Page 50 of An Unexpected Everything
“Oh. Well, it went well. It was with a company that the Cages are working with. I can’t go into too much detail, but it was a lot of numbers.”
“You’re an accountant. I always assume there’s a lot of numbers.”
“Yes, but I’m not a tax accountant. You would be surprised how many people think I am in this town.”
“Let me guess, people that you don’t even know who happen to know who you are asked for tax advice?”
“Exactly,” I said as I pointed with my fork. “I’d never met Mr. Ed before, and yet he came right up to me and asked if his boots were allowed to be tax deductible. First, I have no idea, second, why would he know who I am?”
“You’re shiny and new in Cage Lake, and yet you’ve been here long enough now that you’re not a tourist. And you’re a Cage. People know who you are.” He winked. “But I saw you first. Sorry.”
“Claiming me, are you?”
He shrugged, taking a drink of his water. I watched his throat work as he swallowed, and the damn man winked at me as he set down his glass. Oh, he knew exactly what he was doing.
“Yes. I am claiming you. Sorry. However, if you think the tax stuff is bad? Think about how many people have asked me to diagnose their car as I’m just trying to have a beer. I mean, I was at Lake Bar a few weeks ago before you got here, and I couldn’t even drink in privacy without people coming up and talking about every single little sound they’ve ever heard in their car.”
I snorted. “Well, now that you say that, I think my steering’s a little off.”
“It’s not. I fixed it.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Of course I fixed your car. You’re driving along these mountains. I’m not going to let you get in a wreck.” All thoughts of humor fled from me as I reached out and squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry.”
He shook himself, as if brushing it off. “I was just kidding. I did fix it, but it’s because I want to.”
“Still. I won’t make light of it. Promise.”
“I was just teasing. I wasn’t thinking of my parents until that moment.”
“I’m still so sorry. About everything.”
“It was a long time ago, and while I miss them every single day, we’re okay now. It sucks, but we’re okay. One of the hardest parts of that whole thing was leaving you behind though. And well, you’re here now. For however long.”
We both sat in silence for far too long, the rest of our dinner growing cold. We were doing the one thing we had silently promised we would never do.
Talking about our relationship.
Instead we needed to just live in the moment because I didn’t know when those moments would end.
“You know, I’ve never been to Lake Bar,” I said, trying to change the subject.
He raised a brow. “Oh yeah?”
“Yes. Why don’t you take me?”
He looked down at my jeans and double tank top with a sweater and shrugged. “You don’t look too fancy. Which is good,” he said as I glared at him. “You look too fancy, then you’re a mark. But I’ll take you. Show you the darker side of Cage Lake.”
I blinked.
“Is there a darker side of Cage Lake?”
“You’ll see.”
We paid for our dinners and walked the two blocks down the street to the Lake Bar.
It really was a hole in the wall, a small building with wooden slats strategically placed over the windows. It wasn’t fully caved in or downtrodden, in fact I had a feeling that the owners, possibly my brothers, made their best effort to make it look like a dive bar. We walked inside, the floor sticky underneath my boots, and I just smiled.
