Page 133 of Sharkbait
“Okay.” I take the offered seat and am surprised when James leans across the bar to kiss me. Right in front of her.
He whispers in my ear, so only I can hear, “Relax. You have nothing to prove.”
I realize then that he had a Blue Moon waiting for me and my favorite nachos.
“To the woman who’s stolen James’s heart!” Eva lifts her glass and gestures for me to do the same.
“Eva. Can you chill out with that?” James lovingly scolds. “You’re gonna scare her off.”
“Oh buddy, if you haven’t done that already, I think we’re in the clear. Cheers!”
I hesitantly lift my glass and clink it with hers.
“So” I say. “How was your flight?”
“Long, but good. Iris is at an age now where she can amuse herself on the plane and I can actually get some sleep or do some work. A big change from the baby days! But, if I’m being honest, she’s always been a great traveler. Lots of practice with this guy as her daddy.”
I smile and look around. “I expected to see Iris here. Where is she?”
“Potty break,” Eva says.
James lifts his chin. “Here she comes now.”
A little girl with Eva’s hair and James’s eyes saunters down the hallway like she owns the place, trailed by a tall handsome man with tan skin and shaggy blond hair.
“Louise!” she squeals and runs straight into my arms. “It’s you!”
“It is! It’s me.” I laugh. “And it’s you too!”
I check in visually with Eva to make sure this is okay. I’m still uncertain of the rules when meeting the daughter of your “friends who fling” partner.
She gives me a sly thumbs-up, signaling I don’t have anything to worry about.
Eva really is cool as hell.
I’m not sure what I expected, but to say I’m pleasantly surprised would be an understatement.
“This is Ron, my boyfriend. Ron, this is James’s girlfriend, Louise.”
“Good to meet you, Louise,” Ron says and offers me a handshake.
“You too!”
I don’t correct Eva’s use of the word girlfriend. Something tells me that would ruin the whole positive vibe we have going on here.
“James tells me you two are heading up to Vermont tomorrow?” I try to make conversation.
“Yeah, we’re going to spend a long weekend there before heading home. We hear it’s gorgeous this time of year. We got ourselves a cozy little cabin with a woodburning stove.” Eva wraps her arms around Ron’s waist as he sidles up next to her barstool. “A total one-eighty from our life in Hawaii.”
“I bet.”
Ron kisses her on the top of her head. She squeezes him a little tighter. They’re a super-cute couple and look very much in love.
“Daddy, can I make a Shirley Temple?”
“Course you can, kiddo. Get back here,” James says.
Iris squeals and pushes through the swinging saloon doors that lead behind the bar. James plops her on top of a stack of crates at the end of the bar, and the two of them get to work.
