Page 21 of Lavender Lake
Mr. Bixby nodded. “I’m making up a care package for you before you leave. You take it home, yeah? And if you need anything, you call.”
“Thank you,” I said, sincerity permeating my tone.
Mr. Bixby dropped his hands from my shoulders and looked at Bowman. “Who’s your friend?”
“I don’t know about friend, but this is Cas Bowman,” I muttered.
Bowman shot me an amused look before turning his attention to Mr. Bixby and holding out his hand. “Cas Bowman. I’m Declan’s best man.”
“Oh, so you’re the famous bull rider, eh? He told me about you!” Mr. Bixby clasped Bowman’s hand and gave it a hearty shake. “Welcome to Huckleberry Hill. Meals are on the house today. You’re lucky you came in when you did. You just missed the noon rush.” He ushered us to a vacant table.
“Usual for you?” Mr. Bixby asked me.
I nodded.
“Cas?”
“Call me Bowman. And I’ll have a burger with everything on it, and a cherry coke.”
“You got it.”
After Mr. Bixby got us our drinks, he went to the back, leaving me and Bowman alone.
“Why do you go by Bowman?”
He shrugged. “I’ve always been called that. Even when I was in school.”
“Were you on the football team?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. That tracks, then.”
“But even my teachers and other students called me Bowman.”
“What’s Cas short for?”
“Guess.”
“Casper.”
“No.”
“Cassian.”
He frowned. “That’s not a name.”
“It’s a name,” I said.
“Of someone real?”
“No one I know,” I admitted with a wry smile. “Caspian?”
“Nope.”
“I’m so calling you Caspian,” I quipped. “Until you tell me what Cas actually stands for.”
He ignored my pronouncement when he said, “You never answered my question.”
