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“I did. Barely.” I yawned as I sank down into the chair next to Monroe.
“You look exhausted.” Next to Holden, Sam leaned forward, concern creasing his forehead.
“He is,” Monroe answered, putting an easy arm around my shoulders. A few weeks into officially being a couple, PDA was already coming naturally to both of us. We’d spent all summer struggling to keep our hands off each other. It was no wonder that now that we didn’t have to hide, we were the touchy, cuddly couple who drove others nuts. And Monroe’s proud voice was as good as another caress. “He’s been working so hard on the retirement party for Monday and everything else.” Pausing, Monroe signaled the passing waitress before I could. “Water, please. And another ale and order of the fried pickles.”
“You take good care of me.” I let my head fall against his shoulder.
Monroe lowered his voice to whisper in my ear. “And I’m going to take good care of you later too.”
“Counting on it.” I forgot to moderate my volume, which earned us a groan from Holden.
“Awww. You guys are so cute.”
“Leave them be.” Sam sounded as snappish as I’d ever heard him.
“Sam? In a bad mood?” Holden frowned right along with Monroe and me. “Never say. What’s up with you?”
“Nothing.” Sam huffed. “Or at least it’s silly. I was out for a run this morning. Saw the Stapleton place is up for sale. Again. And it just makes me sad how into disrepair it’s fallen. And that the case still isn’t solved.”
“But we’re closer than ever before.” Monroe drummed his fingers against the table, excess energy a sure sign he’d had a good day. “In fact, I got a break this afternoon. Finally got in touch with the old landlord of the place Leon remembered by the lake. She’s pulling rental records, but the first name sounded familiar. I’m waiting on those, then I may fly back to Florida for another interview with the suspect with the new evidence.”
“That’s awesome. Well done.” I smiled at him. I’d miss him if he did another business trip, but like everyone else at the table, I wanted him to solve the case in the worst way. We all wanted that for Worth and for the town too. For the community—
“Oh.” My eyes went wide, and I grinned at Sam. “You should buy it.”
“Buy what?” Monroe frowned.
“Not you. Sam. Sam should buy the Stapleton place.”
“And do what?” Sam pursed his lips and dropped his chin.
“Stop living over your parents’ garage?” Shaking his head, Holden used a joking tone. “You’re over thirty.”
“I live simply.” Sam rolled his eyes at Holden. “I don’t need a huge house.”
“Yeah, but you want it.”
“It’s too much house for one person.” Even as he protested, the longing was clear in Sam’s voice.
“One person who keeps rescuing others could use a few spare bedrooms,” Monroe said pragmatically.
“True.” Sam’s face softened.
Seizing his agreement, I added, “You should think about it.”
“After we get the work on Monroe’s place done, I could help you with the Stapleton house,” I offered, even though I could see the lecture already starting in Monroe’s eyes about overextending myself.
“Our place,” Monroe corrected, eyes so full of love I couldn’t help but sigh.
“Ours.”
Holden groaned. “Your domestic bliss is as saccharine as one of Sam’s coffee specials.”
“Sorry.” I moved a few millimeters away from Monroe, who yanked me right back. Sam and Holden seemed more on edge lately, not only about the Stapleton case. I didn’t think either was jealous, precisely, but I’d been on the outside looking in often enough to know that happy couples could grate on a friend group.
“Don’t apologize. I’m the one who keeps screwing up the coffee specials.” Sam laughed good-naturedly. “But I try.”
“You’re spread so thin.” Holden clapped him on the back. “Get a manager who knows coffee.”
“The three of you are determined to rearrange my life.” Sam stretched backward as our appetizer order arrived.
“It’s all out of love,” I assured him as we divided up the food.
“I know.” Sam paused to eat a fried pickle, nodding in my direction. “I’m glad you’re staying, Monroe.”
“Me too.” Monroe’s emphatic tone made me look up from the wing I was munching on. Our eyes met, and the rest of the bar faded away. Nothing, not our friends, not trivia night, not even the Stapleton case, was more important than what we had together.
Of course, however, it was still nice when we came in a respectable second place again for both rounds of trivia night.
“We’re an old movie buff and history expert away from cleaning up,” Holden joked on our way out of the bar.
“I’ll be on the lookout.” I laughed, but expanding the friend group was an awesome idea. And I was still chuckling when Monroe let us into the house a short while later. “That was fun.”
