Page 83 of One Last Shot

Tillie arrived with their chicken. Set it in front of them and looked at Oaken. “Yours is on the way.”

He slid out of the booth. “Deliver it here,” he said and walked over to Moose’s booth.

Moose looked up, smiled,and slid over.

The waitress followed him.

“Hey, Till,” Moose said, his eyes warm.

She smiled at him. “Hey. Chicken?”

“Of course.” He kept smiling at her. “And a mocha shake.”

Now, this was the drama that Huxley should be shooting.

Especially since Axel and Shep seemed to be onto him too, both wearing silly grins.

Tillie walked away, and Moose swallowed and turned back to Merry and Pippin grinning at their fearless leader.

“What?”

“Just ask her out already,” Axel said.

Moose sighed. “Speaking of...” He turned to Oaken. “Officially, we have a no-dating policy on the team. But maybe we can make an exception.”

Oaken stared at him. He didn’t have the heart to tell him it might be over. Or maybe he didn’t have the heart to tell himself.

Axel clearly took his silence as argument. “Please. We see the way you look at Boo.”

“But,” Moose said, “don’t hurt her.” He raised an eyebrow.

Good grief. “First, I’m not going to hurt her. But second... I think taping is over.”

Moose stilled, turned, and looked at Huxley. “Really?”

Huxley shrugged. “Ask the star.”

Moose turned back. Cocked his head.

But no, the last thing Oaken wanted was for Moose to know about Huxley’s proposal. He took a breath, suddenly unable to speak, his chest so tight it was cutting off his breathing.

Instead, Oaken took a drink of his milk. Probably he didn’t need anything stronger. Finally found his voice. “Is Boo back at the Tooth?”

“I saw her leave with London,” Shep said. “She looked upset.”

Yeah, well, he didn’t want to suggest why, but that social media post sat in his chest, burning. “Ishould go talk to her.”

“It’ll keep until morning,” Moose said, leaning back as their chicken arrived. “Everything looks better with the light on it.”

Oaken wasn’t sure that was true. Because even as he dug into his chicken, Seraphina’s words found him.“You’ve worked too hard to have it all crumble.”And as if on cue, a song came over the radio.

Oh, great.

Shep looked up, then at him, grinned. So did Axel.

But oh well. Because even as he listened to his own lyrics, eating the chicken, the words sank in, found home.“Through stormy nights and sunny days, she’s the anchor that keeps me from drifting away.”

Huxley picked then to get up and walk past him, slinging him a look.