Page 137 of Rum & Coke

The entire time we waited for Cat to walk in, Mark gave me a look. I hadn’t told him I was officially leaving S&R, but it had been over seven months since I’d had a date. Galen more or less became my replacement after Red Diamond closed due to the owner being locked up and then losing its liquor license as a result. Mark had to know I was quitting the game.

Seth and Cat said their goodbyes after dinner. Since the wedding was booked super-fast, there was no reception—just the ceremony and dinner.

“Walk with me?” I asked, looking down at Tessa after the happy couple made their escape.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” I smiled and grabbed her hand. Both Gabe and Paul gave me a nod because they knew what I was about to do.

We walked out of the restaurant, which faced the Lake of Dreams at the hotel, and I led Tessa down the walkway and to the next restaurant.

“We’re eating again?” she asked.

“No, I figured we could get a cup of coffee or something.”

“Coffee?”

I smiled down at her. “Well, decaf for you.”

“Here?”

“Yep.” I stepped up to the hostess stand. “Reservation for Reed.”

The hostess looked at her list and then grinned. “Right this way.”

“We need reservations for coffee?” Tessa asked as we followed the hostess through the restaurant.

“I didn’t want to take a chance there wouldn’t be a table.”

“You know we can just go to Starbucks, right?”

“Yes,” I replied, and left it at that.

The hostess took us to a private cabana overlooking a small man-made lake with almost forty silver spheres that appeared to be floating. “All this for coffee?” Tessa asked after I helped her into her seat and then went around to my side.

“You know I like nice things.” I smirked.

She chuckled. “Yeah, but I didn’t take you for a guy who wanted to have coffee in a cabana with a chandelier.”

“We were next door.” I shrugged.

“True.”

“Want dessert?” I handed Tessa a menu to distract her from the fact that I’d pre-plannedcoffee.

“We just had cake.”

“But we didn’t have ice cream, and you can’t have cake without ice cream.”

“So you want to get ice cream and coffee?”

“Sure, why not?”

She laughed. “Okay.”

While Tessa looked at the menu, my palms started to sweat. I wasn’t sure why I was nervous. This was Tessa, the only woman I’d ever loved, and we more or less lived together. I was certain she was going to say yes, but in the back of my mind, I thought about how this wasn’t her first marriage proposal. What if it was too much for her too soon?

As I started to have a mini panic attack, I saw a waiter approaching with a tray of two champagne flutes. One had champagne, and the other was sparkling apple cider. He set them on the table.