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I chuckle softly, damn flattered.
“Nah. Sorry, man,“ I say, patting him on the shoulder. I might not be gay, but I’m no prude either. Besides, thanks to Nocté, I know plenty of gay guys who are not only awesome people, I’ve come to think of them as good friends.
His face falls. “Yeah, I thought so.”
I open my mouth to tell him I could set him up if he wanted, but he cuts me off, sounding completely confused. “Friends?Really?Are you sure?”
I nod. I don’t know why I even feel the need to explain anything to his guy, but I find myself clarifying anyway. “We wereten, man.”
His eyes widen and he crinkles his nose. “Really?”
“Really.” I grab my box and start to leave. I’ll put out my feelers to some of the guys to see if I can point a couple single ones toward Dirty Deeds. He doesn’t need to know I was involved.
I get as far as the door when he calls out, “Thursdays.”
I turn back to him. “Huh?”
“In case she doesn’t call you or blows off your attempts to call her, because, let’s face it, that’stotallya Lily move,” he says, rolling his eyes and giving me a sheepish grin. When I don’t respond, he continues, “She’s in Dirty Books every Thursday night for book club. They almost always walk out of there by eight. A little tipsy, mind you, but mostly in a good mood.” He winks at me.
“Oh, thanks,” I respond, shooting him an appreciative glance before I walk out the door.
“You didn’t hear it from me,“ he calls after me, holding his hands up. “And if you try to throw me under the bus, I will deny it until my dying breath.”
I can’t help but grin. “Understood.”
He tips his head, then wanders out from behind the counter and heads over to the woman standing in front of the vibrators. “Honey, allow me to blow your mind. I have just what you’re looking for.”
I huff a laugh and push the door open. A rush of chilly lake air greets me as I walk down the block to my vehicle. It might be May but the ice hasn’t even fully melted off Lake Superior yet. The chill it brings is enough to make even the most hearty of midwesterners shiver. I have to admit, I forgot how long it takes to warm up here.
When I reach my Escalade, I pause before getting in. My gaze drifts over the two stores. Dirty Books and Dirty Deeds sit side-by-side, taking up half of the city block.
Part of me wants to walk over to the bookstore and wait for Lily right now. But that would be nuts. Besides, it’s barely six-thirty and Myles will flip her shit if I don’t come back with the stir-sticks before the doors open.
When I got the idea to piss off Myles with these dirty replacements, I had no idea it would turn my world upside down. I just thought I’d travel to the west hillside of Duluth, to the closest novelty shop I was aware of, and get a good laugh.
But now …
I shudder from the realization.
Things feel …different.And I have no clue what any of it means.
I open the door to my vehicle and hop in, tossing the box of stir-sticks on the passenger seat. Within minutes, I’m on the bridge heading back to Superior and totally lost in thought.
I need to get back to my computer so I can do some digging. It’s been months since I looked Lily up online. It was a mostly dead-end then, with only a few mentions in the newspaper. No pictures.
Now, I’m kinda grateful for that because if I had seen her, there’s no telling what I would have done.
Instead, all I got were snippets—she graduated from UMD with a Bachelor’s in business.
There was also a mention of a wedding—but that was over a decade ago.
A lot can change in a decade.
Please, don’t be married still.
The thought makes me grip the steering wheel.
Our relationship isn’t like that.We’re not like that.
