Page 115 of Buy Back My Love

I looked over at him and realized something. “You know what?”

Van glanced up from his burger. “What?”

“You know all this stuff about me, and I don’t know nothing about you.”

“What do you wanna know?”

“Let’s start with the basics. How old are you? Favorite color? Last name? What you do for a living?”

He stared at me. “Damn. You want my social too?”

“I might. Answer the questions.”

“Thirty-two. Black. Coleman.” He reached for another fry. “And I’m a harbor pilot.”

I frowned. “What the hell is a harbor pilot?”

Van started laughing. “See? This is why I don’t tell people what I do.”

“No, for real. You fly boats or something?”

“How the hell do you fly a boat?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I asked.”

He shook his head. “Basically, I get on the big ships coming through the port and help guide them in and out. Those ships are too big to have just anybody bringing them through the channel.”

“Oh.” I nodded like that cleared everything up. “So you drive boats.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“Sound like what you said to me.”

“I already regret telling you.”

I smiled and stole another fry. “Okay, Mr. Coleman. Why you single?”

Van shrugged. “I haven’t been in a rush to get into anything serious since my divorce.”

My hand stopped halfway to my mouth. “Your what?”

“My divorce.”

“You was married?”

“Yeah.”

I sat back. “See, this exactly what I’m talking about. How you know all my business and I’m just now finding out you had a whole wife?”

“You never asked.”

“I shouldn’t have to ask if you have a wife.”

“Had,” he corrected. “Past tense.”

“Whatever. How long y’all been divorced?”

“Three years.”