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“Thanks, Kiera,” Demetrius said, wincing at the bite as he took a swallow.
“You’re welcome. How about a burger to go with it?”
“Yeah, sure, that sounds good.” He took another drink, a deeper one, and felt the gin start to soothe a few of his frayed nerves. “Have you seen Cody?”
Kiera was busy washing glasses and didn’t look up as she shook her head. “Not for a couple of days.” Once she’d set the glasses aside to dry, she approached and stood before him, drying her hands as she gave him a close look. “You guys doing okay?”
“Yeah, sure. Of course.” Demetrius sipped his drink, then sighed and had to look away. “We met with the judge today about the civil case.”
“Oh shit, that was today?” She leaned in a little closer, bracing her hands to either side of her on the bar. “From your expression, I take it things didn’t go your way?”
“Well, we don’t owe any money, so that’s a relief. However, we lost our business license.”
“No.”
“Yep. No more Critter Catchers.” He took another, longer drink, and was surprised to realize the glass was empty. “At least, not for a year. Who knows? Might be longer if Cody and I decide not to continue.”
“Not to continue?” Kiera said, already making him another gin and tonic. “The business or your marriage?”
Demetrius lifted the fresh drink in a mock toast. “That is the million dollar question. Cody was pretty pissed about it all afterward, and he stormed out of the house, going I have no idea where. I kind of thought he might have come here.”
“No, like I said, I haven’t seen him for a couple of days.” She watched him take another drink. “I’ll put in that order for your burger now.”
By the time the burger arrived, Demetrius was feeling pretty relaxed. More than relaxed, he felt pretty damn good. Like he was lit up from the inside. It seemed everything he thought and said was hilarious, and he had to share whatever came into his mind with everyone around him.
Once he finished half of his burger, he dug some change out of his pocket and weaved his way across the bar to the jukebox. His and Cody’s song was on here somewhere, the trick was finding it. The jukebox was one of those with CDs inside, and the liners were displayed with each song given an alphanumeric code. As he pressed buttons to flip through the CD liners, Demetrius hummed to himself and tapped out a rhythm on the juke box with his free hand. He finally found the song and turned back to the bar.
“I found it!”
Keira smiled and waved from behind the bar. Demetrius returned her wave before turning back to the jukebox. He had to focus to get his coins in the slot, and once he’d added the correct change, he squinted at the CD liner and carefully punched in the code. The machine clicked and whirred, and a moment later the frantic electric beat of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” began to play.
“Yes!” Demetrius gyrated as he moved across the empty dance floor. He shook his hips, clapped his hands, and bounced from foot to foot. Everything suddenly felt good and right, despite the fact that they’d lost their business license. It was only for a year. A lot of good things could happen in a year.
Someone came up behind him. He was tall and broad, and he put his big arms around Demetrius’s waist and pulled him back tight against the front of his body.
“What?” Demetrius turned his head to try and see. Was it who he hoped? Could it really be him?
He saw the slightly shaggy hair worn a little too long, the three day scruff of beard with a touch of auburn mixed in with the brown, and those warm brown eyes he knew so well.
“It’s you!” Demetrius turned to face him and threw his arms around Cody’s neck, hanging on tight as Cody laughed.
“It’s me,” Cody said into his ear in order to be heard above the music. “Where else would I be?”
“I don’t know, you were just so angry earlier.” Demetrius stepped away and almost fell back on his ass, but Cody grabbed his arm and held him up.
“Easy there,” Cody said. “Looks like you’ve had enough. How about we get out of here?”
“What? No, I’ve been talking with Keira, and she loves me and thinks we have the best jobs in the universe and stuff.” Demetrius waved toward the bar. “And I left my drink over there.”
“I know where we can get more drinks.” Cody leaned in close to say in his ear, “And be alone.”
“Yeah?” Demetrius smiled, but when Cody pulled back, he blinked and leaned in close to look at his shirt. It was a t-shirt advertising some kind of muscle building protein drink, and it was tight to his body. “Where’d you get that shirt? I don’t remember seeing it before.”
“Oh, it’s one I’ve had in the bottom of a drawer.”
“Huh.”
The song ended with a flourish, and they stood in the middle of the dance floor in the sudden silence.
