Page 2 of Love Over Easy

Sadie gives a nod towards my laptop. “It’s so much easier being able to use a computer that actually connects to national databases, isn’t it?”

“It sure is. I hope we never have to go back.”

Until Kimberly came to town and got the ball rolling to bring high speed internet connection to the island, we had to do things the hard way. My workload is cut in half simply because I can research and connect to the sites I need instead of calling or going to the mainland.

“Now go home, or Griff will call complaining about you working late.”

Sadie laughs and salutes on her way out. Sadie and Griff’s relationship is a strange one. They married as high school and college sweethearts. Then, less than a year later, divorced. They still remain friends and, weirdly enough, they still live together.

I close everything up, switch off the lights, and lock up. With a whistle, I turn and find a familiar figure leaning against my truck. “Hey, Bode. Why aren’t you with your fiancée?”

“The girls are all at the Inn tonight for their ‘book club’ meeting,” Bode says, using air quotes.

That’s what the sad puppy dog eyes are for. Man, he’s whipped if he can’t even stand to be away from Kimberly for one night. “Are you thinking I need to stick around the office in case someone calls the law on them for skinny dipping?”

Bode laughs, but I can tell he isn’t very comfortable with Kimberly being a member of the infamous group. Some call it a book club. I call it a chance to drink copious amounts of wine, play adult versions of childhood games, gossip, and, of course, skinny dip in the ocean. I’ve never actually seen them, but Bode did—completely by accident, or so he claims.

He shudders and holds his hands up. “No, I’m not falling for that again. I have steaks and beer. How about we go to your house and fire up the grill?”

That is exactly the type of night I need after the day I’ve had. “Sounds like a plan. See you there.”

Twenty minutes later, I pull into my driveway and wait for Bode to park.

“How are you enjoying living in your childhood home?” Bode asks as he pulls two grocery bags from his truck.

I take one of the bags and we walk to the front door. “It’s comfortable. Like an old pair of slippers. I don’t need a four-bedroom, three and a half bath house right now, but maybe someday I’ll need the space.”

After my dad died, I came home and bought a cottage near my mom. My mom had a different plan. She gave me the big house, I’m sure hoping for grandkids, and moved into the smaller cottage. Now I have an ocean as my backyard and I sleep in the same bedroom I had as a kid.

“I renovated the en suite bathroom and redecorated the main bedroom with a new king size bed, but it still felt like my parents’ bedroom. Maybe someday, if I have someone to share it with, it will feel different.”

Bode nudges me with his shoulder and chuckles. “Are you thinking your wife might be on the next ferry?”

One brow pops as I remind him, “Well, it worked for you.”

I chuckle at the look of sublime happiness on my friend’s face. He’s probably thinking about Kimberly. I roll my eyes and set the bags down on the scratched and discolored orange Formica counter in the kitchen and start unpacking the groceries. I have grand plans to remodel the kitchen. Just wish I had the time. The beer goes in the fridge first thing.

“True. I can’t complain. I never expected to find love, and I sure as hell wasn’t prepared for it. All it took was one look at Kimberly and I knew she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”

I shake my head when Bode pauses in unwrapping the steaks and gets another pansy ass look on his face.

“See, people say that, but what does that actually look like? Do those sappy chick flicks do it justice?” I try to keep a straight face, but Bode’s pained expression causes me to lose it.

He gives me a too-smug-for-his-own-good look and says, “Keep laughing, dude. All I know is that I’m going to pay extra for a front row seat when the love bug slaps you upside the head and sets you on your ass.”

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