Page 5 of The New Place

“A bachelorette? Need something stronger, too?” he asks.

“What I need is a spot to bring all the girls to eat, because said maid of honor did not in fact get a reservation for twenty people for tonight. So I’m fixing that problem and the dancing debacle, but it’s too cold to stand outside so I came in here and then you handed me a drink.”

Ned lifts his glass in a desolate toast. He can commiserate. He needs Abbot naked in bed right this very second, to erase the ages he spent in traffic and now waiting for a damn meeting to end. “Ned,” he offers.

She raises her glass. “Claire. Thanks.”

Ned glances at Pat. He misses him. Not like he misses Abbot and that searing joy he feels every time they see each other, just to be answered with the ache of saying goodbye again too soon. With Pat, Ned misses the day-to-day fun they had living together. Messing with each other has been reduced to texts and the odd visit when Pat’s in Boston, or Ned makes it up to Portland and he and Abbot manage to put on pants and leave the house.

This mid-week trip to surprise Abbot…well, it does have the added benefit of being a brief reunion with Pat, too. “As someone who definitely has the unilateral power to make this decision,” Ned tells Claire, “I can happily invite you to enjoy your evening here, if you’d like.”

She eyes him. “So that means you’re absolutely not allowed to?”

Ned laughs. He likes her, he decides. She’s quick to catch on and clearly appreciates a good beer. If she can help him pull one over on Pat too, all the better. “I’m definitely not, but the food here isn’t bad, and there’s plenty to drink. And what else—dancing? I didn’t tell you this, but the phone controlling the music is that guy’s right there and he can totally be bought.”

Claire follows Ned’s wave toward Pat, then looks around the space.

It’s probably not at all what she was envisioning, with its worn wood floor and the tables filled with Callahan students. Ned can’t see it with anything but affection for this place he’s spent so much of his time, the stool she’s on where he normally perches, and that table over there where he and Abbot spent an evening sitting through trivia, back when they barely knew each other.

“Good nachos too,” Ned wheedles. “Pairs well with the spinach salad; take it from me.”

“Well, I’m not going to say no to nachos,” she says. “What’s his price? Like a venue fee? For the music and us crashing this spot with no notice?”

“Just the joy of me getting to tell him what’s happening. Pat!”

“I’m trying, okay?” Pat calls back.

“Let me see your phone.” Ned holds out his hands until Pat tosses it over.

Abbot sure is in a meeting, Ned sees as he scrolls through the texts. He glances at the door. But it doesn’t open, and Abbot doesn’t walk in like he should, so Ned swipes to the music app and hands Claire the phone. “Passcode is 102704 if you need to unlock it.”

“What is this? What’re you doing?” Pat asks.

“Claire, this is Pat. Pat, meet Claire. She’s bringing a bachelorette party over in just a few minutes and you’re hosting them.”

“I’m what?” Pat asks. “Wait, no.”

Ned claps his shoulder. “What did you say, Claire? Twenty people?”

“Twenty-one with my sister, the bride,” Claire says. “Fair warning; they’re loud. Lots of ‘Woo!’-ing.’”

“Wow, and that’s even your favorite, Pat. You’re welcome.”

“Are you serious? I knew about the second paper. Is this my punishment? The papers and the departmental baseball team you won’t shut up about. You can’t do this to me. You know I hate having bachelorettes here.”

“Wow, rude,” Ned says.

“Sorry,” Pat says. “I’m sorry.”

Claire raises her beer. “Totally fair.”

“So there you go, she hates having one too, so you two can bond over that. Say ‘Thank you, Ned.’”

“I hate you, Ned.”

“Be nice,” Ned says and then lowers his voice. “C’mon, she’s totally your type.”

Pat peers past him at Claire. His face flushes a little. “I do kind of hate you.”