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“But when we kissed, there was nothing there. And the fact he’s so sweet and kind means he deserves to be set free. To be allowed to find the woman who would appreciate all of his green flags. Plus, he’s kinda careless with his car, and I don’t have time to deal with that. Flat tires from driving on screws, shattered windshield from rocks hitting it. He even used the wrong gas in his tank, so he was broken down on the freeway and needed a rescue a few nights ago.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a catch and release system.” He flattens his lips, partly amused, partly pitying. “He’s not the right one, so instead of killing, gutting, and eating the dude for dinner, you just let him go.”
I wrinkle my nose at the images he puts in my head, but they’re not enough to put me off my appetite as I shovel in more food. “I don’t really wanna gut or eatanyone, nice or not.” I nod toward the television. “Enrico, or Otis?”
“Enrico’s gonna win this challenge. But Otis has staying power.” He crosses his ankles and pays attention to the television as two men battle it out to move to the next round of a ‘I have six-pack abs and know how to hunt on a deserted island’ game show.
The ultimate winner, after ten weeks of living without the perks of technology, a bed, or a supermarket, walks away with a million dollars in prize money.
Not a bad deal, really.
“So Alan’s out,” Raul mumbles around his food. “Your mom and dad are coming for the party.”
“Maybe,” I cut in. “I don’t have actual confirmation yet.”
“And Axel Feeney will be back in town, too, right?”
Talk of gutting guys. Dumping Alan. Watching Otis and his toxic masculinity. None of it makes my stomach jump the way hearing Axel’s name does.
“Yeah.” I take a long swig of sweet wine and try, so fucking hard, to numb myself for the onslaught coming this way in two short weeks. “Nic said her brother will be there.”
“You excited about that?”
Before I can answer, he drops a lump of saucy pork on his shirt, and sitting forward with a mumbled ‘shit,’ he sets his things on the table. Grabbing a napkin from the bag, he mops up the mess he made. “You and Axel were pretty close, right? It’s been a while.”
“We were friends.” I lift a single shoulder in a shrug and count abs on TV, all so I don’t have to look Raul in the eye.
The fact is, he was there that day we buried Ainsley Cootes. He saw me clutching Axel’s arm. He saw my tears. Hell,everyonedid. But the whole town, including Nicole, is entirely too polite to throw it in my face.
“We got along for a long time,” I hedge instead. “But he moved away for work, and we didn’t exactly have a texting relationship. So things just fell away once he was no longer visiting the store every single day.”
“So what are you gonna do if he comes back to stay?” He swipes the sweet and sour sauce from his shirt and bundles the dirty napkins. “What will you do if he visits the store?”
I can’t help the frown that slides across my face. “I’ll treat him the way I do every other customer. I’ll smile, I’ll serve him. There’s no reason for things to be weird.”
Lies, lies, so many fricken lies.
“He’s my friend’s brother,” I conclude. “That’s all there is to it.”
“And you still don’t even know where he’s been?” Done cleaning up his mess, he sits back again and picks up his dinner. “He still hasn’t told you?”
I only shrug, non-committal, like the lack of knowledge doesn’t tear strips from my heart. “Maybe he’s been working for the CIA. Ya know, a super-secret thing he can’t divulge, or everyone he knows will be at risk.” I turn to Raul and widen my eyes, if only to remove the sincerity from my words and make him laugh. “The enemy could abduct me. They could torture me for information.”
“Har-har.” He rolls his eyes, but shovels more pork in and chuckles. “‘No’is also a complete sentence, Han. Drama queen. So who’s next up on the dating roster?”
I’d like to be offended, if only to save my dignity. But he knows me too well now, and that means he knows if Alan is out, then someone else is in.
“A dude named Thomas. He’s in finance, but at twenty-three years old, he’s still a junior at his firm. He’s a local, but he’s quiet, so I haven’t heard anything untoward about him. No long-term serious relationships. Nothing messy on the grapevines.”
“He sounds boring.”
I choke out a laugh and take another bite of chicken. “He seems nice. A little more outgoing than Alan. Though, that was a low bar to jump. Thomas has two sisters, and divorced parents. His dad raised them after Mom took off to live the good life.” I stop and smile. “Absent parents are kinda my thing, so we bonded over that.”
“You’ve already met up with him?”
“Nah. Just texting so far, but we’re going out to dinner next week.”
“A whole week away?” Surprise shines in his eyes. “You’re moving slow, Ms. Sullivan.”
