AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He arches an eyebrow. “Are you suggesting my daughter isn’t up to your caliber? Do you think she’s ugly?” He sips his beer again and this time it’s a much bigger gulp.
“No, she’s beautiful. I just mean—”
“Listen, Van, I’ve been around the block plenty of times, just like you. I might not have drifted far from my hometown, but I wasn’t really ever looking for commitment until it came to one girl, Brinley’s mom. So I’m warning you now, if you don’t keep your dick in your pants and my little girl comes out of this whole roommate situation brokenhearted, you’ll have me to answer to. And I’m not intimidated by your muscles.” He glances at my arms with disgust.
I nod. “You have my word. When it’s my time to leave town, she won’t be brokenhearted. My dick will remain in my pants.”
He finishes his beer, digs into his pocket, and slams a twenty on the bar top. “Glad we understand each other. And just so you know, I have eyes everywhere in this town. If you’re lying to me, I’ll find out.”
I raise both hands. “Promise.”
“We’re here!” A man in his early fifties runs in with a guy who looks just like him right behind. They have to be twins. The only difference is that one has slightly longer hair than the other.
“I handled it already.” Liam stands, eyes me one more time, and walks over to his friends.
“Oh man, I missed it. You couldn’t have waited? I wanted to do the tough uncle role,” one says to Liam as the other one is hunched over, catching his breath.
“I ran for nothing,” the other one huffs out.
“Hey, Denver. Rome.” Nate lifts his hand in greeting.
They both raise their hands. “Good to see you, Nate,” one says.
“Hiring the enemy, Nate? You’re lucky your back isn’t up against that wall,” the other says with a laugh.
Nate looks at me. “He’s a good guy. You’ll figure that out.”
“I hope so,” Liam tosses over his shoulder. “Let’s go.” He nods toward the door.
They all file out after each of them looks in my direction.
Once the door shuts, Nate puts his clipboard on the bar. “Why aren’t you telling them you’re a diver for the Coast Guard? You know how highly they’re thought of around here.”
I clean Liam’s glass rather than look at him. “Because I’ve yet to tell Brinley I’m only here for eight weeks and I don’t care what her dad or his friends think of me. They can think I’m the scum of the earth if they want. I don’t need to use my profession to buy their high opinion of me.”
“I don’t understand it, but I’ll keep it between us if you want.”
I nod and place the clean glass with the rest. “Thanks.”
Keeping things from Brinley sours my stomach, but I’ll be out of her life in eight weeks, soon to be forgotten after that.
Seven
Brinley
The next day, I’m at the office when I get a text message.
* * *
Easton: Way to go, you made BuzzWheel
* * *
I move from my text messages to the BuzzWheel app, and sure enough, someone snapped a picture of Van and me at the grocery store. I’m surprised it took whoever runs this thing this long to put up the story.
The headline reads, “Looks Like Someone Might Be Moving On… The Question Is Who’s The Guy?”
I read the article that says we were seen at the grocery store looking very friendly with one another. All in all, it has no real information and they haven’t even figured out who Van is. The comments below don’t offer much except for things like “slide over, Brinley,” “I’m calling dibs,” and a bunch of “I love him already” messages. Apparently, the women in this town like what they see.
