Raven and the Dancing Tiger by Leah Cutter Page A

asked, bumping shoulders with Peter.
    "Bartender's choice," he explained, leaning closer, maintaining the contact, speaking directly into Sally's ear. He was glad to see she had pierced ears: Two strings of colorful beads dangled from the lobe and a gold ring with a beautiful blue bead hung from the top. Now he knew what he could get her when he decided to buy her jewelry.
    "Do you always just let her choose?" Sally asked, watching the show Brin was putting on as she flipped the mixer, then one bottle of juice, then a second.
    "Usually, yeah. Sometimes she makes something that knocks me on my ass. But mostly it's good." Actually, the last couple of times she'd really left him looped. Maybe he shouldn't let her mix alcohol for him for a while.
    Brin finished with energetically shaking the mixer while dancing behind the bar before she poured the drink into two glasses, adding a splash of grenadine to each. The red curled through the light brown liquid, like veins suddenly visible.
    "Cool," Sally breathed, though Peter wasn't sure.
    They clinked glassed and Peter took a sip. It had citrus in it—maybe grapefruit, maybe lemon—with something sweet, and an aftertaste of cool cucumber. It was instantly refreshing, and the red muddled the rest of the colors after the first taste.
    "Wow," Sally said. "Okay. I'm down for any more experiments Brin wants to do."
    "Welcome to the wild side," Peter said. He coughed nervously, as he realized what he'd just said. He and Cai were wilder than Sally had probably ever expected.
    Cai cawed softly, sending Peter the soothing image of blue skies.
    Peter knew Cai was just trying to comfort him, but he was still unsure. He liked Sally. He really, really liked her, a whole lot. But there were so many ways for this to go horribly wrong.
    "Hey, where ja go?"
    Peter shook his head, pushing against Sally's shoulder again. "Sorry. You said you moved here from Minnesota? Why?"
    Sally made a face. "Job that didn't work out. I'm working at a food bank right now, but I came here to be a regional manager for a non-profit group."
    "Which one?" Peter asked.
    "Where am I working now? Jewish Family Services center, JFS."
    "I volunteer at Northwest Harvest once a month."
    Sally blinked at him, surprised. "Really? You do volunteer work?"
    "Yeah. My parents—" and Ravens' Hall "—always made it a priority."
    "You don't know how cool that is," Sally told him. "Seriously. So many people talk about it, but no one does it."
    "It's only one Saturday a month," Peter warned her, though he was really happy she thought it was cool.
    "It's still more than most," Sally countered, raising her glass.
    They toasted each other and Peter knew it wasn't the alcohol—there wasn't any—but Sally's smile that warmed him.
    "How about you?"
    "I work IT for a printer," Peter said. "Keep the lights on and the servers running."
    "I'm not the most technical," Sally admitted. "My phone is probably the most complicated thing I own. I don't even own a car."
    "Who needs a car in Seattle?" Peter asked. "I rent a Zipcar when I want to go hiking in the mountains."
    "Mountains?" Sally asked wistfully. "Look—" Then she stopped and shook her head.
    "What?" Peter asked.
    She shook her head again.
    "Come on," Peter said, bumping her shoulder. "I've already accused you of not being a lady and sweating. Can't be worse than that."
    Sally took another drink, looking at the bar and not at him.
    Had he ruined everything already?
    Finally Sally took a deep breath and spoke, addressing her glass. "I like you," she said quietly.
    Peter had to lean closer to hear, his stomach strangely floating.
    "I don't know why. We just met."
    "Me too," Peter broke in.
    "So, here." Sally grabbed a pen off the bar, flipped over the coaster and wrote out a phone number. "Call me. Text me. Whatever," she said, shoving the coaster at him. Then she leaned forward and brushed her lips against his cheek. "Or don't, and we'll just dance together sometime.