Quiet Nights by Mary Calmes Read Free Book Online Page B

had one setback your whole life, and so regular human frailty you should give people a pass on.”
    They were both staring at me, wide-eyed.
    Fuck.
    I forgot. That’s what pot did to me, made me arrogant and chatty. It was a lethal combination.
    Spinning fast, I jogged away, down the street toward Wrecked.
    “Kel!”
    I broke into a run.
    “Kelly Seaton, you better stop right there!”
    Sprinting as fast as I could, I turned the corner, crossed the street, and careened into the front door of my target restaurant, making it to the hostess stand barely breathing hard. Between the gym and my job, I was in pretty good shape.
    “Kelly,” Didi Garretty said, smiling at me. “Are you meeting somebody?”
    “Mia and her mom and some others,” I answered, taking a quick breath and straightening my suit, pulling on the cuffs so I was pristine again.
    “Oh, yes, we just put some tables together.”
    “For five people?” That made no sense.
    “No, sweetie, for twelve people,” she said, stepping out from behind the stand so I could see the cute gray pencil dress she had on. “I assume they counted you.”
    I hesitated because I didn’t even want to go in anymore. And they didn’t really need me. It wasn’t like I was actually part of the Renaldi family.
    A whistle caught my attention, one of those high-pitched noises you had to put your thumb and index finger into your mouth to make. It was completely unladylike. So, of course, it came from Mia. When I found her face in the crowd, the words “get your ass over here” were easily discernible.
    Didi snorted out a laugh. “You better go, huh?”
    “Shit,” I muttered under my breath.
    Of course, my party had joined Britton Lassiter’s. Why wouldn’t they? It just made perfect sense. I had the sudden urge to run home and change. I was outfitted for Laredo later, looking sleek in a suit for picking up guys. But here at Wrecked, which was basically an event hall restaurant, the kind people could rent to have parties, wedding receptions, b’nai mitzvah, and the like, I was overdressed. People were wearing sandals, for crap’s sake. 
    When I was almost there, Mia came around the table and held out her arms. As I reached her, she lifted her head so she could whisper in my ear. “Not my idea—it was Britton’s mother’s. He came over to talk to me and she followed along and suddenly furniture was moving.”
    I grunted softly.
    “Just so we’re clear. I wouldn’t do that to you, and we both know our mother thinks Britton’s pond scum.”
    Our mother … that was nice.
    I squeezed her tight, making her squeak on purpose, and then stepped back, smiling as she took hold of my hand and led me back to her seat and the one to the right of her.
    I greeted the table with a wave. “Hey, everyone.”
    They all said hello back, and I was introduced to Landon Cheong, Emmett’s son, who was very handsome, and his equally stunning fiancée, Blaire Adina. I met Britton’s mother, Jacqueline; his father, Edward; his brother, Eric; and then Olivia came back from the bathroom and rushed over to hug me.
    “This is the guy who saved me from the psycho the other day,” she explained, which got me a handshake from her dad—who insisted I call him Ed—and a guy clench from Eric.
    Britton thanked me from the other end of the table where he was sitting with Kennedy Vaughn, his girlfriend visiting from Ann Arbor.
    They were in a long-distance relationship, but she was considering moving to Mangrove since it was, she said, perfectly quaint and charming.
    “I’m just waiting for this man to ask me,” she teased, more for his benefit than mine, bumping him with her shoulder.
    Everyone immediately started in with the oohing and ahhhing and how cute and adorable they were together. It was too much for me.
    Hearing the opening chords of a song I knew, I turned back to Mia, standing over her and hovering. When she tilted her head back to see me, I waggled my eyebrows for