Page 72 of Five Alarm Love
“Got a date?”
Lou laughed, trying something—anything—to deflect the man.Unfortunately, Bruce was like a hound dog tracking a scent.“Are you offering?”
His rough laugh rang out.“I’m spoken for.Aggie would kill me.”He pointed.“You.Any prospects?”
“Sixteen, Bruce.”
“What?”
“Now fifteen questions left.”She paused.“My life is uninteresting right now.”
“You sure about that?”
“Absolutely.”
He squinted as he peered at her from the side of the pump.“What about Tulimak?He seems nice.”
“You’re down to thirteen more questions.No, I’m not going with anyone.If that’s okay with you.”She planted her hands on her hip and glared at him.
“Oh, sure, sure.No issue.”Then he pinned her with a stare that looked calculating.“Any particular reason why you’re not going with anyone?Could it have to do with someone blurting out stuff?”
Was nothing sacred in this town?“We’re at eleven questions left.”
“The last one was more of a statement than a question.”
She stared at him until he grunted to himself.The pump clicked off, and she took the nozzle out and secured it on the pump.Lou sighed and studied Bruce’s too-eager expression.“Look, I’m not a fan of people sharing secrets that aren’t theirs to tell.”
“Fellow messed up, did he?”
“You could say that.”
“I’ve done that a few hundred times with Aggie.”He smiled.“Sounds like you are kicking the guy to the curb, as kids say these days.”
“If you mean kids from the year 2005, then yes.”
“See?I’m hip.”He gave an awkward hip wiggle.
Lou suppressed a smirk, then sobered.“I’m focusing on me right now.”
“Hmph.It’s a date to a wedding.Not a joint bank account.”
“Bruce, what are you getting at?”
“If I had a nickel for every time I shoved my giant foot in my giant mouth, I’d be a rich man.Yet, she said, I do, despite my bungling.”
“Bungling?”
He rocked from one foot to the other, his arthritis-bowed legs making the movement look like a cowboy standing on a boat bobbing in ocean waves.“Back in the day, I told all my friends about kissing Aggie behind the school.The story spread through town like wildfire.You know how rumors are here.Aggie was mortified.”He flapped a hand.“Things were different back then.”
“I would feel mortified, too, even in present day.”
“Anyway, that wasn’t the last time I bragged or said something personal and it ended up hurting her feelings.”
“Yet she’s still with you.”Lou pointed.
Aggie strolled up to the car and joined them.“Hi, Lou!”
“Hi, Aggie!”
