Constitution Check (Dungeons and Dating Book 4) by Katherine McIntyre

Author:Katherine McIntyre [McIntyre, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2022-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Going back to the bar should’ve felt like coming home.

After all, Tabby had been hopping from bar to bar once she could, never wanting to spend too much time at home to let the loneliness creep in. The Key and the Cog was a brand-new joint, and when she’d gotten the invite from Kelly to join the rest of the Tabletop Tavern crew out at the steampunk bar, she’d leapt at the chance of normalcy and made Eli agree to meet her there too.

However, from the moment she arrived, her steps were unsteady. The bars had been where Tabby Reynolds, womanizer and roller derby stud, prowled—not this version of herself still in a brace and back to movie marathons, D&D, and pining after a woman who’d never want something serious with her. The flashbacks to her high school years twisted her up inside, and she’d felt off-kilter, like the room was slightly tilted to the side. It didn’t help that she’d arrived first, and memories of sitting by herself at lunch were stealing all the social graces she’d learned over the years.

Every step forward was two back.

Going to Tabletop Tavern, to Roxie’s D&D game felt so good in the moment. However, when she returned home, she’d felt unsettled, like her skin was stretched too thin across her bones with the names Jake had called her as a teenager on a loop inside her head.

She sipped at the Sazerac she’d ordered from a mostly absinthe menu and soaked in the ambiance of the place. Coffee-colored walls and a polished mahogany bar were accented by brass piping and massive cog murals, and beautiful metalwork airships were on display around the room as well as Victorian busts. The Tesla coil lamps interspersed along the bars added a gorgeous ambiance, and the spot was unique in all the best ways. Yet she couldn’t help but keep glancing to the door, trying not to feel like a complete loser who’d gotten stood up.

When Kelly stepped in through the door, she almost stood from her seat to cross the room and kiss her. Instead, Tabby stole another sip of her drink to try to calm her racing heart. Of course, Kelly had dressed to the nines—this time in a tight pencil skirt that showed off those gorgeous curves and a red blouse with fucking ruffles. She wore red matching lipstick and a Sith Star Wars purse, because of course her outfit was color-coordinated. Tabby’s lips quirked in a fond amusement for the level of femme that she’d never be—it was cute as fuck when it came to Kelly.

Behind Kelly stood Arjun and Jas who she’d apparently closed up the shop with tonight. Tabby couldn’t fathom having a workplace as close as that—as much as she went to the occasional after hours at the bars and talked to her coworkers, she was like an entirely different person at the office. However, the workers of Tabletop Tavern not only had weekly D&D games together but also celebrated holidays and hung out after work on Sundays with one another.

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