Chapter Twenty-Two
Adam
“I really appreciate you letting me crash at your place for a few more days.”
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you need. I don’t know how many rentals are available in town. Tomorrow, you should make an appointment with Sylvia Day. She’s the local expert on the real estate market—although, she’ll probably try to get you to buy something instead of rent.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t mind buying a place eventually. But I want to make sure I’m going to stick around long enough and put down roots before I spend that kind of money.”
“That makes sense. But I predict you will want to stay.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Call it a hunch.” Without missing a beat, he changed topics. “We have to pick up Chinese for dinner and take it to Lainey’s before we put up her camera.”
“Does she know I’m coming?”
“Yeah.”
“And she was okay with that?”
He cocked his head and drew out, “Yeeaah. Why?” as he stared at me suspiciously.
“She was upset earlier,” I quickly added, “you know, because of the letter.”
“And what about the letter would make her not want you to come over?”
“I didn’t say she didn’t want me to come over.”
“You kind of implied it.”
My voice went up an octave, and I let out a nervous laugh. “No, I didn’t!”
“Yeah, you did.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re acting weird. Did something happen between you two?”
“ What ? No! Of course not!”
He stared at me a beat before flatly stating, “I don’t believe you.”
Get it together, man!
With a shrug, I replied, “That’s your prerogative. So, what’s good at the Golden Dragon?”
~~~~
Brian pulled his Northsky Blue Metallic Chevy Silverado onto a side street off Main, and a red neon sign that read, “Golden Dragon” quickly came into view.
After he shut the truck off, I debated about staying in the cab, self-conscious about my appearance. I worried what the restaurant employees might think about my two black eyes.
Brian opened his door and noticed I hadn’t moved my hand toward the passenger handle.
“You comin’?”
I pointed to my face. “I think I should stay here.”
“Oh you can’t do that. Everyone in town knows about what happened to you. You’re like a celebrity now; you have to go inside and make an appearance.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him, but I hopped out of the Silverado anyway.
Everything Brian said was confirmed when we walked into the Chinese restaurant and were both immediately greeted by name by the lady behind the counter whose nametag read “Pam”.
“Brian! Adam! Good to see you! Let me go check on your order.”
I murmured under my breath, “I can’t believe she knows my name without having ever met me.”
Brian responded with a loud laugh.
“You said you grew up in a small town, dude.”
“Maybe Lancastle isn’t as small as I thought. Damn.”
“Wait ‘til you order next time and it’s different from what you get tonight. You’ll be quizzed about what was wrong with the lo mein and why you didn’t order it again.”
“Okay, that’s just weird. The waitress at the diner this morning remembered what I ordered the first time I was there, the morning I met you. And how will these guys know which order from tonight is mine?”
“Because I always get the kung pao chicken, and Lainey gets the sesame chicken with vegetarian spring rolls. And I know they know this because when I called to place the order, the girl on the phone said, ‘Oh, you must be having dinner with Lainey, tonight’.”
Yeah, there was no way I could get with Lainey without the whole town knowing.
As we stood waiting, I said to Brian, “Everyone at the diner this morning was really nice. Except there was a guy who sat in the corner and gave me the stink eye the whole time I was there. I wouldn’t have thought much of it, but he had a cut on his face, and he was moving like his ribs hurt.”
“White guy with small, beady eyes? Bad combover?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
“Freddy Farnsworth. He owns a dairy farm outside of town. He was in a maternity pen with a cow and her newborn calf a couple of days ago, and the cow kicked the shit out of him. He’s lucky he didn’t end up in the hospital.”
“Okay, so what the hell did I do to him?”
“Honestly, I doubt it was you. He can’t see past the end of his nose but refuses to get glasses. It’s probably how the mama cow got the jump on him.”
I muttered, “What the fuck kind of town am I moving to?”
The woman returned with a big paper bag. “I threw in some extra spring rolls because I know Lainey won’t share, and I really think you should try them, Adam. And there’s extra fortune cookies, too. In case you don’t like your first fortune.”
Brian turned to me with a grin as he pulled his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans and motioned with his head to the woman behind the counter.
“That kind.”
I had to admit, the people in town were already making me feel at home.
However, I wasn’t confident that feeling was going to last once we got to Lainey’s apartment.
****
Lainey
Conor was fed, bathed, and all smiles when there was a knock at my door at six twenty-nine.
With the baby on my hip, I opened the door excited for my sesame chicken and spring rolls, but nervous about seeing Adam.
“You just open the door without asking who it is?” Brian groused from my welcome mat.
“You said you’d be here at six-thirty. It’s six-thirty. Who else would it be?”
“I dunno, the person who put the letter under your door?”
“Well, if they brought Golden Dragon, they might have a better chance of being let in than you do.” I gestured to the box in his hands. “That does not look like Chinese food. I was promised sesame chicken and spring rolls.”
“I have it,” a deep voice said from behind Brian.
I raised my eyebrows at Brian. “You’re lucky. Next time, have the guy holding the food knock.”
“I figured I should go first, since there seems to be a problem between you two.”
I felt a sense of panic creep up my body from my toes. Did that fucker dime me out to Brian?
I tried to sound calm and cool when I said, “Oh? What problem is that?”
“I don’t know.” Brian set the box he was holding inside my entryway then took the baby from me and grumbled, “You tell me, since he won’t,” before walking further inside.
I shot Adam a look that basically said, “What the fuck did you say?” He shook his head slightly then followed Brian inside.
“Probably because there’s nothing to tell,” I called sweetly while I shut the door and locked it. The smell of the food in the bag in Adam’s hand made my mouth water.
“I’ll take that,” I said with a fake smile as I plucked the bag from Adam’s hand and headed toward the kitchen.
I purposefully avoided the space on the counter where Adam had deposited me while we made out. It needed to be cleaned, preferably with bleach.
Too bad I couldn’t bleach the humiliating memory from my brain.
Adam’s voice was quiet when he asked, “Can I help?”
“Yeah, you can grab the plates and silverware while I wipe the counter down.”
He grinned as he opened several cupboards until he found the one with the plates.
“It doesn’t look dirty.”
“It needs to be disinfected. You never know what germs are lurking there, waiting to make you sick.”
“I’m willing to risk it.”
I gave him a tight smile as I poured soap on the dishrag. “Bless your heart. That’s not what you said earlier.”
“What the hell is going on?” Brian snarled.
Adam and I replied in unison, “Nothing.”
“Bullshit. You just blessed his heart; that’s not nothing.”
****
Adam
I’d served with enough southern Marines to know that “bless your heart,” was a politer way of saying, “fuck you”. But I’d never been on the receiving end of having my heart blessed.
“We had a little disagreement earlier,” I replied to Brian while keeping my gaze fixed on Lainey’s face.
“What about?”
Shit.
I racked my brain trying to think of something we could have argued about.
Lainey kept it simple as she finished wiping the counter, then hung the rag over the faucet.
“None of your business.”
Brian accepted her response without argument, just asked, “Well, are you guys going to work it out, or…?”
I was kind of wondering that myself and cocked my head to convey my unspoken question.
She looked me up and down with a scowl on her face, then finally said, “Hard to say.”
“Come on,” I said quietly. “I said I was sorry.”
Lainey wasn’t moved, so I teased with a grin as I unfolded the top of the brown paper bag and pulled out a crinkly, white paper bag with the eggrolls, “I even brought you extra eggrolls.”
“Those are for us!” Brian chimed in from the living room where he was bouncing Conor in his arms.
“Actually, Pam said they were for me, so I could try them. But I’m willing to offer them as a peace offering if it’ll get me back in Lainey’s good graces.”
She shook her head and pulled forks from a drawer while I finished unpacking our food from the bag.
“You should try them. I got an order, that’s plenty. Besides, they’re not as good the next day.”
“They smell good.”
She didn’t say anything more to me, and called to Brian, “Bri, do you want me to fix your plate?”
“A plate? Can’t I just eat out of the container?”
“God, you’re such a bachelor! No! You’re going to eat off a plate like a civilized human being.”
“Hey, I’m trying to save you from doing dishes.”
Rolling her eyes, she replied, “Yes, putting a plate in the dishwasher will be such a burden.”
I had an overwhelming desire to kiss that sassy mouth of hers.
This friend thing was gonna be hard. And that’s if she’d even let us be friends.