Page 57 of Hot Zone

“Hey, Chief,” Fox said. “Mars, good to see you.”

“You, too,” I said. Keith was sitting there with his friend Robert. Other than at work, this was the first time I’d seen him without his boy, Caleb, which was a shame. If I had to spend the evening with all of Samuel’s friends, it would have made it easier if Caleb had been there. “Where’s Caleb tonight?”

“He’s at his book club. Here, we can slide around and make room for you guys.” Keith motioned to a server who was at the table next to theirs. “Don, can you get us a couple of extra chairs?”

The server looked over and nodded. “Sure thing. I can grab you a couple from another table.”

“You don’t have to do that, Don,” Samuel said. “We’re here on a date tonight, and I’d rather keep Mars all to myself.”

I squeezed his hand and smiled up at him. Seriously, could he get any more perfect?

“No problem, just pick a table, and someone will be with you shortly.” Don left us standing there.

Samuel leaned down near my ear and said, “Does he look familiar to you? He said he went to school with Steven.”

“Not to me, but Steven knew a lot more people than I did back then.”

He turned to the guys sitting around the table. “We’re going to go have a seat. I’ll see y’all Monday.”

We found a small table off to the side and took a seat.

A few minutes later, our server walked up. “Hi, Chief.”

“Hey, Alex, how are you tonight?”

She placed menus on the table in front of us. “I’m good. It’s busy, just the way I like it. Do y’all know what you want to drink?”

“I’ll just have tea. How about you, Mars?”

“I’ll have tea as well.”

“Great, I’ll be right back with those drinks.”

Samuel picked up his menu and studied it. “They have a bunch of different burgers to choose from, but I think I’ll just have theFirst Responder.”

“Have you ever had the Inferno Burger?” I asked.

“No, I’m not about to try anything with ghost peppers.”

“Me either. I was just curious. I’m tempted to try the Backdraft, but I think I’ll save that till next time and have the First Responder as well. The real test of a good burger is one without all the bells and whistles, don’t you think?”

“I think so.”

Alex came back with our drinks, and we placed our order.

Samuel was right, and the burgers were good, but we agreed that next week, we would go to a local diner calledThe Dinner Belland get their burgers and compare them.

“So you said let’s start with food. What’s next?” I asked while we waited for Alex to return Samuel’s credit card.

“The Vesper Astronomy Club is having a Beaver Moon viewing party at Joe Gonzales Park, so the park will be open later than usual. I thought you might want to go. I hear this full moon is a big deal.”

“It is. It’s the last supermoon for a while.”

“I checked, and it’s open to the public. It isn’t just for club members, so if you want to go, we can.”

“I would love to do that. I’ve always loved astronomy.”

“I know you’re big into astrology, and I know they aren’t the same, but Danni seemed to think you would like this, too.”

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