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“He salutes most people. Well, people he likes.”
“So, he likes me?”
“He must. Those are his two tells: discounts and salutes. You’re getting both, so you’re in.”
He grins. “Good to know I’m in with someone in this town. Sandy at the bank seems to hate me.”
“She’s probably one of those people who gives attitude because they’re secretly crushing.”
“Do you know Sandy?”
“Nick, I’ve been in LA for ten years. I don’t really know anyone around here anymore, except my family.” And you.
“Sandy is as up-in-years as Doctor Merriweather. Another one of those who didn’t get the urge to retire.”
“So, you’re saying she’s pushing eighty and still working at the bank?”
He nods. “That’s what I’m saying.”
“Are you sure? Because sometimes hard living can make a person look decades older than they are. Just because she has white hair?—”
“I’ve seen her medical chart. And, legally, I can’t say more than that.”
“Okay, so you know her age. What, seventy-eight or so?”
“There are patient confidentiality rules.”
“I’m just trying to figure out how this is possible. I mean, working at a bank in your eighties is impressive. The technology, the constant calculations, the details. This is sort of fascinating. Is she actually in her eighties?”
“I really can’t say.”
“But if I guess, will you nod? That seems totally aboveboard.”
He studies me. The way he used to. Then he crosses one leg over the other and wags his clog-adorned foot lazily. “Okay, a guessing game. I’ll allow it.”
“Seventy-seven.”
He hooks his thumb out and nudges it up.
“No way… older?” I raise my eyebrow. “I already guessed seventy-eight. Is she seventy-nine?”
He inches his thumb up.
“Eighty? Eighty-one? Eighty-two?”
He nods.
My eyes go wide. “There is an eighty-two-year-old woman working at the Stillwell Savings and Loan. This must be some sort of record. I have a newfound appreciation for getting older”
“Forty’s the new twenty, so it makes sense,” he says.
“Dang. You’re saying eighty is the new sixty. I’m tired just thinking about it.”
He laughs.
Then I remember his comment that got us started. “So, you think she has something against you?”
“I do. While you think she has a crush on me.”
