Page 5 of The Bartender Special

Not that Benny was keeping tabs.

Carol tossed her long, loose blond curls over her shoulder and tilted her head ever so slightly to the side.

“I heard that you were back in town, but I didn't believe it. What with everything going on, I thought you'd be much busier. Then again, I guess you're not used to attention like this. It can be hard to manage.”

Benny gave a small, fake laugh.

“It's been interesting, that's for sure, but there's not much I can really do at this point other than just ride it out, I guess. Taking the blog down wouldn't even do much, considering we live in a world of screenshots.”

Carol pressed a hand to her chest. Sympathy, performed by the eldest Robertson.

“You know, I haven't had the time to read the blog myself, but Ruby filled me in on the highlights.”

Whereas Ethan and Benny had been best friends since childhood, Ruby had been a loyal lackey of Carol's since seventh grade. Benny would bet every flower that he’d ever sold at the florist shop that Type A Ruby had a binder somewhere with every embarrassing detail from his blog—tabbed, color-coded, and ready for Carol’s perusal. Probably even a PowerPoint presentation too, with an added bonus of pictures from school so they could reminisce about his unfortunate ninth-grade tapered highlights.

“I was cringing just listening to some of your stories,” Carol added. “I don't know how you can stand to be in public right now, to be honest.”

Had Benny not been taught the ways of faking politeness as a part of his southern upbringing, he would have frowned hard at that dig. Gritted his teeth a little bit. Maybe growled. Carol was good like that. She had this tone that made the person she was talking to want to flex to prove their worth yet, somehow at the same time, remind them that folding in was the only socially acceptable option.

Once again, of the few things Benny was grateful for since the blog had gone viral was the fact that he'd never written about the queen bee. Even after changing everyone else’s names before even posting privately, Benny had never dared roll the dice of potentially summoning her wrath.

“It's an exercise in willpower, I assure you,” Benny replied. He glanced over at Jack the Bartender. His interest still seemed to be on everything but them.

Small blessings.

Carol didn’t let that blessing bloom further. Her tone dipped into serpent-like territory, eyes alight, a snake who just caught a mouse.

“Well, from what I can tell for The One Who Said Nothing, you sure said a lot.” She leaned in enough that Benny could smell her perfume. “Between you and me, I think it was very smart of you not to tell the world who you-know-who was. There's no pride to be had when feelings are one-sided, you know?”

Poof.

Panic replaced the urgency to flee just like that.

Did Carol know?

She couldn’t know.

She didn’t know.

Did she know?

Benny nodded, lips tightening with the hope that Carol would leave the jab at that before returning to the hive from whence she came. But she must have sensed the nerve she’d been searching for had indeed been hit. Instead of relenting, she pulled more attention to their tableau.

She motioned to Jack with a flourish of red-tipped nails.

“The usual for us,” she said, pointing back to the booth her brother, Ruby, and another friend had settled into. “And one more of whatever our very own celebrity here is drinking.”

Jack's eyebrow rose at that. His disinterest had apparently been genuine. Which was fantastic news for Benny. Jack the Bartender didn’t remember him.

Though, Carol looked ready to cackle.

“Haven't you seen the news?” she asked. “Benny here is famous now.”

Jack continued to look unimpressed.

“Oh really? For what?”

Carol was absolutely delighted to answer.