Page 32 of Guys Can’t Write Romance

Chapter twenty-two

Bar Sports and Bad Karaoke

The sound of the front door slamming made Chad look up from his laptop on the coffee table in the living room. Rhino strolled in, gym bag slung over his shoulder and signature protein shake in his hand.

“The gym misses you, bro,” Rhino said, dropping his gym bag on the floor and heading into the living room.

“Mm,” Chad grunted, turning back to the blank screen on his laptop. The words were there in his brain. Somewhere. Probably. He just needed to pry them out of whatever creative black hole they’d fallen into.

Rhino looked at the blank screen. “Stuck?”

“No.”

“Liar.”

“I’m fine,” Chad said with a huff, rubbing a hand down his face. His laptop screen stared blankly back at him, the cursor blinking like it had somewhere else it would rather be. “Just figuring some stuff out.”

“Does the laptop know it’s supposed to be writing?”

Chad shook his head in annoyance. “Your protein drink’s getting lonely in the kitchen.”

Rhino dropped onto the couch beside him with a grunt. “Naw. Got it right here.” He held it up. “So, where’s your writing partner? Thought she was the brains that keeps your chaos on track.”

“Out with the boyfriend,” Chad muttered, staring at his screen like it might spontaneously offer better answers.

Rhino eyed him with barely disguised amusement. “And that definitely doesn’t explain why you look like someone canceled baseball season forever.”

“Shut it,” Chad said flatly. “It’ll come to me if I just stare at the screen long enough.”

At that moment, his phone buzzed on the couch beside him. He looked at the screen and saw Chloe’s name on the caller ID.

“Hey, Chlo. What’s up?” Chad said.

“Hey. You busy?” she started, then cut herself off. “Wait. Forget I asked that. Whatever you’re doing, drop it and go pick up Daisy.”

He leaned forward. “Wait. What? Isn’t she on a date?”

“Not anymore,” Chloe said. “Boyfriend from hell decided a crowded restaurant was the place to ask her to move to New York with him. That pretty much pulled the plug on the date.”

Chad’s stomach dropped to somewhere around his ankles. “What’d she say?”

“Nothing yet. She called me for a ride, which usually means she needs to be talked off the ledge.”

“And you want me to pick her up instead?”

“Yep.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re weirdly good at making people laugh, and she needs that right now. Besides, let’s face it, your game in the romance department is less-than-zero right now, so you’re doing yourself a favor too.”

“Is this back to yours and Rhino’s conspiracy theory about me crushing on Daisy?”

“Can we just not? Watching you and Daze dance around your feelings for each other makes me want to scream and throw things. So go pick her up, turn on that Chad McKenzie charm, and make her have fun. Those are your orders. And if you fail in your mission, I’ll sneak into your apartment and hide your Hallmark movies. ”

Chad couldn’t resist a grin. “You fight dirty, Reeves. Do I have time to shower?”

“She might not recognize you if you do.”

He chuckled. “Okay, I’m on my way. Text me the address.”

The drive to the address in Culver City Chloe texted him was bumper to bumper, giving Chad more time with his thoughts than he wanted.

Daisy was standing on the curb outside the restaurant when he arrived. He pulled up along the curb and rolled down his passenger window.

“Hey Fields,” he called out the window.

Daisy did a double-take. “Chad?”

“Yup. Your roommate called. I’m under strict orders to make you have fun. Or else…”

A slight smile curled her lips, but she still shook her head. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m really not in the mood. It’s been a rough night.”

“Oh, I’m not offering, I’m begging. It’s either you have fun, or your writing partner faces the wrath of Chloe Reeves.”

Daisy couldn’t help but chuckle. She hesitated for a moment, then walked over. “Okay. But this is only because I still need your help on my novel.”

As she climbed into the Jeep and slid on her seatbelt, she caught the gleam of admiration in Chad’s eyes as he watched her.

“What?” she said, feeling her cheeks heat up under his gaze.

“Nothing. You just… you look nice.”

She broke into a surprised smile, as a pleasant tingle spread to her chest. She couldn’t recall Ethan ever telling her that.

“Hope that’s not awkward coming from your writing partner,” he said.

“It’s not awkward at all coming from my friend,” she said. “Thanks, Chad.”

It was subtle, but Chad queued in on her acknowledgment that their writing partnership had blossomed into a friendship. “Anytime. Ready to get this adventure started?”

“I am.”

Chad and Daisy arrived back at his apartment a half hour later. He parallel parked along the curb and killed the engine.

“We’re here,” he said, unbuckling his seatbelt and grabbing his keys. “You ready?”

She stared out the window at his apartment, then shot him a look. “You brought me to your apartment to have fun?”

He shook his head. “We’re just parking here. Operation Make Daisy Laugh is a couple blocks away.”

“That sounds like one of those names Chloe’s always making up.”

“It is. But the execution’s all mine.”

She shot him a curious look. “Am I gonna regret this?”

He smiled. “Hopefully.”

She let out a light laugh and shook her head. “Okay. But if this involves tattoos and questionable food, I’m reporting you to Chloe.”

“Consider me warned,” he said.

The damp ocean air met them as they climbed from the Jeep. It carried with it the faint smells of salt water and distant bar-b-cues.

“Can’t we just drive to where we’re going?” she asked, adjusting the strap on her purse as they headed down a path between apartments to the boardwalk.

He shook his head. “Nope. Walking is all part of the plan.”

“The Operation Make Daisy Laugh plan?”

“Yup.”

She shook her head. “Okay. But if I get blisters because of your plan, I’m reporting that to Chloe, too.”

He looked down at her heels. “You can wear my sneakers.”

“So I can report to Chloe how you gave me athlete’s foot? I’ll take my chances in heels.”

He chuckled as they turned onto the boardwalk and headed down it to the bars. “You’re really out to get me in trouble, aren’t you?”

“Yup.”

They walked for fifteen minutes before turning off the boardwalk onto a pedestrian street, each side lined with noisy dive bars, cafes, restaurants, and a lively crowd.

“Oh, no, you didn’t,” Daisy said, staring up at the familiar mermaid sign above The Salty Siren. The smell of fried food and beer wafted out the door as a group of loud twenty-somethings stumbled out, laughing and yelling over each other about their next stop.

“Oh yes, I did,” he grinned.

Daisy stared down and her little black evening dress and heels and shot Chad a frown. “I’m gonna stick out like a sore thumb.”

“I guarantee that in twenty minutes, you won’t even care. You ready for the Olympics of pub crawls?”

“No,” she said, but her smirk said ‘yes.’

“Good. Let’s get started,” he said, opening the door for her.

Inside the bar was just how Daisy remembered it, loud, sticky, and wildly unglamorous.

They squeezed through the crowd and wedged themselves onto two open stools at the bar, settling into the worn leather cushions.

Chad signaled Carly, the bartender, while Daisy tugged the hem of her black dress discreetly down her thighs.

It stopped several inches above her knees. Chad happened to catch this.

“Damn,” he said teasingly. “I didn’t know you had legs, Fields.”

She looked at him, her cheeks flushing. “What?”

He nodded at the dress. “You’re always in jeans or teacher skirts. This is an unexpected plot twist.”

“A good plot twist?”

He smiled. “A really good one.”

A playful, unexpected smile formed on her lips. In three years of dating Ethan, he had never once looked at her with the admiration she saw in Chad’s eyes. “Does that mean the girl in your book is gonna have legs?”

Chad’s smile reached his eyes as his own cheeks turned a shade of pink to match hers. “She is now.”

Something warm bubbled up in Daisy’s chest, and to her surprise, a laugh escaped. It was light and genuine and felt safe, like snuggling beneath her Hallmark blanket on a cold night.

“You’re blushing, McKenzie,” she teased.

“No, I’m not.” He rubbed his cheeks, which only made her smile more.

“Are too. I’m giving you a gold star for making me laugh.”

“Definitely blushing,” Carly said as she set two pints of beer on the bar in front of him. She gave Daisy a wink, then headed back to the taps to fill more orders.

“Told you,” Daisy said as Chad slid her beer over to her.

“Fine. Maybe there’s a little pink there,” Chad said as he raised his beer. “What are we toasting to tonight?”

She looked at her beer for a moment as she considered this, then raised it. Her smile warmed. “How about to friends? The good ones who make you laugh.”

He smiled as they clinked their glasses together. “To friends. And lots more laughs.”

The beers started slow, but by the time random appetizers arrived, Daisy was actually having fun. She picked up one of the fried calamari rings and examined it. “How can something so greasy taste so good?”

“That question answers itself,” Chad said. “Bar food is proof you can make anything taste good by deep frying it.”

“Vegetables?”

“Yup. Even vegetables.”

“We may have just found a way to get Chloe to eat vegetables without making gagging sounds.”

Chad laughed. “Tell her salsa is another good source of vegetables.”

“Do you ever eat real food?”

“Define real food?”

“Something that doesn’t come in a basket with greasy paper at the bottom.”

“Then, no.”

She smiled. “Maybe I can make you dinner sometime.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. We’ll call it Operation Save Chad’s Arteries.”

He laughed. “Offer accepted. You ready to get your butt kicked at pool?”

“Oh, you’re so on, McKenzie,” she said, sliding from her stool. “But I’m warning you now, I suck at it.”

“I already knew that.”

“How?”

“I’ve watched you try to parallel park.”

She playfully smacked his arm.