Page 4 of Finding English

Henry’s eyes went wide. “Are you hearing yourself? You sound like an advert for Match.com.”

TJ winced and laughed. “You know what I mean.” TJ stood. “We ordering some wings?” He changed the subject having had his say.

Henry nodded. “Yeah and get some fries, too. I’m Hank Marvin.”

“What the hell does that even mean?”

“Hank Marvin, you know starving.”

TJ shook his head with a chuckle.

“No, you’re Hank English.” Calder rubbed at his short beard, smothering the smirk.

Henry rolled his eyes. “Well, aren’t you all on top form tonight.”

TJ walked away to place the order for them, and Henry took a few minutes to think about what he’d said. Perhaps it was time to settle down. His friends had been happy single, loved their jobs, had great friends but finding Hope, Mackenzie, and Milena seemed to have edged their happiness up a level into a contentment Henry couldn’t see himself finding.

TJ came back with fresh beers and two pool cues. “They’ll bring ’em over when they’re ready.” He held the cue up, and Henry nodded taking the stick and his beer as the four of them walked to pool table. It was a reasonably quiet night being midweek, so they had no trouble getting a table.

Henry racked up the balls, and TJ broke, potting three in one go. Henry inwardly groaned; he was on catch up already.

“How’s work?” he asked Calder after taking his go and potting two on the bounce, closing the gap.

“Busy, we’ve had a spate of drug-related deaths lately.”

“Oh,” Henry listened as he watched TJ pot the next ball and then missed the one after that.

“Yes, a new drug is having some serious psychotic side-effects.”

“Any leads?”

“Not yet, but I have a new Analytic Chemist who is brilliant. She not long qualified top of her class. She wrote her thesis on illegal drug development and got it published. So when she qualified, I hired her first chance I could.”

“Sounds like you landed on your feet.”

“We did. You might meet her. She works here part-time as a waitress to pay her way through college. Tonight is her last night actually.”

“Wow, that’s dedication.”

Calder shrugged. “She has little choice. She has a little girl, so she works hard to build a better life for them. She works hard. She only just got back from a conference in London on molecular synthetic structures today and still insisted on working her last shift. Hope would have happily looked after her little girl for longer. Mic is cute as a button.”

“Is she single?” Henry joked, and Calder frowned at Dax and then TJ.

“She is, but don’t even think about breaking her heart. She’s been through enough.”

“Calm down, it was a joke, and anyway, I have no intention of breaking anyone’s heart.”

“Good, because Cassie is a good woman.”

At the name, Henry went still, before shaking his head and shrugging off the reaction. There was no way that his Cassie and this woman were the same person. His Cassie—no, not his—Cassie from the plane was dizzy and cute, this woman sounded like a powerhouse. Still, it would’ve been nice.

TJ sunk the black and grinned at him. “Still can’t beat me, Sax.”

“Luck.”

He placed the cue down as the scent of hot wings hit his nose. His back was to their table, so he turned and noticed a waitress bending down and placing their food on the table. Something about her seemed familiar, and he swallowed the gut-punch of desire at the sight of her curves in those tight black jeans, her long dark hair covering what he knew would be a spectacular face.

“Cassie,” Dax called as he headed toward the heaping plates of food.