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That had to be why I didn’t see him coming up to me until he was already taking the seat at the bar next to me.
“Hello there, funeral crasher,” the deeply amused voice said from beside me.
I blinked and turned, surprised to find the man from the funeral sitting next to me, a smirk on his face.
“Hello,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying.
“Nice to see you again, Simi.” He gestured toward the bartender.
I opened my mouth to lie, but the truth came out instead. “Simi.”
“Simi.” He nodded. “I’m guessing short for Simierie?”
I was already shaking my head, laughter filling my eyes at his outrageous guess of a name. “Not even close.”
“Oh, I have no clue what that could be short for.” He groaned. “What about Simiencia? But that’d just be weird. Simientine?”
I was shaking my head again. “Still cold.”
“How cold?” he questioned just as the bartender arrived.
“Your usual, Coffey?” the bartender asked.
Coffey smiled, and I felt my heart start acting up at the sight.
Gee whiz, was he pretty.
And his name was Coffey?
I liked that.
Weird names were always fun…ish.
My sisters and I were prime examples of that.
Unless you were sixteen, lived with your sisters full time, and they knew exactly how much you hated your name and used it against you when you pissed them off. Or they just felt like terrorizing you that day.
“Arctic,” I replied. “I might as well tell you. You’ll never guess.”
“All right. Hit me.” He picked up the beer that the bartender sat in front of him.
I watched his throat work as he took a sip of his beer and swallowed.
“Kissimmee,” I answered.
He choked on his beer and whipped his head around. “I thought my name was different. Wow.”
I shrugged. “My sisters and I all have weird names. Mine isn’t the worst.”
His head tilted, his intense, liquid-glass blue eyes taking me in before he asked his next question. And color me surprised, but he didn’t ask what their names were. It was as if he didn’t care.
“And why are you in town, Kissimmee?” he asked.
I didn’t get mad at him for using my full name like I did with my siblings. He wasn’t doing it to make fun of me like they did.
“I’m in town because the circus is in town,” I replied. “Why else would I be in town?”
His lips quirked. “Are you going to attend the circus?”
A slow smile started to creep up the corner of my lips. “Why don’t you come and find out?”
“When does it start?” he wondered. “I probably should know. Heartsway is tiny, with a population of six thousand people. There’s not much that goes on here. Yet I don’t. My father’s death was fairly sudden despite the fact that we knew it was coming. I might or might not have checked out these last few weeks.”
I instantly felt horrible.
“I’m not going to the circus. I’m with the circus,” I admitted.
His eyes ran along my body, then moved back up to my face.
“That’s why the heavy makeup?” he questioned.
I nodded.
I hadn’t had the time today to spend on taking it off before Keene insisted we leave to go grab dinner. So my face was heavy on the eyeliner and lipstick.
Red wasn’t my favorite color by any means to wear on my lips, but the act I performed demanded it.
“That would be correct,” I confirmed. “We had a performance tonight, and I worked. But everyone likes to let off steam, and Keene has this rule that we can’t stay on the bus by ourselves, so I always get forced to go out even when I don’t want to.”
His gaze went down to the book, then back up to my eyes.
“Romance?” he asked.
“Kind of,” I admitted. “It’s more like science fantasy with a splash of romance in the background. This is book one of my favorite series ever. I’ve read it about a hundred times. Keene made me leave so fast that I didn’t get a chance to choose a new one, and the reception in this area is terrible. So…hard copy it is.”
Coffey grimaced. “Reception in this area is more than terrible. Last week, I almost missed the news that my dad was dying. I was at work, cell towers were down again—we had one get damaged in a snowstorm a few months ago and they never fixed it—and my sister kept calling and calling and calling. Eventually, she drove up to the restaurant to get me because she wasn’t able to get through.”
A lump lodged in my throat.
“I’m sorry about your dad,” I admitted. “Mine died last year. I’d like to say the pain gets better, but it doesn’t. Not at all.”
He gave me a sympathetic smile that sent my heart once again pounding.
Even his teeth were perfect.
Wow, how does one get that perfect and not have a wife?
Wait…
I glanced down at his finger, something I’d noted at the diner when he’d confronted me on why I’d been there and had observed the absence of a ring. I couldn’t see the ring today since he was wearing a pair of driving gloves.
