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“No. A couple of hours south. I came here for a series of meetings.”
“How’d they go?”
He looks startled by the question and glances at the ceiling. “Today was a bad one.”
“Yikes. How bad was bad?”
“It was an epic train wreck that became a very bad clusterfuck, and migrated slowly into a shitshow. The clusterfuck was by far the nicest and most manageable part of it.”
“Would you like to talk about whatever’s bothering you? Or is there a Mr. Bastien who gets first crack?” Okay, as far as fishing goes, there’s no subtlety here. Fucking sue me.
He blinks at me in clear disbelief. “There’s no Mr. Bastien anymore. Are you flirting with me?”
“Yes. Well, I guess I should pack up now.”
“Hold on. I didn’t say to stop.” He smiles, and it reveals an honest-to-God dimple. “So what brings you to DC?” he asks me.
I open my mouth to say the Department of the Army, but something makes me hesitate. Maybe it’s the way his eyes have already tracked to my shoulders once, the way they flicked to my hands when I sat down. This man pays attention, and I get the feeling that the Army will change the temperature in this room. Besides, I have to make a decision about that. Either I’m the guy who never stops trying to be something he’s not anymore, or I’m going to see what it’s like to be just Levi from Tennessee. “Work,” I say. “But it’s over now. Last few days in town, then I’m headed back to Tennessee. My sister’s fourteen and she’s been pestering me to come back.”
“Do you know it well?” he asks. “DC, that is, not Tennessee.”
“Well enough, I guess.” I give him a crooked smile. “Can I guess at your meetings? You didn’t testify in front of Congress in that, did you?” I look him over appreciatively.
He blushes and laughs. “I can’t talk about what I’m doing here. There’s some stuff that, umm…” He draws his thumb and forefinger over his lips, zipper style, and twists his wrist to show that he’s locking it.
I lean in. It feels good to have something to figure out.
“Oh. I get it. Well, this is the right place for it. Half this city’s got a security clearance, and the other half has NDAs. I just wanted to let you know that it was on my wish list to meet a spy today. Wow.” I tap my wet chest. “Am I in imminent danger? Are you meeting someone way cooler than me with secret plans? I knew we shouldn’t trust those Canucks.”
He laughs. I want to hear it again.
“Oh! Not that kind. But there are some things I legally can’t talk about, and the other things…” He shrugs. In the distance, the barista calls out an order.
He takes another sip of his latte, and this time he doesn’t grimace.
“What’s wrong with your drink?” I ask.
“They gave me the wrong one and I’m trying to figure out what it is. I don’t dislike it, really, it’s just that I forget and think I’m about to have cocoa, and it’s not.”
“May I?” I ask, reaching for the cup.
He nods. I turn the cup to exactly the spot he’s taken his sip from, and I watch him as I lift the cup to my lips. His eyes follow the cup and my lips, and there’s the faintest touch of a flush across his tan cheeks. I take a delicate sip without breaking eye contact. It’s intimate in a way that makes my pulse quicken. “Okay. Vanilla and almond. That’s what they put in. Do you want me to fix it for you?”
He blinks at me. “How?”
“Walk up, smile, and say, my buddy over there ordered hot cocoa and didn’t get it. Believe me, nobody wants to deal with a pissed-off friend.”
He frowns. “As tempting as it sounds, I’d rather just cope with what life has given me on my own. Fewer complications.” He retrieves his cup and turns it back to face him. He smiles and takes a long swig without breaking eye contact.
I like his resilience, even if it means choking down the wrong order. Reminds me of guys in my unit who’d power through the worst field rations without bitching. Resolve like that gets my attention.
“What about you?” he asks. “What’s your story?”
The Army rises to my tongue again, and I swallow it back down. Levi from Tennessee. “I’m from a small town in the Tennessee mountains called Peterboro. I was working here for a bit, and now I’m just about to move away. So I’m seeing the sights that I never got a chance to when I was actually living here.”
“Huh,” Bastien says. “Do you know, it never even occurred to me to do that? Where’ve you been so far?”
“Arlington National Cemetery was my first stop. I’ve got kinfolk buried all over the grounds. I was thinking of hitting up Air and Space next.”
