Page 8 of All Yours

“Ooh, low blow. Ouch.” I laughed at his return shot. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m not getting any work done from my home computer, either.”

“It’ll come together. It always does.”

“But what if it doesn’t this time?” I whispered.

“Oh no, don’t go there. You got this,” he said, his tone morphing from the typical playful banter we shared to serious. It was my fault. I’d slipped under the heaviness of my worry.

“Ok.”

“Come on out to Lou’s tonight. We both need it.”

“Is it just work stressing you?”

“That and my mom wanting me to find a Jewish woman.”

“You got that one cousin in town about your age.”

“Oh god, shut your mouth Tompkins,” he laughed. “Gross.”

I laughed. “I’m sure she’ll find you someone.”

“Yeah, I’ll pass on that. So, you’re coming to trivia tonight.”

“I am?”

“You need to get out of the cabin and meet me at Lou’s.”

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Great. See you tonight.”

After I hung up with Jonah, I texted Lauren to see if she and Camden were coming to Trivia Night at Lou’s.

They were a couple who enjoyed competing against each other and always played on separate teams. Adrian had almost banned them twice for getting a little too competitive with each other. Competition apparently turned them on. They were weird, but whatever worked. What did I know about relationships? I hadn’t had one in years, and at this point, I couldn’t even a create fictional one. I stood, grabbing my trusty giant coffee mug and headed to the kitchen to make another cup.

The bottom of the sun had dipped below the horizon over Hart Lake when I arrived at Lou’s. The orange sign glowed against the gray siding of the building in the dimming light. And the string lights over the patio seating twinkled like stars against the backdrop of the darkening water. My stomach let out a growl from the aromas of the sizzling food being prepared inside.

Jonah’s truck was already in the parking lot, but that wasn’t surprising. He often used the lot since his job site was across the street. The landscape of Hart Valley, at least the area surrounding the lake, had transformed over the last few weeks. The old, decaying structures came down, and a new facility would soon stand in their stead. Grass and trees disappeared to be replaced by concrete and steel. The relentless march of progress had made its way to Hart Valley.

I stepped through the door into the bustling atmosphere of Lou’s Lakeside. The individual conversations had all melded together into one roar, dishes clanked, and the bartender, Finn, shook an ice filled shaker behind the bar. The bay doors down the side of the building were open in the warm air of early autumn, still blowing in off the lake. No one had told Mother Nature that it was time to cool off.

Jonah waved me over from our usual corner table by the stage, his dark black curls rallying in a multitude of directions. I couldn’t remember a time that he’d ever let his hair get that long. Eden was already there, along with Lauren and Camden.

“Grabbed ya a beer,” Jonah said as I slid into the seat next to him. He nodded to the bottle on the table.

“Thanks. I wasn’t expecting everyone to be here already.”

“I just finished my shift and stayed,” Eden said. She’d changed out of her Lou’s Lakeside t-shirt and was in a tank top.

“I had nothing else to do,” Lauren said, fiddling with her glass of gin and tonic.

“Thought you were baking the cake for the Sanderson wedding?” Ever since she’d suffered an injury to her foot when her bakery burned down, Lauren had taken a few special orders that she made in her parents’ kitchen. The wedding cake was her biggest project yet.

“The layers are all baked, but I can’t do anything else until they’re completely cool. Otherwise, the icing will melt.”

“Melted icing wouldn’t be ideal,” I said, picking up the bottle Jonah had gotten me.

“Kinda ruins the aesthetic. So, I came out early and met up with Camden at the job site.”

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