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Elisa and Hale wanted to get married, and he couldn’t even buy a car.
Hale laughed at something Max Harper said. Max had shown up five minutes after Hale, as though Hale had called him. Maybe Max was Hale’s best friend now.
He was in such a bad place, and he couldn’t articulate why. He wanted Elisa and Hale to be happy. He truly did. So why did his gut roll with anger at the thought?
Why was he swept up with anxiety at the idea of them starting a family? What were they thinking? Elisa hadn’t even properly moved here, and Hale had the unsteadiest job in the world.
Alexei reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Pinot Gris. “I ask because it’s obvious you’re still upset. Has Long-Haired Roger given you a quote? You know he’s always willing to negotiate if you find yourself in the spot that is tight.”
He’d been told Alexei’s grip on English vernacular had gotten far better over the years, but he still came up with some funny ways to say things. “The spot is entirely tight. It’s so tight we can barely see straight, but does Hale understand that?”
“I think Hale is only seeing world with his heart these days,” Alexei replied.
“Well, Hale’s heart isn’t going to be paying the bills, is it? How can it? It doesn’t have a checking account. Oh, wait, neither does Hale.” They had one account, and it was in Van’s name because he’d lost at rock paper scissors, and how did he consider himself an adult?
“Hale can get all the banking accounts. I think Max can show him,” Alexei said, his Russian accent thick. “I never would think Max would be the one to show other person how to adult, but he is doing good job so far. Hale talks more to friends. He is better at not staring off into the spaces. He is more present. This is good. Caleb used to stare at spaces, and it make everyone worry he is bomb waiting to explode. Not now, of course. Now he is normal.”
Caleb Burke was not normal and never would be, but he supposed he was Bliss normal. Dear god. That was what was happening. Hale was becoming Bliss normal. He wasn’t panicking about nearly dying because that happened all the time in Bliss. He was able to joke about aliens and not even ask Mel where the hell he’d gotten that much blue gelatin. He’d been covered in it this afternoon, and had any of them asked? No. They’d all simply nodded and accepted that Elisa’s father was covered in the byproduct of alien reproduction.
“It’s not normal to chill out after someone tries to kill you.” Van put another beer on the round tray and set it out.
“What else will you be doing?” Alexei shrugged like it was no big deal, but then he’d been in Bliss for years, so it wasn’t to him. “Your woman is working the cases, and she and Nate and Cam will take down the bad guys. Unless Gemma gets to them first. She can do much damage with her handbag.”
Elisa was out there looking for a killer. Oh, not right this minute. Right now she was going around town asking if anyone had seen the woman Pilar had mentioned because apparently here in Bliss a person could come to town looking for someone and no one would help them. Because of the Bliss rules of engagement. Thou shalt not give up thine brother or sister to whatever part of their past is trying to catch up to them.
Well, they could at least give a dude a heads-up.
Alexei passed Callie the wine for table twelve. “I am trying to figure out if you are feeling guilt or jealousy. Or a mixture of both.”
“Guilt. I don’t have anything to be jealous about,” Van retorted. “I do have guilt because I’m still sure this is about me. Hale never did a damn thing wrong in his life.”
Alexei’s head shook. “I’m sure he has, but you also must be knowing that sometimes it does not matter if you have done wrong. The innocent of this world can be harmed, too. Hale could have offended someone, or perhaps he has something someone wants.”
Was Alexei even listening to him? “That’s the trouble. He doesn’t have anything. Nothing. He had half a car, and now that’s gone. He has his tools and the clothes on his back and that’s about it, but this whole town is acting like that’s enough to make a life with, and we know it’s not.”
“It’s pretty much what I have when I come for my Holly,” Alexei said, his expression turning wistful. “I did not have car though. I did have many peoples wishing to kill me.”
“And you thought you could make a life with Holly?”
