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Since I was spending my weekend on repairs around the house, I went all out and fixed the laundry hookups too so I could avoid the weekly laundry trips to my mom’s—and the grilling over my dating life that went with them. But Toby still wanted to visit, so I’d dropped him off for a few hours.
He’d been reluctant to leave, but Mom had looked so exhausted I’d immediately felt guilty for leaving Toby there. I knew how she tended to wait on everyone if allowed. When I was in the house, I could run interference and insist Toby get his own soda out of the fridge or help clear the table. Without me, Mom had probably been run off her feet.
“I only wanted to stay for dinner,” Toby continued. “It’s not like she had to cook for me. She was already—”
“Toby, enough.” I shoved the pub door open and strode inside, only to stop short when I saw how packed it was. The tables were all full, and the bar was overflowing with people clustered around it. One television on the wall played sports highlights, but all the rest displayed a question. “Damn, I forgot it was trivia night. They’re always packed.”
“Great,” Toby said glumly.
“Stay here. Let me go see how long we’ll have to wait, okay?”
Toby nodded, looking sulky. No doubt he’d find a reason to dislike his food and compare it to his grandmother’s cooking. To be fair, Mom did make a delicious casserole. Personally, I preferred the Philly cheesesteak and steak fries that the pub served up under the owner Maude’s supervision.
I pushed my way up to the bar, waving a hand for attention and hoping I wouldn’t have to wait too long.
Calista, the regular bartender on staff, caught my eye and started making her way toward us. She was close friends with my younger brother, which had been annoying when I’d wanted to get drunk in peace last summer, but it worked to my advantage now.
“No fair,” a woman beside me said with a hoarse laugh. “I’ve been trying to wave her down for ages.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t trying to cut the line.”
She waved a hand, and her fingers brushed my arm. It looked almost accidental, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t.
“That’s all right. A handsome single guy like you can’t help that he gets quick service, right?” She winked. “Even Calista can’t be immune, though she’s still dating that other woman, from what I hear. That took us all by surprise when it happened, let me tell you!”
I nodded along, though I didn’t engage. Ever since being the primary subject of Granville gossip, I tried not to encourage folks when they started speculating about other people’s lives.
Calista reached the bar. “Hey, Hunter, you want your usual?”
“Yeah, but how long…”
Calista grimaced. “Well, since you’re ordering the special, it’ll be quicker, but we’ll still need about ten or fifteen minutes. That all right?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Calista prepared to step away, and the woman next to me called out, “How about waiting on the boring old broad as well as the hot man?” She patted my chest for emphasis, as if Calista wouldn’t know who she meant. “Don’t I rate any service?”
Calista raised the liquor bottle she’d just grabbed. “Already on it, Loretta. Just hold your horses.”
Loretta rolled her eyes. “Sure you are, honey. Thanks.”
I decided to escape the bar before Loretta’s groping traveled anywhere else. As I made my way back toward Toby, my attention was caught by the table of people in the center of the room. Clark Fletcher stood, a slip of paper clutched in his hand. Across the table, a scowling Percy Helix tried to pull it away from him. I remembered Percy, even though he’d been a gangly teen when I’d last seen him at my grandfather’s funeral service at Helix Homes.
What the heck was going on?
I ventured closer, their voices beginning to reach me as I neared.
“I’ll turn the answer in,” Clark said. “It’s fine.”
“No, I insist,” Percy said. “That way I can make sure it’s right.”
“Clark’s a history teacher,” Tucker said, drawing my attention. Seeing him outside of the office was jarring, but he sounded just as calm in the face of madness as he did when Duke and LeRoy started arguing over our plans for the city’s shrinkage problem. “I’m sure he’s got this one covered.”
“Being a teacher doesn’t mean he knows everything,” Percy sniped. “What’s the saying? Those who can’t do…”
“Just fucking let it go,” Augustus said, sounding pissed now. “We voted as a group.”
“Fine!”
