Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 108862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
But I promised Wyatt I’d swing by, and didn’t I just get done saying I’m not gonna let him down again?
The second I step inside, it’s just noise. Laughter at the bar. Every booth and table filled with groups of friends and families shouting over the music.
And on a nothing middle-of-the-week school night?
“Two-for-Tuesday,” Joel explains, as if answering the thought in my head. “People go fuckin’ wild for any deal around here. Oh, hey, there they are. Yo, Lance! Wyatt!” He heads off ahead of me. I pull back, still unable to see them.
Then two heads move aside, and between them, Wyatt comes into view.
And suddenly I’m alright.
I see him laughing at something. Then leaning in to respond to someone. Lance, from the look of it. More laughter. He shakes his head and takes a sip of his drink, looking charming and happy. He points at Lance’s drink and asks something. He says something back. Wyatt chuckles and nods.
The longer I look, the more I see it.
The moment of blankness in his face each time he listens to whatever Lance says.
The tightness of his lips between speaking.
His empty smiles.
Something’s not right.
Then Wyatt flinches, like he’s telepathic and literally senses me over here, then glances my way, searching for me. He finds me through the crowd.
And I see a real smile.
My day’s instantly better.
I come up to him like I’m in a hurry. Probably knock into a server and send mugs of beer scattering for all I know, I’d barely notice. The only thing that matters is reaching Wyatt and getting my arms around him.
Only when we finally reach each other, both of us freeze.
“Hey,” he greets me softly.
Even in the noise, I hear him crystal clear. “Hey,” I say back.
“You alright?” he asks.
“Yep,” I answer quickly. “You?”
“I’m fine,” he answers as fast. He gestures at everything. “It isn’t usually this, uh …”
“It’s fine,” I tell him and mean it, staring into his eyes.
He observes me for a second. “You seem to be more and more fine with this town lately.” Another real smile happens on his face, thanks to my presence, I’m cocky enough to think. “You know … I’m starting to get this totally crazy idea that you might actually like it here.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“Ahead of myself is where I live.” He smiles. “Want a drink?”
If I have a drink right now, I’m gonna have twenty, and Wyatt doesn’t need to see me like that. “I’m fine.”
“Probably for the best, since Lance and Chad wanna play pool against us. You good with sticks and balls?”
I look at Wyatt, surprised he’d make a joke like that. Then I wonder if it’s a joke at all. “You tell me. Am I good with yours?”
“Expert level,” he says.
“Let’s take ‘em on, then.”
We head over to the pool tables, only to realize all of them are taken. Lance and Chad greet us, then Lance starts going on talking about a fashion show or something he’s organizing in Brookfield, hoping to make “a big fat buck or two on the richies” in his words. Then Chad asks him if they’re still gonna be able to do something they’d planned with the Kings, Lance is sidetracked, and the two get lost in a side conversation.
That’s when Wyatt looks at me and asks, “What’s wrong?”
I lift my eyebrows. “Huh? Why?”
“I can just tell something’s a little off.”
“Speak for yourself,” I say right back. “You looked stiff before I arrived. Like someone peed in your flowerbed.”
He bristles. “No one peed anywhere.”
“So what’s the deal with you?” I ask. “Why was your first real smile when I showed up?”
“All my smiles are real,” he says back, firm, “and I said nothing happened today.”
“Actually you said you’re fine when I asked earlier how you are,” I correct him. “Not that nothing happened. So did something happen today?”
“Nope. And you?”
“No.”
His face tightens.
Mine, too.
Then Joel pops up out of nowhere. “Hey, guys! Just checked in with the wifey. The guilt was eating me alive. Apparently Disney night is taking a pause and making room for Pokémon. Since when have my kids been into Pokémon? When’d that happen?”
“Beginning of the summer,” answers Wyatt. When Joel looks at him blankly, he says, “Ask Mindy.”
“I swear, the gay men in town know my wife better than I do.” He looks at each of us. “What’re we talking about so intensely over here? You guys look like you’re plotting shit.”
“Who’s plotting shit?” asks Lance, cutting in. “Love me a good little plot. I’m all in. Who’re we fucking up?”
“Wait a sec,” comes in Joel, looking at me. “Is this about that rich customer we had the other day?” He chortles and shakes his head. “Dude, I thought Diego was gonna chew him up and spit him out on the floor, but he kept his cool.”