical school. “I said we’d wait for Nana Ruby to help decide. It’s about time she got involved in this anyway, don’t you think?”

“She says she doesn’t want to get involved,” Uncle Gene said. Everyone looked over at him in surprise. He wasn’t one to give his opinions. Obviously the beer had loosened his tongue.

Aunt Debra frowned. “Yes, Mother says we need to work it out ourselves.”

Garrett loved his mother, but she was one of the most stubborn women he’d ever met. His Aunt Debra was a very close second. Nana Ruby was no fool, so it was understandable why she’d tried to extricate herself from the situation.

“Is anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on with this ring?” Blair demanded, fire in her eyes.

He’d expected the question minutes ago, but the Curse Kitty and the hard lemonade must have distracted her. That, or she’d wanted to wait for her drink before dealing with the mess.

Neil shot Garrett a glare and gave her a condensed version of the story.

“Why am I just now hearing about the controversy over this damned ring?” she asked, her jaw set.

“It wasn’t something you needed to worry about, dear,” Aunt Debra said, then lifted her jar and shook it. “You owe the jar a dollar.”

Blair shot Neil an exasperated glare, then dug out a dollar before flagging down the waiter so she could order another hard lemonade.

“Give me another one too,” Debra called after him. “It’s really very good.”

Their food arrived, and Debra became more and more uninhibited. Garrett had a hard time hiding his snicker, but Neil looked worried.

Neil got in multiple digs at Garrett over the course of the dinner, but it was easy to ignore him, particularly because Blair was at the table. He was dying to find out more about her life. He thought about waiting, but it would be considered normal for him to ask a new acquaintance questions about her career.

“So, Blair,” Garrett said as she cut her pork with a knife and fork. “When did you start at Sisco, Sisco, and Reece?”

“Blair is a career woman,” Debra said, slurring her words. She leaned her elbow on the table. It slipped on the surface, and she nearly fell face first into her baked beans.

Garrett grabbed her upper arm and helped her upright. “There you go.”

She gave him an exaggerated look of confusion as she patted the top of her head. “I’m feeling a bit dizzy.”

Neil shot daggers at him across the table. “I blame you for this, Garrett.”

Neil’s mother shook her head, almost falling out of her chair. “Garrett’s being a perfect gentleman, Neilson.” Then she added, “For once.”

His cousin looked furious.

“Blair doesn’t like to keep house or cook,” Debra continued. “She
hires
someone to clean.” His aunt spat out the sentence as though she’d just declared that Blair drowned puppies for sport.

“After watching Blair in action, I’m certain she’s exactly where she needs to be,” Garrett said.

Blair’s eyes widened at the compliment, but Neil’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “And where’s that, Garrett?”

Blair tensed, confusion flickering in her eyes.

“As a practicing attorney, Neil. What else could I be referring to?”

Blair took a deep breath and released it, her resolve returning. “I love what I do and have no intention of giving it up.” She gave Garrett a withering glance. “And while Mr. Lowry is trying to appear gracious, I have no doubt that this is just a tactic to throw me off before our depositions tomorrow.” Her upper lip curled. “But I can assure you it won’t work.”

Is that how she saw this? An elaborate attempt to sabotage her strategy? She should know better than to think he’d employ such tactics. He’d always preferred a fair, equal match. It was the only way he could know he’d won fair and square. But he’d let her down in almost every way possible, so maybe she didn’t believe him capable of anything good.

He suddenly felt like he was fighting a hopeless battle.

Garrett backed off the rest of dinner, and Debra got more and more inebriated. When she ordered her third hard lemonade, Garrett pulled the waiter aside and requested that he deliver her a regular lemonade instead. But she noticed the difference with her first sip.

“This tastes different.”

“It’s the water,” Garrett said.

“The water?” She waved her glass and sloshed her drink over the side onto her hand.

“They ran out of hard water. Thus its name. This batch was made with
soft
water.”

“Oh.”

Blair grinned when she bought it, but Neil didn’t look so amused.

As soon as they were done with dinner, Neil pulled out his phone and sighed. “I have to take this. It’s the hospital.” He got up and walked toward the front door, his phone pressed to his ear, although from Garrett’s angle, his phone had a blank screen—no incoming or missed calls or texts. Not that Garrett would have believed it anyway. The timing was too convenient.

But Garrett decided to take advantage of his absence and turned to Blair. “So how long have you and Neil been together?”

She gave him a frosty gaze. “Two years.”

“How did you meet?”

She studied him closely, as though trying to determine if he had an ulterior motive. “At a First Friday.” When he gave her a blank look, she shifted in her seat and explained. “Every first Friday of the month, a bunch of the art galleries and restaurants downtown are open to the public, and they feature local bands and artists. We met at an art gallery. One of the associate attorneys in my office introduced us. He’s an acquaintance of Neil’s.”

“Was it a whirlwind romance?” he couldn’t resist asking.

Her eyebrows lifted, and she gave him a deathly glare.

“She’s lucky to have him,” Aunt Debra said, thrusting her shoulders back like a linebacker preparing to tackle. Unfortunately, her normal personality seemed to be returning along with her faculties.

Garrett lifted his second beer and winked. “Seems like it’s the other way around to me.”

Blair’s shoulders relaxed, and he saw a grin tug at the corners of her mouth.

“How long do you think you’ll continue working, dear?” his aunt asked her, lifting her glass to her mouth and giving her a sly grin. “You’ll want to start having children soon, at your age. The clock is ticking.”

Blair tensed again, and Garrett could see she was biting her tongue. She forced a smile. “I’m not going to quit my job. I love what I do. I’m not sure I even want to have children.”

Aunt Debra choked on the sip of lemonade she’d just taken, her eyes widening in horror. “
What?
” She started coughing, and she scooted her chair back, the wood screeching on the tiles. She dropped her glass, and it shattered on the hard floor, splattering lemonade on a woman walking behind her.

The young woman shrieked and jumped backward, landing in the lap of a man who was dining with a group of friends at a nearby table. From their Royals baseball shirts, Garrett figured they were grabbing dinner before the game. The man wrapped an arm around her back to steady her, a surprised grin lighting up his face.