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Hale simply followed along. “Sir, I have questions.”
Oh, that was not happening. He was not getting a lecture on the lost continent of Atlantis. “No, I meant why did you call and say you were Hale?”
Mel stopped, putting a hand over his eyes and searching the horizon for something. “Because I didn’t think you would come out here if I told you I wanted to have a talk.”
Would he? “I don’t know we have much to talk about.”
“I would have come.” Hale was such a kiss ass when it came to parents.
Mel reached over and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “I knew you would be here because of the heater. Something about the wiring in the building. It really does happen every time. You remember when you spent a week installing new pipes because you hoped that would fix the problem?”
“Yes,” Hale admitted. “It was down again in a couple of hours.”
“Neluts are on a biyearly mating schedule. That was their summertime ritual. The winter ritual is more intense.” Mel seemed to find what he was looking for and took off to his left, his long legs moving with ease. “Though I prefer winter because I don’t have to worry about the sasquatches trying to get involved. As a race of cryptid, they do not rank high on the discrimination scale, if you know what I mean.”
He understood nothing. Absolutely nothing. “Did you bring me out here to talk about fussy sasquatches?”
Hale’s head shook as he walked behind Mel. “No, I think he meant the sasquatches aren’t fussy. I think he was saying they try to like join the party. How would the Neluts handle that?”
Mel stopped, looking at Hale. “Well, you wonder what happened to our bees, right?”
Hale nodded sagely. “Ah.”
The asshole was acting like he understood what Mel was telling him. Like it all made sense somehow. “What do you want to talk to me about, Mel? If it’s about your daughter, you should understand, we’re just friends.”
Mel turned again, walking toward the east field. In the summer it was a beautiful carpet of wildflowers, the colors so stunning it looked slightly surreal. Now it was a blanket of perfectly pristine… He had to stare for a moment because something was wrong with that snow.
“Friends who sleep together.” Mel’s destination was obviously that snow that looked like someone had drawn in it.
Where Van stood, he was slightly elevated and could see the hint of circles and lines. “Is that a crop circle?”
“We call this a snow circle.” Mel set down his bag and pulled out what looked like an old-school walkie-talkie. “Cass, sweetheart, you have my location?”
“Sure do,” came the tinny reply.
“Send the drone here. Grid pattern twenty-two should do it.” Mel put the walkie back down. “Technically you can’t call it a crop circle if there aren’t any crops. What you are looking at is a visual message to any Nelut ship that they should meet up at whatever spot this says. I can’t read it from down here. Hence the drone. Think of it like that tender thing but for alien hookups.”
“So it’s an emotional experience for them, too?” Hale asked.
Van rolled his eyes. He knew he was being an asshole, but it kind of rankled that Hale was doing such a good job with Mel. “He’s talking about the dating app Tinder. Sorry, he’s not big into that kind of tech.”
“No, he’s not. Hale’s a real nice fella. Good with your hands. That’s what Elisa tells me,” Mel said.
Hale went a bright shade of pink. “She said that? To you?”
“Dude, you’re a handyman. You fix things,” Van pointed out.
Hale breathed a big sigh of relief. “Oh. Yes. I’m a quick learner if you ever need any help.”
And Van could help the man do his taxes. Did he make enough from alien hunting to pay taxes? How would he handle write-offs?
“Like I was saying,” Mel continued, “I’m not worried about Hale at all, but I am worried about you, son.”
“I’m not your son.” The words were out of his mouth before he could really think about them. Damn. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that to come out so harshly. I know that’s just a phrase some men use.”
“Is it?” Mel’s brow had risen. “I find it interesting you had that reaction. You close to your papa?”
“I call my dad George because he wanted me to understand that he was a person in his own right and not simply a father. He thought it was unfair that bringing children in the world meant he lost his identity, though I think he would put it differently.”
“But you were a child and that’s what you heard, and now you think you’re no one’s son. That’s a hard thing to be, so…Van.”
“I had an odd childhood. So did Hale.”
