“Cheers,” she said. “But to what?”

“Well first, you have to make eye contact when you cheers,” he said. “Otherwise it’s bad luck. And second, let’s cheers to a different reason each time.”

“You go first,” she said.

“Cheers,” he said as he clinked her glass and held her gaze. “To American holidays. To your country’s unabashed love of blowing things up, and pies made with Crisco.”

“Nobody uses Crisco anymore,” she said.

“Okay, then. Cheers because… honestly it’s this, or I’ll have to let Philip try to set me up all night.”

She felt a small burn of jealousy go down with the yellow liquid.

“Cheers because I’m so fucking awkward,” she said as she raised her glass.

“Hear, hear,” he said. He made it look like it was Sprite he was shooting back. “Cheers because I signed a contract to be in this town for at least a year. God help me.”

“Hey!” she said. “It’s not so bad.”

The second shot somehow went down even coarser than the first, and she pulled a face as she bit into the lime to cut the burn. From over Jack’s shoulders, she caught sight of Jeremy and Shannon slow dancing as Paradise City began its first strums.

“Can’t handle it?” he asked with a smile. “I thought pretty American girls could drink.”

She blushed. He called me pretty.

“Yeah, well, I don’t normally drink tequila.”

“You ordered it.”

“I ordered four.”

“I know, so did I.”

She gave him a look, and he grinned. She was nearly knocked down by that smile, so she raised another shot glass.

“Right. Okay, then. Number three. You ready?”

“Are you?” he asked.

“Cheers because my ex is here and it looks better to be talking to you than to be by myself.”

“Wow, thanks,” he said. “But I’ll take it.”

He downed the shot easily. “Why is your ex an ex?”

A laugh bubbled up from her chest.

“Uhhh… it’s a long story. Basically he works all the time, and says he doesn’t have time for a needy girlfriend. Except now he’s with Shannon, I see him everywhere, all the time. Doing all the things he told me he didn’t have the time to do. So…”

She ran her finger around the rim of one of the empty shot glasses, feeling an acute shot of jealousy burn through her. Or is that just the tequila?

“My turn,” he said. “Cheers because what else do I have to do other than to help a girl get back at her ex.”

“I’m not trying to get back at him,” she said, too quickly. The taste of the tequila on her tongue made her cut her defenses short.

“Cheers because tequila makes everything better,” she said.

It was true. As she took another shot, she felt the warm glow spread outward from her chest.

“How right you are,” Jack said. “You’re on a roll. Your turn again.”

“Cheers because … it’s better to be drinking than to be running everyone else’s lives,” she said.

He gave her a curious look. “Are you the mayor or something?”

“Hardly,” she said with a laugh. “I work at a restaurant. I’m like the manager, but without the title or the pay.”

“Ah,” he said. “So you’re the queen of your hive, then.”

Briefly she wondered what he meant by that, but the tequila had started to turn her brain to mush. They slammed their glasses down on the table in unison.

“So you’re a doctor. Do you love it?”

He ducked his head. “I do. I’m in emergency medicine, and there is nothing like the rush of adrenaline that accompanies helping someone who’s experienced a trauma.”

“So you do it because you’re an adrenaline junkie?”

He grinned. “Partly. The other part is because my father was a doctor, and his father before him, and his father before him… so it was sort of expected that I would follow in their footsteps.”

“Gotcha. You’re fulfilling familial obligations.”

“That may have got me into med school, but I had to pass the classes and work the crazy thirty hour shifts.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that you didn’t earn the right to call yourself a doctor.”

He nodded, raising another shot glass.

“Shot number four,” he said. “Ready?”

“As ready as I’m gonna be.”

“Cheers because … because … shit, I don’t know.” They both broke into laughter. The tequila had worked its magic. “How about we switch back to beer?”

“Oh, wow. Did I really outdrink an Australian?” she asked.

“I’m impressed. I figured you’d think I was British.”

“Why?” she asked. She felt his arm at her waist as he directed her back to the table.

“Most beautiful girls hope I’m British,” he said with a shrug. “Something about that accent.”

Omigod, he called me beautiful. Either I’m really drunk, or he’s interested in me.

“I don’t like Hugh Grant,” she said as she slid onto the barstool.

“Good to know,” he said with a laugh. “So, tell me your sob story.”

“What?”

“It’s the Fourth of July and you’re at a table with a veritable stranger. You have to have a sob story. Why are you here?”

“At Dusty’s?”

“In this town.”

“Oh. I was born here.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Hey!”

“I’m sorry I said it like that! I just arrived, I shouldn’t make any judgment calls.”

“It’s okay,” she said. She realized their heads were inches apart, but it was the only way to have a conversation with the music and the crowd. Somehow, it felt like they were the only two in the room. “Actually, I moved to Santa Fe for college as soon as I could. I couldn’t wait to get out of this town.”

“Why’d you come back?”

“I found out my mom was dead.”

“Wait, what?” She saw the shock swim out of the buzz in his eyes.

“Sorry, I’m not good at this,” she said. “I mean … she’d been sick a long time. Breast cancer. But I … I didn’t make it back in time.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Truly.”

“Thank you.”

“I know how it feels—and I’m not just saying that. My dad died when I was thirteen. I was there, but I wasn’t. You know? I was a kid.”

“Let’s cheers to that,” she said, and they tipped their beers toward one another. “But you still didn’t tell me why you’re here. I mean really here.”

He shrugged. “I was in Chicago, doing my residency. I didn’t want to go back to Melbourne, so I came here.”

“Quite the trip from Australia to Chicago to Tahoe City.”

“Maybe. So you told me why you came back. You never told me why you stayed.”

She sighed. “I came back … you know, to take care of everything. And then I got stuck. There’s no other way to put it. I was taking care of my dad, my little sister, the whole ‘estate’ or whatever. Then … I started dating this guy.”

“Jeremy?”

“Yeah. How did you know that?”

“You said his name earlier.”

“Oh, right. Well, we started dating, and I’d always had a crush on him since I was fifteen. He paid zero attention to me in high school, so when he hit on me… I don’t know. I thought it was another reason to stay.”

“And now?”

“Now he’s with Shannon. And they’re rubbing it in my face, even if they don’t mean to. I don’t know. Maybe it was a mistake to stay so long.”

“Well, there’s good news.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m completely comfortable with you using me to make him jealous.”

“You are?” she asked with a laugh. “You seem pretty confident.”

“I don’t want to come off as arrogant, but trust me, Addy. I know what I look like. And I’m willing to use it.”

“Wow,” she said. “Better watch that humility. Don’t want you getting low self-esteem.”

He laughed. “It’s just the truth. It’s luck, genetics, whatever you want to call it. You should know how it is.”

She bit her lip and looked into the depths of her beer like it held the answers.

“Besides,” he continued, “you’re way too pretty to be so concerned with him anyway.”

She looked up at him. God, he really is gorgeous.

“What about you? Where’s your family?”

He smiled. “Well, my mum is in Melbourne, sitting on the board of various charities. No doubt, plotting my marriage to some Australian princess who will be blonde and perky and easy for my mother to control.”

“Whoa. That’s… unexpected.”

“If you were thinking that I’m an adult who has total autonomy over my own life, you’d be right. But you also wouldn’t be my mother.” He sipped his beer and looked away, but Addy saw a flash of bitterness in his expression. “God knows what she’s going to do when there are grandchildren in the equation.”

“I’m glad that you ended up here instead of Melbourne. And that you’re single.”

He lifted his brows. “Thanks.”

Addy flung her hand over her mouth. “The tequila is talking, more than I am.”

He laughed, reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear. “For what it’s worth, anyone who dumped you is a total jerk.”

“Cheers to that,” she said, and lifted her beer.

Somehow, another pitcher of beer arrived, but Addy hardly noticed. She was pressed against Jack’s side as he showed her funny videos from med school. She showed him her Instagram, flipping faster past old photos that showed her and Jeremy embracing or kissing.

“I think your ex is going bald,” he told her, pointing out several photos where it was beginning to be obvious.

“Fireworks!” someone yelled above the din. “The fireworks are starting.”

En masse, the bar began to rush outside and bottleneck at the entrance. She felt Jack’s hand on her hip as he steadied her. The blast of cool evening air shot across her face when they made it outside and she breathed in the Tahoe air.

“Over here,” he said, and led her to an isolated spot beneath a staggeringly tall tree.

He wrapped his arm around her as the lights exploded in the dark. The crackle, the explosions, the excitement of the night—it all came to a head in her as she looked up at him. His eyes slid toward her mouth and she braced for a kiss, but something stopped her.

“Hey. What if… what if we pretend to date?”

He blinked. “What?”

“Just listen. I’m trying to make my ex jealous, you have your mom breathing down your neck about settling down with someone…”

He looked at her face, scanning it for something. She felt like her honesty was being gaged, more than anything.

“Just try it out! You know. We’ll see—”

Jack leaned down and kissed her, sure and strong. God, he tastes good.

As he began to pull away, she fluttered her eyes open. Jeremy stared at her from the corner of his eye. He looked nonplussed, even with Shannon’s arm wrapped around his waist.

Well, good!

“How’d I do?” Jack asked. “Think he’s mad?”

“You want another drink?” she asked with a smile.

“Sure.”

She led the way into the bar with Jack’s hand in her grasp.

“Another round of tequila!” she called. The bar was almost empty as the rest of the revelers stayed outside for the show.

“You got a ride home, Add?” the bartender asked.

It was the last thing she remembered.