My Favorite Mistake

by R. L. Kenderson

  “Eh.” She shook her head. “I think I’d rather stay around here. Plenty of bars to choose from. My only request is, we go somewhere with a patio. It’s supposed to be nice this weekend, and it might be the last few warm nights until spring.”

  The suburb where my place was located was on a two-block radius with several other bars. Some had thought it was crazy to start a business with so much other competition, but it actually worked in our favor. People could go from bar to bar by walking, and they didn’t need to worry about drinking and driving.

  I liked it because I was close enough to my own place in case something came up. I had good staff who had earned my trust, but one never knew when they would need me to step in.

  Madeline narrowed her eyes. “Scratch that. I have two requests. You have to drink and have fun. Your baby can last without you one night.”

  “My baby?”

  “Yeah, your bar. It’s practically your baby.”

  I laughed.

  “That’s not an answer.” The coffeemaker beeped as she put her hand over mine. “Promise me, we’re going to have fun.”

  I used my free hand to make an X on my chest. “I cross my heart. We’ll have fun.”

  She sat back with a satisfied smile. “Good. I have a feeling this might be my best birthday yet.”

  Five

  Madeline

  I walked into My Favorite Place as the sun was starting to set. This time of year, it wouldn’t take long for it to be dark outside.

  “Hey, Madeline,” Mitch greeted me from behind the bar. “Happy birthday.”

  I grinned. “Thanks, Mitch.” I scanned the room. “Where’s Griffin?” I narrowed my eyes back toward his office. “Please tell me he’s not working still. I told him I’d be here at seven.”

  “Nah. He’s upstairs, getting ready. While you wait, do you want your free birthday drink?”

  I laughed. All my drinks at Griff’s place were free. “Sounds great.”

  “You want your usual beer?”

  “Nah. It’s my birthday. Surprise me.”

  When Mitch smiled, there was an extra glint in his eye.

  “It’d better taste good, or I’m telling on you to the boss.”

  “You got me,” he said as he pulled out a glass.

  “Got you how?” Casey, the other bartender on duty tonight, asked.

  Fridays were much busier than weekdays, so there were usually at least two bartenders and two servers working. And Griffin filled in wherever he was needed when he was there. I hoped they had enough people scheduled tonight because I was going to be upset if they called my best friend away from my birthday celebration.

  “She figured out I was going to give her something nasty to drink,” Mitch told her.

  “Never trust a man,” Casey told me.

  “Noted,” I said. I leaned forward. “Listen, Griffin promised me that he was going to drink and have fun tonight. Do you think you two can handle the bar and not pull him away? I know he’s usually here to help on the weekends, but tonight’s special.”

  Casey smiled. “Don’t worry. The boss scheduled us an extra bartender and server tonight.”

  My heart warmed. “He did?”

  “He did,” Mitch said and slid over my drink. “And he told us not to call him unless we also had to call 911 at the same time.”

  “Thanks. I was really worried he’d be called away.” It had happened more than once when we tried to go somewhere that wasn’t Griffin’s bar, including on his own thirtieth birthday. “And he’s always worried about all of you.”

  Casey and Mitch frowned.

  “In a good way,” I quickly added. “He feels guilty when he’s not here, helping out.”

  The two seemed to accept my answer, and I swiftly picked up my drink before they said something that put me on the spot.

  I took a big sip. “Woo. That is strong.” I shook my head to clear it.

  Mitch smiled. “It’s good, isn’t it? I made it up myself.”

  I took another drink and nodded my head. It wasn’t that good, but he seemed so proud that I didn’t want to say anything to hurt his feelings.

  Thankfully, I didn’t have to come up with any lies about how great his concoction was because Casey put two fingers between her lips and whistled.

  I turned to see Griffin walking toward us from the back of the bar. He had on a long-sleeved black henley and dark jeans. His beard was freshly trimmed—just the right length, if you asked me—and his hair was fixed. He was smiling, and his blue eyes lit up when he saw me.

  When he reached me, he pulled me into his arms and hugged me. “Happy birthday, Mads.”

  My nose was in his neck, and I couldn’t help but notice how good he smelled. Just a hint of cologne and a whole lot of man.

  “Thank you,” I said, my lips brushing against his skin.

  I pulled away as a strange feeling sent flutters through my stomach.

  I smiled at him and tugged at his shirt. “My, don’t you look pretty sexy tonight?” I playfully told him, ignoring the unusual feeling in my belly.

  He grabbed my hand and spun me around. “Look who’s talking,” he said.

  I looked down at my purple top and black skirt. “I felt like looking pretty on my birthday,” I said.

  “Babe, you’re going to have men falling at your feet.”

  I grinned. “I can only hope.”

  Griffin laughed and pointed to my drink. “You want to finish that before we go?”

  I opened my eyes wide and slightly shook my head. “Yes, I do,” I said out loud.

  Griffin reached over and grabbed the glass. Before I could stop him, he swallowed the rest of the drink down.

  He coughed a few times when he was finished. “Holy shit, Mitch. What did you put in here, lighter fluid?”

  “Hey, Madeline said she liked it.”

  “She was lying.”

  Mitch’s eyes flew to mine.

  I winced and shrugged. “I’m sorry.”

  “Please don’t ever make that again,” Griffin told him.

  Mitch started muttering something I couldn’t hear, but Griff didn’t seem concerned.

  “You ready to go?” he asked me. “When are we meeting everyone?”

  “I told them seven thirty, so we should probably go.” I had decided we should start at the bar farthest from Griffin’s place and make our way back here.

  Unless I found a guy tonight for some reason, I would be sleeping in Griffin’s apartment again. There was no way I was driving home.

  When we reached our destination, it was busier than I had thought it would be.

  “Why don’t you go and see if you can find everyone? I’ll get us drinks.”

  Griffin agreed and headed toward the back of the room, where there were more tables.

  I parked myself at the bar to wait for one of the two bartenders to make their way over to me. I had my eyes toward Griffin to see if he’d found our friends. It looked like he might have found them because he smiled and stopped walking. He met my eyes and waved to make sure I saw where he was, and I nodded back.

  “Oh my God,” a woman said behind me.

  I thought maybe she was speaking to me, and I was about to turn around, but I stopped when I heard her friend respond.

  “What?”

  “I just saw Griffin Davis.”

  The two women had my full attention. Using my hair as a curtain, I turned my head slightly so that I could hear what they were about to say about my best friend.

  “Who’s that?” the second woman asked.

  “A guy I dated a while back.”

  I closed my eyes to see if I could recognize the first woman’s voice, but there was too much noise around us. Or there was the chance that I hadn’t even met her.

  I doubted it because Griffin didn’t hide women from me, but there was a pinch in my chest at the thought that maybe he had done just that.

  “Is this the guy with the cute dog or the guy who fucked you like a rock star
?”

  I already knew the answer because Griffin didn’t own a dog. Also, it wasn’t the first time I’d heard that he was good in the sack.

  “The latter.” She squealed. “He was so good.”

  “I’m jealous,” her friend said.

  “I’m jealous of myself. Maybe after we get our drinks, I should go over and see if he’ll give me a repeat performance,” Woman One said.

  Woman Two responded, but I didn’t hear what she said because I was already walking away.

  Griffin turned in my direction and frowned when he saw me. “What’s wrong?”

  I looked around him to see that he wasn’t talking to our friends but to someone I didn’t know.

  “I want to go.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.” The truth was, I wasn’t really sure what was wrong. I just knew I didn’t want to stick around and have the woman take Griffin from me.

  I mean, it was my birthday after all. And I didn’t want my best friend to leave me.

  I wasn’t quite convinced of my reasoning. But I didn’t have time to think about that right now.

  “I want to leave.”

  “We just got here. Everyone else is on their way.”

  “We’ll text them.” I wrapped my fingers around his lower arm and squeezed. “Please.”

  “Of course, babe. It’s your birthday.”

  A huge wave of relief washed over me, and I smiled.

  Griffin shifted around. “Looks like we’re leaving. Talk to you later.”

  His friends said good-bye, and he threw his arm around my neck when he faced me again. “Let’s go. Where are we headed?”

  “Let’s go two doors down. Remember how I said I wanted to sit outside? We should do that sooner rather than later in case it gets cold.”

  He laughed. “You could have just said that. I thought something bad had happened to you.”

  I forced a laugh. “Sorry to worry you.”

  As we walked out the door, I peeked at the bar to see if I knew who had been talking about Griffin.

  At first, I didn’t see a face that looked familiar, but then I saw Holly, and I had to hold in a laugh.

  My best friend hadn’t hidden a girl from me, and even better, I knew Griffin didn’t like her.

  And the best part was that he’d told me more than once that she was bad in bed.

  Oh, Holly. There is no way Griffin is giving you a repeat performance.

  Six

  Madeline

  Griffin and I found a table outside with enough room to fit us and our friends. It was next to the fire burning in the outdoor fireplace. We had already picked up drinks and were just waiting for the others to show.

  I checked my phone. “Christina said that she and Troy were only five minutes away. But it’s been almost ten.”

  I looked to see Griffin shrug.

  “They’re probably parking.”

  “You’re probably right.” I smiled. “I’m so lucky I don’t have to worry about that.” I parked in the back of the building along with the employees.

  Griffin leaned forward. “So, do you want to tell me why we really left the other bar?”

  I looked away for a moment. There was no point in lying to my best friend. He knew me so well; I couldn’t get away with it. But there was no way I was going to tell him about the weird feeling I’d had when I didn’t even get it.

  I turned back to him and sighed. “I saw Holly.”

  His brow furrowed. “Holly? The chick I dated for a couple of weeks, back a few months ago?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So?”

  “She said she wanted a repeat performance of you and her in bed.”

  He grimaced, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

  Griffin sat back in his chair. “I guess I should thank you then.” He frowned. “Although that doesn’t seem like quite the emergency you made it out to be when you ran up to me.”

  “I didn’t run. I walked fast. And”—I shrugged a shoulder—“I suppose I didn’t feel like sharing you on my birthday.”

  Or at all, a little voice said in my head.

  Whatever. My brain didn’t know what it was talking about.

  “Does that make me a bad person?” I asked.

  He smiled and took a drink of his beer. “Nah. I wouldn’t want to share me either.”

  “Ha-ha-ha,” I mock laughed. “What were you saying about ego the other night?”

  Griffin didn’t answer because our friends Troy and Christina came out of the back door and onto the patio.

  “Happy birthday,” they all yelled, and I felt my face heat from embarrassment.

  “Happy birthday,” a couple of strangers from the tables next to us called out.

  “Thanks, everyone.” I stood and gave Christina a hug as she reached the table.

  She shoved a present toward me. “Here’s your birthday present from Troy and me.”

  “Thank you.” I grinned. “I can’t wait to open it.”

  Christina and I had gone to college together while her now-fiancé, Troy, had attended the same university as Griffin. She had gone with me to visit my best friend and met Troy. They’d been dating ever since, and they were getting married in a few months.

  A few seconds later, my coworker April and her boyfriend, JJ, walked outside.

  April and I had clicked the first day she started working with me, and now, she was part of the group. And she’d been with her boyfriend for almost two years, so we had accepted him as one of our own too.

  April gave me a hug. “Happy birthday.”

  “You already told me that at work today,” I joked.

  “Here’s your present.” She handed me a small gift-wrapped box.

  “And you already brought cake to work. You didn’t have to get me anything.”

  She held her head high. “Yes, I did. Now, say thank you and sit down.”

  I laughed. “Thank you.”

  As I sat back down, Christina said, “Open mine first.”

  I picked up the gift bag and pulled out the tissue paper on the top. There were two items inside. I chose the box first and opened it.

  My eyes flew up to my friend. “You got me the bracelet we saw when we were shopping? But when did you get it?”

  She grinned. “When you were looking at other stuff.”

  “Sneaky,” I said as I took the piece of jewelry out of the box and put it on around my wrist. I held my arm to Griffin. “Will you clasp this for me?”

  As he worked on my bracelet, I used my other hand to pull out the item in the bag. It looked like lipstick, but it was heavier than normal. When Griffin finished, I pulled off the cap. It was plastic.

  “Twist it up,” Christina said.

  I did as she’d suggested, and it started vibrating.

  I immediately busted out laughing. “Is this what I think it is?”

  “It’s a clit vibrator that you can carry with you wherever you go. I figured now that you and Harris were over, you might need it.” Christina grinned.

  Griffin held out his hand.

  “Awesome.” I turned it off and set it in Griffin’s outstretched palm. “Thank you both.”

  Troy pointed to his fiancée. “It was all Christina. I don’t buy sex toys for women other than her.”

  “Mine next,” April said.

  I unwrapped the box she had handed me earlier and opened the lid. Inside was a gift card to a local bookstore.

  “I had the same idea Christina did, I guess.”

  I didn’t understand.

  “Take it out,” April said. “There’s another surprise underneath.”

  I took out the gift card to find another one for my favorite lingerie store.

  “I thought you could go shopping for books and get yourself some pretty lingerie now that you’re single. It’s always nice to make yourself feel sexy again after a breakup.”

  I shook my head and smiled. “You two ladies are the best. Thank you.”

  I took the
lipstick vibrator back from Griffin, who had been studying it, and the two gift cards and stuck all three in my purse.

  “So, what did you get Madeline, Griff?” Christina asked.

  He lifted up his hands. “Nothing yet. She still hasn’t told me what she wants.”

  “Oh yeah, I kind of forgot after Wednesday. Yesterday, I went to Harris’s while he was at work, and I picked up all the stuff I’d had there and left my key. And today, I was focused on tonight.” I patted his knee. “I’ll think of something for you to get me.”

  “You’d better because I’m not letting you top me with the gift you got me this year.”

  I had gotten Griffin a neon sign with the name of his bar.

  “My gift wasn’t that great.”

  “It is when I didn’t get you anything.”

  I chuckled. “That’s a fair point. Don’t worry. I’m sure there is something out there that I want.”

  “Just make sure you pick something sexual and nonsexual,” he joked, “since that seems to be the running theme.”

  “Ooh. In that case, I want the biggest dildo you can buy,” I teased back.

  Griffin snickered. “No. I am not buying a dildo.”

  “That’s too bad,” I said with fake disappointment. “Because I was going to buy you a pocket pussy next year.”

  He laughed and looked me in the eye. “Babe, I don’t need a pocket pussy when I get plenty of the real thing.”

  Seven

  Madeline

  A couple hours later, the six of us were laughing and joking around, and I was feeling pretty good. I was enjoying my birthday buzz.

  Unfortunately, all that drinking made me need to use the ladies’ room.

  I pushed back my chair. “I’m going to go to the restroom. Anyone coming with me?”

  “I’m fine,” April said.

  “Me too,” Christina said.

  Griffin pushed back his chair. “I’ll go with you. I could go to the bathroom, and I’m out of beer. The servers haven’t come around for a while.”

  The two of us walked inside and went to opposite sides of the hall. There was a short line to the ladies’ room but none to the men.