Page 27 of The Mayor and the Mystery Man

“He had the idea that he was going to make a living from being a surfer. He’d give it a year, and if it didn’t pan out, he’d take the bar and become a lawyer.” I fell back into the booth howling with laughter.

“Did he?”

“He lasted two weeks.”

“I lasted three months, sweetheart,” he said in the most lovingly acidic way possible. He ran a hand up and down my arm, sending welcome goosebumps across my flesh.

“Two of those months were practicing.” I cocked my head at him, daring him to say otherwise. “What even made you want to be a surfer? You hate the beach because of the sand.”

He stared at me for a hot second, his lips curling into a blazing hot, satisfied smile. He turned to Maria. “Did you know that Dusty has a lifelong fear of clowns?”

“Wow. We’re going there, are we?”

“They terrify him.” I tried to clamp a hand over his mouth, but he escaped my clutches. My fingers unexpectedly buzzed with the feel of his lips. “He came to my kids’ fifth birthday party and ran inside the house when the clown got there. All the kids were cool with it. Not Dusty.”

“I see. That’s how this is going down, huh? Looks like somebody woke up and chose violence today.”

In my defense, clowns were terrifying. They were demonic straight drag queens with funhouse mirror faces. How did we, as a society, decide they were suitable for children’s entertainment?

“Hey Maria, do you know what Leo’s absolute, number one favorite restaurant is?”

Leo clamped a hand over my mouth, but we could barely keep up. He collapsed into my shoulder, tears of laughter at his eyes. We were hysterical for a good, long minute.

“Remind me why I’m dating you?” Leo asked, inches from my face.

We locked eyes, and everything around us seemed to stop. Was he going to kiss me? Was that something we should do? I began to tilt my head and go in for the kiss. A flash of something—panic, shock?—flashed on his face.

Leo turned to Maria. “Any other questions?”

She looked at Leo, studying him, it seemed. I worried how much of this she saw through.

“What?” he asked.

“I’ve never seen you laugh like this, Mr. Mayor. You’re a lot of fun!”

He shrugged modestly.

“You two are a cute couple.”

Leo smoothed one of my dangling pieces of hair into place, his thumb sliding down the side of my face. “I like to think so.”

“The best relationships grow out of friendship,” she said. “That’s how it happened with my husband and me.”

“Dusty knows me better than anyone. I think I reached this point where I realized I was searching so hard for love when it was right in front of my face the whole time. Everything just…”

“Clicked.” I met Leo’s hand with mine.

My entire body craved Leo McCaslin in a weird rush of need that had to have been the high of laughter and nostalgia. I would’ve given my left nut to kiss him at that moment.

But Leo scooted away from me the second Maria left. The space between us turned cold and expansive.

Too bad we were just a pair of really good actors.

8

LEO

“You were in a band and never told us?”

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