Who: Liv, Carolina and Dan What: Liv meets Dan's wife When: Late November, around Thanksgiving Where: The Double Tap Rating/Warnings: None! Status:Complete!
As usual Liv decided to stop by the Double Tap after work. She felt a little guilty that she was ditching out on going to McNally’s with Leon as much as she used to, but well she liked seeing Dan. Besides she got enough of Leon at work anyway. So the Double Tap it was. Only the second she reached the bar she felt herself getting extremely nervous and shy. Liv literally had to force one foot in front of the other in order to walk into the bar. Her stomach did a little flip once she was inside.
It’s going to be okay, Liv. You talk to Dan all the time. She had to remind herself. Taking a deep breath Liv finally made her way over to the bar taking a seat. She glanced around, only no Dan. Weird. She knew that he had a life outside the bar. That he wasn’t always there, hell he was with her a lot of the time. But still she expected to see him. Oh well. She was here now, might as well order a drink.
“Um, excuse me?” she said her voice soft. Ugh, the red headed bartender wasn’t going to hear her, she needed to buck the hell up and speak louder. Stop being so freaking shy. “Excuse me?” she said again raising her voice a bit, finally the woman glanced over at her. “I’ll um, I’ll have a jalapeño margarita?” she said it more as a question than a drink order. “Please?”
Carolina had never minded bartending. In fact, she would go so far as to say that she even enjoyed it on occasion. Not that there was much of a demand for bartenders in the military. No, they’d rather you spent your pay on drinks off-base rather than pay you to pour drinks in the first place. So when she had ended up married to a bar owner, filling in for him on occasion had been right up her alley. Especially after she had found out just why the bar tended to be closed so often in the first place.
Today was one such day. Dan had needed to do some other work and Carolina had needed a reason to get out of the house. She never did do well with staying put and recovering. Covering for his job tonight was a win-win. Her knees were still a bit shaky, but nothing that wouldn’t also benefit from a few hours on her feet. A little bit of makeup to cover what was left of the bruise on her cheek later, she was ready for a night of surly and shady customers.
The redhead was wiping down the counter when the palest blonde she’d ever seen entered the bar. Huh. She thought she knew all the regulars, which meant this was someone new. The woman seemed to be looking for someone, so Carolina shrugged and continued what she was doing. It wasn’t until the woman spoke up the second time that the Marine pulled her attention away from the counter and toward the white-haired stranger. A jalapeño margarita? Seriously? Here. In this bar? God, the blonde woman had to be lost.
Shaking her head, Carolina tossing aside the dirty towel and pulled out a fresh one to sling across her shoulder. “Whatever you want.” Actually, hadn’t Dan said something about new spicy drinks? The girl he was into liked them, right? She snuck a second look at the woman as she finished making the drink. The woman was pretty enough. Not that it was any of her business. Carolina garnished the rim with salt, poured the drink, and garnished it with another split pepper. Seriously. She’d silently questioned why Dan had deemed it necessary to add those to the garnishes behind the bar, but now she was glad she’d bit her tongue. The redhead set the drink in front of the woman. “Here you go.”
The look Liv got from the bartender didn’t help her nerves. In fact they only seemed to grow. But she couldn’t take it back now. She had ordered her drink, and she did need the spice. Actually she just needed a drink in general to calm her nerves.
“Th-thank you,” Liv managed to get out when the woman set the drink in front of her. She wanted to ask if Dan would be around. Even though she hadn’t seen this particular bartender before the woman still had to know Dan. Know if he would be showing up anytime soon. However, her nerves were preventing her from asking. So instead she just sipped her drink.
Liv took her time drinking her margarita, hoping that Dan would show up by the time she finished. But there was no luck. With a sigh Liv set her empty glass down on the bar, standing up from her stool. Might as well head out, she couldn’t sit around waiting for the guy she couldn’t be with all night. Of course, Liv was so used to Dan letting her drink for free that she didn’t even think about paying for her drink.
Carolina nodded, stopping herself from giving the woman a strange look. She couldn’t see Dan being very interested in the shy woman. Well, other than teasing the poor girl, that is. Just another spice junkie, then. Unusual, sure, but nothing to write home about. Job done, the Marine returned to wiping down the counter and minding her own business.
That is, until the albino spice junkie tried to skip out on the bill. Carolina seemed to materialize the moment the woman had slipped off of the stool. “That’ll be seven dollars.” She set down the glass she was drying so that she could give the woman her full attention. “Cash or card?”
The woman’s voice startled Liv. Seven dollars? For what? It took her a moment to realize she meant the drink. Right. You were supposed to pay for drinks when you went to a bar. Dan’s treatment had spoiled Liv.
“Oh,” Liv replied eyes falling to the ground. “Um. You see, uh…” Again the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth. “Dan, he um.. He never makes me um…” Ugh. This was useless. Liv gave up fishing her wallet out of her purse. “Seven you said?”
While Carolina was pouring out jalapeno margaritas and doing other general bar tending tasks, Dan had been across town working his other job. Tonight he was wearing the hat of a saboteur. A contractor had apparently bitten off more than he could chew doing renovations for an eccentric couple. They had put him on a strict budget, but had such extravagant plans that the contractor kept having to cut corners just to keep them happy and make sure that his workers were paid on time. Any attempts to point this out to his clients had been useless and now the contractor wanted out. The only way to do so and make a clean break was if he could show his clients that their poor budgeting was a danger. Unfortunately for the contractor, he’d been a little too careful about what corners he’d cut. That was where Dan came in. All he had to do was go in after everyone had gone home for the day and rig an “accident”. The couple wasn’t staying at the house during the renovations, so Dan would have clear access. The one restriction Dan had for this job was that no one was to be hurt.
To ensure this, the contractor had provided him with a list of the things that had been done to the house and what to rig to fail. It seemed easy enough, even for Dan who didn’t exactly have a wealth of knowledge when it came to this kind of thing. All in all it was an easy job, but as Dan was headed back to his bar he felt weird about it. He’d never really given his work a second thought before. Well, there had been those twinges of guilt when he’d first started, but after justifying his new line of work to himself and realizing there was a void he needed to fill after he’d gotten his revenge, those twinges became less and less until he didn’t even notice them at all. Apparently they were back and it didn’t take Dan very long to understand why either.
Liv.
Earlier that month, Dan had gone back to Chicago and had taken the necessary actions to ensure that Liv would never again be put in a position in which she would have to defend him. The look in her eyes that evening Montoya’s man had tried to kill him – the fear, the panic, the guilt – Dan never wanted to see her in that kind of position again. Ever. And he would do whatever it took to keep her safe and out of harm’s way, even if it had meant splashing the walls of Victor Montoya’s office with blood. He had gotten his message across: Don’t fuck with The Hellion.
He’d done it for her, but he sincerely doubted Liv would approve.
And it wasn’t just Liv’s disapproval that was making him feel iffy about what he did for a living. He had been a cop once. The person he’d been would hardly recognize the person he’d become. The person he was would, in fact, hate the person he’d become. Dan wasn’t sure how he felt about that either. He had thought he didn’t care, but the truth of it was he’d never let himself even think about it.
Well, he was thinking about it now.
He was still thinking about it when he parked his car in the small lot behind his bar and made his way to the door that lead to the apartments upstairs. He deposited his Bag O’ Tricks in his apartment, locked the door and made his way down to the bar itself. He passed by the office and disused kitchen to the main room ready to relieve Carolina for the evening. He had not been expecting to find both Carolina and Liv at the bar. The sight of his wife and the woman he loved had strong feelings for, standing across the bar top from each other was…well it was awkward.
“Liv drinks onna house, Carolina,” Dan interrupted the little exchange before Liv could fumble her money from her purse. “No one else eats these damn jalapenos.”
Carolina had heard someone in the kitchen, but she had kept her attention on the woman and her purse. It was about time for Dan to relieve her and she could pick out that distinctive gait of his from a mile away. Besides, she’d kick herself if she let a dine-and-dasher get away because she was distracted. As it turned out, she need not have worried. About the woman or the tab.
This was Liv? This shy, mousey-looking girl who didn’t even ask about Dan’s whereabouts and just sipped her jalapeño margarita like it was a damn cup of tea? That finally made her turn to look at her husband. The look on Dan’s face showed that he was telling the truth. Huh. Will wonders never cease. No wonder the two of them hadn’t worked out. Carolina was many things, but timid was not one of them.
Carolina shifted back on her heels and crossed her arms casually. “Sorry about that. Guess I didn’t catch your name.” Not that the woman had offered it in the first place. She supposed that she should feel some sort of awkwardness about this meeting, but all she felt was a twinge of protectiveness. Weird, but easily ignored. Green eyes gave the woman a less than casual once-over. Dan was pretty unflappable, but there was nothing in their marriage arrangement that barred her from teasing the woman he was with instead. Carolina arched an eyebrow at Liv and drawled, “So. You’re the one dating my husband, huh?”
Dan. The second Liv saw him her eyes lit up. The shyness, well it was definitely still there, but she felt more comfortable having him around. Although her stomach was doing a million flips, but that was nothing new. She always got that way when Dan was around. No matter what brain she was on.
But then he spoke. Carolina. She knew that name. This was Dan’s wife. Liv wasn’t sure how to feel. She had heard about Carolina. Felt horrible for Dan when she learned she had died. Was even relieved when it turned out she was alive, albeit jealous too. She couldn’t help herself. Sham marriage or not, this woman could be with Dan. And Liv couldn’t.
And then Carolina spoke again. If Liv could blush her face would probably be bright pink. But she just remained as pale as ever. At least being undead had some perks. “I, uh. We’re just um…” No she wasn’t going to do this stuttering thing again. She was better than that. She could overcome this brain, at least enough to get out a sentence. “We’re just friends.”
“We’re not dating,” Dan chimed in at the same time. The comment may have been Carolina’s attempt at being humorous, but Dan wasn’t in the mood. The look he shot in her direction clearly said as much. He made his way behind the bar, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt as he went.
He glanced at Liv. She was different tonight. The Teenage Brain was gone and Dan wasn’t so sure whose brain had replaced it. Whose ever it was, the shrinking violet personality did not suit Liv at all. He gave her a small, but reassuring smile. She was fine. He was fine. Everything was fine. “Ignore her,” he said with a nod of his head towards Carolina. “That’s her attempt at bein’ funny.”
“Friends.” The Marine’s voice was as flat as the look she gave Dan. That wasn’t going to last. Carolina was familiar with the look on Liv’s face. She’d seen it repeatedly over the past year or so on a much younger redhead. The look on Dan’s face was amusing, but familiar as well. Well, huh. That was a bit of a surprise. In a good way. It looked like teasing was over for the night. Uncrossing her arms, Carolina gave Dan’s shoulder an almost sisterly pat. “Don’t worry. We are too.”
Carolina was a little disappointed that she hadn’t managed to get a better reaction from Dan, but she wasn’t going to spend all night prodding the obviously cross man. She had better things to do. Such as icing down her knees. Honestly, the drive home was probably going to be more torture on them than the swing shift she’d just pulled. Turning, she gave Dan a short rundown of what she hadn’t been able to get to. “The Miller keg will need to be changed soon and Lemonhead Man came ‘round about an hour ago, so I a grabbed a few extra lemons from the back.”
Glancing back at Liv, Carolina’s lips twitched in what some might misinterpret as a smile. “Sure you don’t need me to cover you for another hour? Or two?”
Liv was well aware of the fact that they could never be more than friends. She had tried dating a human in her dreams but it just didn’t work. She didn’t even want to attempt it with Dan. Still, hearing him say it? It hurt more than Liv would like to admit.
She watched the exchange between Dan and his wife. Again, she felt jealous. But there wasn’t anything she could do about it. This was just how her life was and always would be. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” Liv finally said, not stuttering at all. Just being around Dan made her feel more like herself. “I’m glad you’re alive.” And she was. She didn’t like seeing Dan upset. Whatever their marriage was, she knew Dan did care about Carolina.
As far as her covering for Dan a bit longer? Well she would let him answer that one. Of course Liv would love to spend time with Dan. But she could always do that at his bar too.
Dan glanced at Carolina, raising a brow. Were they friends? Dan didn’t love Carolina, but he did care a little bit about her. Enough that he had leant her his Flame Ring while she was on active duty and he had been upset when he thought she had died. He hadn’t thought she thought of him as anything outside their arrangement, though. At least she had never really said as much. Then again, Dan had slowly learned over the past several months that there were somethings Carolina just didn’t talk about. Relationships must have been one of them.
When Liv spoke again, Dan turned his attention back to her. The stutter was gone and that made him smile. There was the Liv he knew. He would have liked to take Carolina up on her offer to stay and watch the bar so he and Liv could go off together, but he couldn’t. They couldn’t, no matter how much either of them wanted to. They had to keep the boundaries of friendship in tact and not confuse an already delicate situation. His smile faltered, but just for a moment before he looked back at Carolina. “Nah, that’s alright, Carolina,” he said with a dismissive gesture. “I appreciate ye coverin’ fer me this evening, but I got it now. Why donnea ye stay a bit though. Have a drink, hm? I make a pretty mean jalapeno margarita, eh, Liv?” He winked at her.
Carolina returned Dan’s eyebrow raise with one of her own. What else did he expect her to call them? They were married, but they certainly weren’t enemies. Neither one had tried to murder the other. Yet. Considering all that Dan had gone through and done for her, she had figured it would be rude to call him anything else. His flame ring had also saved her ass more than once already. Sure, they hadn’t slept together for a couple of months now, but it wasn’t like she didn’t want him to be happy or anything.
Turning back to Liv, the Marine nodded. “Thanks. It’s nice to finally meet you too.” Not that she’d heard very much about the woman. Maybe she should change that. Hell, the guys in her unit had kept insisting that she be more social. Even in the Dreams, Epsilon had repeatedly told her to loosen up. She’d been trying to be more laid back, but it was difficult. Laziness just wasn’t in her nature.
At the invitation to stay, she shot him a curious look, looking to make sure it really was okay for her to stay. After all, she didn’t want to become a third wheel. Another glance at Liv to verify that they really didn’t want some time alone and Carolina gave in with a shrug. “Sure. But no margaritas for me. It won’t mix well with the pain pills.” Not wanting to crowd Dan behind the bar, she slipped around to take the stool next to Liv. The moment the weight was off of her knees she could feel her entire body breathe a sigh of thankful relief. Okay, maybe she had been pushing it a bit today. “Got anything good that won’t make my liver breathe fire?”
Liv’s face may have fallen just a bit when Dan didn’t take Carolina up on her offer. But really, what was she expecting? It’s not like they could really be together anyway. It was for the best they just hung out at the bar, with his wife. “Oh, um yeah,” Liv replied forcing herself to smile again. She wasn’t truly that sad. Of course the situation was depressing, but tonight her lack of smile was more from nerves than anything. “In fact, I’ll have another.” Looked like Liv was staying at the bar after all. Getting to know Dan’s wife apparently.
Her attention turned back to Carolina, watching her take a seat, Liv could practically see the relief on her face. Then she mentioned pain pills. Right, she had been hurt when she was not dead. However, Liv chose not to comment on it. She didn’t know much about Carolina, but she had a feeling the woman would prefer not to talk about her injuries. Which of course Liv couldn’t blame her for. “More for me then,” she finally said. “You um, you sh-should try one sometime though. They are the best,” she beamed at Dan. It was true though, and Liv had tried her fair share of jalapeño margaritas.
Ahh, yes. The pain meds. Carolina took much better care of herself than Dan did of himself. He wouldn’t have thought twice about mixing alcohol and Vicodin or percocets or whatever it was they had given her. But that was him. He just didn’t care. Hadn’t cared.
He glanced at Liv as he went about getting the women their requested drinks. She was beaming at him. He didn’t get all goofy around her the way some people may have around the person they liked, but she was able to get him to smile in a way that was reserved only for her. An honest smile. A truly happy smile. “Aye, darlin’,” he said with a nod. “All the more fer ye.”
He made Liv another jalapeno margarita, extra jalapeno and Carolina a Shirley Temple. “She’s right, ye know,” Dan said as he placed the bright red drink in front of Carolina. The honest happy smile had gone back to his usual smirk, “I do make the best jalapeno margaritas.” There we go, back to some good old fashioned ego inflating. Everything was fine.
Carolina looked at the drink and wished for a moment that she hadn’t mentioned her pills. “I’ll try one next time,” she said instead, taking a sip of her drink. It was too late to change her mind, anyway. Turning to Liv, she noticed the woman seemed a lot less shy than she had originally. Whether that was due to Dan’s influence or not having to pay for her drinks was a different matter. It seemed to make her husband happy, though. At least, that was the first time she’d seen that particular smile on his face. So for now, she’d keep her mouth shut.
“Well, since Dan apparently forgot how to introduce people properly, I guess I’ll just have to do things myself.” Carolina offered Liv her hand, eyebrow raised in amusement. “Carolina Church. And thanks about before. I’m glad to be alive, too.”
“You have to be a fan of spicy though,” Liv warned. Though Carolina seemed like the type that could handle some heat. With that comment she took a sip of her drink. Yum. Perfect amount of spice. Dan really was the best at making jalapeno margaritas. It was a shame he never made them until he met her.
“Olivia Moore,” Liv said shaking the woman’s hand since they were doing formal introductions and all. “But please c-call me Liv.” It was the same thing she had said to Dan when she first met him as well. There was something that caught her attention though. Church. Not Smith. “Y-y-you,” she looked back at Dan, for some reason that was comforting and she was able to get words out again. “You didn’t take his last name?”
Dan hadn’t had a reason to make jalapeno margaritas until he’d met her. He’d known how of course. He did have the jar of jalapenos under the bar for those odd requests that had required peppers. His patrons mostly wanted regular fair: beer and hard liquor, straight or on the rocks. But occasionally someone felt a little daring, wanted to crack out of the norm. Be adventurous. It was then Dan had to crack open the jar. But then had come Liv and Dan found that he was having to restock that jar more regularly. And maybe, just maybe he had worked on making sure Liv’s drink were as spice as possible.
“Nah,” Dan chuckled, shaking his head. “Church’s a fine surname on it’s own. No need to go changin’ it t’ somethin’ as generic as ‘Smith’. Besides,” Dan went on as he got himself a glass to make himself a drink, “we weren’t plannin’ on stayin’ married fer long. Wouldnnea made any sense fer Carolina t’ change ‘er name only t’ change it back.”
Carolina snorted. “Smith’s about as generic as you can get.” It had certainly made things difficult for her to check up on his past, even with his date of birth and hometown. “I’m not particularly attached to Church, but you wouldn’t believe the amount of paperwork involved in changing your last name. Then to change it back in six months?” She shook her head. “I have to do enough of that as it is.” No matter what job she ended up in these days, they all seemed to have an inordinate amount of paperwork attached to them.
Granted, it had been more than six months already since they had gotten married, but the logic was still there. Even if she and Kanan hadn’t found one another, Carolina very much doubted the two of them would have stayed married after she left the military. Before, if he was really serious about someone. Never in a million years had she thought that he’d fall for the shy, sweet type though. She couldn’t help but give Liv one more curious look before shrugging the matter away. Wasn’t her business, anyway. “I’ll try one of those margaritas eventually. Don’t mind a bit of spice, but I have to be in the mood.”
It was true. Smith was a pretty generic last name. There was a time where Liv even doubted if it was his real last name. He did have a track record of lying about his name to her after all. But that was a long time ago. She trusted him now. But the fact that they both made a point of telling Liv they didn’t plan on staying married? Well, it made her feel a little bit better about her growing feelings for Dan. Even if she could never act on them.
“Tell me about it,” Liv agreed with Carolina. There was a hell of a lot of paperwork that came with being an ME. If she had been on a different brain, a bolder brain, she might have asked just when they planned on getting divorced. But that was not the case. However at least she was starting to feel a bit more comfortable. “I swear I spend more time filling out reports than doing autopsies,” she added taking a sip of her spicy drink.
She looked back over at Dan, letting the topic of their marriage drop. “Generic names must come in handy,” she commented. Like when you wanted to fly under the radar which she was sure Dan did.
Having a name like Smith certainly did make it easy to fly under the radar. Dan Smith was about as common a name as one could find. Easy to forget, easy to ignore and it certainly was to his benefit. Not that he hadn’t used aliases in the past. There was something to be said for being able to just be someone else for a few minutes.
“Y’know the beauty o’ ownin’ a bar?” He asked with a smirk. “No paperwork.” Ok, well there was business that needed to be done: deposits to make, licenses to upkeep, accounts to maintain. But as far as annoying boring paperwork the likes of which Carolina and Liv probably had to do? Psh. Never! “An’ I get all the booze I want.” And to prove that point he poured himself a scotch and tonic.
The flat look Carolina shot Dan said exactly what she thought about his gloating. It wasn’t smart for a bartender to drink on duty. She was tempted to say something, but she knew it was pointless. Dan could hold his liquor. Most of the time, at least. It had taken a good amount of whiskey and tequila to get them plastered enough to think getting married in exchange for a free hotel room was a good idea.
Turning more toward Liv, Carolina continued the conversation as if Dan hadn’t spoken. Damn gloater. “Autopsies, huh? Are you a doctor?” They had a real shortage of doctors on Valarnet. It definitely couldn’t hurt to know someone who could patch them up if worse came to worse. Preferably someone who wouldn’t ask too many questions. If Liv was not-dating her husband with the shady past and present, it only stood to reason that she might be one of those people.
“Don’t you also have to, um, like, um, listen to everyone’s problems?” That was a thing right? People venting to bartenders. She never had personally, but she was sure it was a thing. Well, she had confided in Dan, but that was different. She wasn’t confiding in him as a bartender. It was as her friend.
“Medical examiner,” Liv replied to Carolina. She had been on track to be a surgeon once upon a time. Stopped in the middle of her surgical residency after losing a patient. But that wasn’t something she shared easily. Especially not on a brain that was making her this shy. As for patching people up? Liv had been known to do that on occasion. Hell, she had stitched Dan up just last month.
“Oh, aye, I do listen t’em,” Dan nodded. “But they not be my problems. Usually all people want is someone t’ listen to them when they have a bad day. They not be lookin’ fer advice or someone t’ fix their problems. Sometimes they jus’ wanna complain and who better than the man slinging their drinks?” His other line of work? Well, that was a bit different.
“Liv’s good at what she does,” Dan said with a grin. “She patched me up not long ago.” He patted his arm indicating the stitches Liv had given him a couple of months ago.
“That still requires listening to them, even if they’re idiots. Personally, I’d rather fill out paperwork.” The thought of having to listen to someone like Grif whine all day or sit and listen to whatever nonsense Caboose was prattling on about that day was enough to have her wishing for stacks of papers all over again.
Carolina arched an eyebrow at Dan. “High praise.” Especially coming from someone who did wetworks for a living. She was definitely going to keep Liv in mind the next time things went to shit in the county. Downing the last of her Shirley Temple, the Marine set the glass down and pushed it toward Dan. “Speaking of paperwork. I have a miniature mountain left to go through at home.” She carefully slipped out of the chair and to her feet. Urgh. More painkillers wouldn’t be bad either.
Of course Liv beamed at Dan’s compliment. If she could blush she would be doing that as well. Not that she needed his approval of her work but it was still nice to hear.
She was about to comment when Carolina announced she was leaving. Liv should probably get going too. Dan had work to do and she had an early morning back at the morgue. With that thought in mind Liv also finished off her margarita. “I should, um, get going too,” she said standing up. “It was nice meeting you,” she added obviously referring to Carolina. Then her attention was back on the bartender. “Bye.”
Poor Carolina. She looked as though she needed a few hours of relaxing and being off of her feet rather than a few extra hours of work, regardless if that work didn’t require her to be standing. Dan made a mental note not to ask her to watch the bar again until she’d recovered more. Standing even for a few hours couldn’t be good for her knees. “Aye,” he nodded to her. “Thanks again fer watching the place fer me. When yer off the pain pills I’ll owe ye a few drinks, alright. Ye kin try the jalapeno margarita.”
He was appreciative of Carolina doing him the favor, don’t get him wrong, but he wasn’t too broken up about her deciding to leave after only one drink. It would give him some time alone with Liv, which he’d come to look forward to every evening. It was the highlight of his day. So when Liv announced she was leaving as well, Dan’s heart sank. He felt the disappointment on his face and tried very hard to conceal it. He could ask her to stay, sure, but perhaps meeting Carolina had been more awkward for Liv than it had been for Dan. Carolina was his wife and Liv was…
Ugh. Why was life so damn complicated?
“Oh,” he plastered a less-than-convincing grin on his face and gave a casual shrug, “Alright, darlin’. Have yerself a good night, aye? I’ll call ye tomorrow. Maybe we kin get lunch?”
If she had heard that Dan was not about to ask her to help out at the bar just because of some pesky injury, Carolina would likely have been pissed. However, all she spotted on his face was a badly-covered regret and longing when Liv announced that she was going to be heading out as well. Not dating. Riiiight. If that were true, it was definitely Liv’s choice and not Dan’s. In an odd moment of sympathy for her husband, she decided to help him out a bit. She was definitely going soft.
Carolina turned to Liv, shaking her head. “Don’t leave on my account. Sit,” She indicated the bar. “Stay and have one of those drinks he owes me. I’d hate for him to have to stand around bored for hours because I didn’t leave much for him to do.” An amused eyebrow was directed in Dan’s direction. It wasn’t quite a wink, but probably the closest she’d come to one.
Liv was about to agree to lunch when all the sudden Carolina was insisting she stay. It was a bit of an awkward position for the shy Liv. However, she did want to stay. Spend some time alone with Dan. She just wasn’t sure it was appropriate to stay when his wife was leaving. But if she was insisting well… “Okay,” Liv said sitting back down. “I can have one more drink.”