It made sense. Whoever had come up with this subject hadn’t moved the needle out of the eighties, which was when Trent had been a teen. There was an overload of John Hughes references, and he got every one.

Four teams were active in the bar. As the subject moved to sports, Booker became our guy with some backup from Shanna. Nyah brought it home with music, and at the end of round three, we were solidly in the lead in answers and beer consumption. My head was getting fuzzy in the best possible way.

When Christian locked down the answer to a classic television sitcom, he put us over the top. High fives were exchanged, but as I reached up to slap Luz’s hand, I saw her smile dim. She was staring at the door but quickly turned her head away as if she was trying to avoid making eye contact. I glanced at the doorway, and my gaze was caught by Carson West. Mother of pearl, what was he doing here?

I reached for my beer. I had no idea what his relationship was with the staff of Vasquez Squared, but I knew how I felt about him. I didn’t trust him. I glanced back at Luz, because she certainly hadn’t seemed thrilled to see him either and I wondered if there was some history there.

Luz Dominguez, who was the assistant art director, had large brown eyes and thick black hair, which she wore in a messy bun at the nape of her neck. She was dressed in a cute floral dress and a pair of pink and aqua Fluevogs with a sassy bow that tied in front. She appeared to be on the older side of twenty-five, and I had the feeling that Carson West could destroy her with one mean comment. Maybe I wasn’t giving her enough credit, since she reported directly to him, but as he strode across the bar toward our table, she looked like she wanted to run. Interesting.

“Luz, would you do me a favor?” I asked. She glanced at me, looking like she hoped I was going to send her home. Not quite. “I think I’ve had too much beer and I’m feeling wobbly. Could you go to the bar and get us a couple of pitchers of water with ice and lemons, lots of lemons?”

It was not a total lie, I hadn’t hit wobbly yet, but it was coming. The look of relief on her face told me all I needed to know. There was most definitely some bad blood there. I glanced back at Carson. He seemed completely oblivious to Luz as she slid off her seat and slipped away. Shanna, who was one of our best graphic designers, excused herself to go help Luz. Solidarity. I liked it.

“Well, hey, kids, imagine finding you here,” Carson said. He grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat down.