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“No worries,” Tate said. “I wasn’t sure if you were afraid to say something because of my breakup.”
Tate wouldn’t even say his ex’s name. “I wasn’t thinking that,” he said. It’s those things that never crossed his mind either.
“Good,” Tate said. “I wouldn’t want that. Tell me about her?”
“Not a lot to say,” he said. “Her name is Liz Carter. We went to high school together. Dated actually for a few months when we were young and silly and didn’t know what dating meant.”
Tate laughed. “The innocence of youth.”
“Yeah, something like that.” But he was starting to think Liz might not have had all that much innocence in her youth.
He’d spent days trying to remember what he could from back then. He’d even made the mistake of asking his mother on Sunday when Liz was at work.
His mother had only said she’d heard rumors that Lily Sherman had some addiction issues but nothing more.
He knew his mother wouldn’t gossip and let it drop. He’d opened up a can of worms there for his mother to start asking about his relationship with Liz and how things were going.
He’d found a way to hang up fast after that.
“So things are good with her?” Tate asked. “Don’t hold back on my account.”
“They are,” he said. “Why?”
“I was going to see if you wanted to hang out Saturday, July first. I’ve got some tickets to a baseball game.”
He wanted to say no, that he spent that time with Liz. But that wasn’t right or fair either. Liz was working and he shouldn’t give his friends up just because he was dating. If Liz found out, she’d be annoyed.
“Sure,” he said. “I don’t have any plans.”
“Nothing with Liz?” Tate asked.
“We don’t plan too far in advance. She works a lot.”
“We know you don’t plan much anyway. What does she do?” Tate asked. “You didn’t even say how you met back up.”
He didn’t know where this was all going, but it seemed innocent enough in his eyes.
“She’s an ER nurse at Albany Med. She works third shift during the week and has weekends off.”
“Damn,” Tate said. “And you’re going to spend time with me at a game. I feel honored.”
He laughed. “You should.”
“I’m just kidding. Are you sure?” Tate asked.
“Yes,” he said. “She takes extra shifts all the time. More so when they are short staffed. She’d even made a comment about mandatory overtime coming up because people take time off around the holidays and in the summer.”
“If you’re sure,” Tate said. “I know you sold your last flip and haven’t gotten another one yet. You’ve got to be spinning your wheels with nothing going on.”
He let out a sigh. He didn’t think he was that bad, but maybe he was. He just couldn’t sit still.
“I’ve been keeping busy. Liz bought the house I’ve had my eye on for years.”
Tate started to laugh. “Seriously? That makes more sense.”
“What does?” he asked.
“That you don’t have another flip now. If she bought the house you wanted, that means it needs work. You’re helping her, right?”
