Blowing It by Kate Aaron Read Free Book Online Page A

given our
hedonistic youth. Then again, Sameer had never needed alcohol to loosen up and have
fun.
    The woman on the stage finished butchering Elkie
Brooks, and the emcee switched the music to Bryan Adams while he shuffled
through a small stack of paper slips to select his next volunteer.
    “Very nice,” Ryan said in an undertone, while
Elaine distracted Magnus and the table next to us sang along with the music,
covering our conversation.
    I grinned and sipped my drink.
    “How come you’re here?”
    I grimaced. “The George was miserable.”
    “I told you.”
    “I know.” I slid my drink a couple of inches
farther onto the table. The last thing I wanted was to get drunk and make a
show of myself in front of Magnus. “I forgot you’re always right.”
    “Hey!” Sameer interrupted. “Don’t tell him things
like that.”
    Ryan pulled his best wounded face, and we all burst
into laughter.
    “Don’t listen to him,” Ryan said, leaning over me
to address Magnus and holding up his hand to block Sameer. “I am always
right.”
    Magnus smiled. “So it’s you I need to impress?”
    Ryan returned the smile. “If you want to last more
than five minutes, yes.”
    “Hold on!” I interrupted. “Magnus, ignore him.
Sameer, can’t you control your husband?”
    Sameer threw his hands up in a gesture of defeat.
“I’ve tried.”
    Elaine and Mark chuckled, and Magnus gave a little
huff of amusement.
    “Ryan likes to think he’s in charge,” I said in a
conspiratorial stage-whisper, “but everyone knows it’s Sameer who wears the
trousers.”
    Sameer grinned. “Someone has to.”
    Ryan was saved from answering by the emcee calling
Elaine to the mic. Magnus stood to let her out of the booth, and she approached
the stage to cheers and whistles from the regulars.
    “She’s really good,” I said to Magnus as he sat.
    The pub fell quiet as the opening notes of “Total
Eclipse of the Heart” played over the speakers, and we all started to sway
along to the melody. The table next to us sang along with the first verse,
providing the repetitive refrain over Elaine’s soulful lyrics. I nudged Magnus
and grinned as the song built to the dramatic chorus, a cacophony of voices
rising around us as the whole pub got into the spirit of the music and bellowed
along with the crash of the synthetic beat, falling silent again for Elaine to
take the soft, soulful finale.
    As her voice wavered on the last note, the room
erupted in raucous applause, led by our table.
    “I didn’t expect that,” Magnus admitted after
offering his own words of praise when she returned.
    “I told you.” I smiled. For an unassuming little
woman in her mid-fifties, Elaine didn’t half have a set of pipes on her.
    “Another?” Magnus asked, looking to Elaine and
indicating her near-empty glass.
    “You put your money away,” I said, rising in his
stead. “This is my round.”
    The perfect gentleman, Magnus rose anyway. “I’ll
give you a hand at the bar.”
    We stood shoulder-to-shoulder, leaning our forearms
on the edge of the bar as we waited to be served. The heat from his bare arm
seeped into mine, and I swayed gently against him. “You having fun?” I asked.
    He nodded. “I prefer this to The George.”
    I laughed lightly. “Me, too. Does that make us
old?”
    “I don’t think so. More mature, maybe.”
    “You think this outfit is mature?” I indicated my
attire.
    “I think it suits you,” he said diplomatically.
    I caught the eye of the barman and placed our
order.
    “You don’t get any grief?” Magnus asked when the
barman moved off.
    I wasn’t coy enough to pretend I didn’t know what
he was talking about. “Sometimes it’s a worry,” I admitted. “I wouldn’t dress
like this all the time, but when I go out, it’s to friendly places. I know what
I can get away with.”
    “Would you? Dress like that all the time, that is?”
    I considered the question. “I’ve always been a bit
flamboyant, I suppose, but I never