Chapter Seven
“Who’s that?” Gus’s best friend and business partner, Walker Steele looked at him curiously. “I don’t mean the guy. I’d know him anywhere. He’s prettier than you are, partly because your nose is a crooked from when I broke it during hell week training but I see the resemblance.”
Gus ignored Walker’s jab. The guy knew almost as much about the Boone family as he did. He was a specialist in recon, after all.
“Her name is Faith, and she lives across the hall from me.”
“That’s interesting. When do I get to meet her?”
“Why do you want to meet her?”
“Something wrong with your eyeballs? She’s cute as hell.”
Gus gave him a look and, aware that some folks nearby were a little too interested in him and Walker, crossed the street.
“Not gonna happen.”
Walker caught up. “Now you’re hurting my feelings.”
“The last woman I set you up with yelled at me through the door of my home for nearly an hour straight.”
“Brandi?” Walker made a face. “What do you expect? She was talking about babies and retirement savings the day after we slept together.”
“You sent her a three-word text message.”
Walker gave a shrug. “Technically four.”
He glared at his friend.
“What?” Walker flashed a grin and held up four fingers.
“I’m a details guy. Not going to work, is four words.
Besides nice doesn’t always do the trick.
You know that. Sometimes you gotta rip off that band aid in one shot.
She was planning our entire future ten minutes after we got naked. You would have done the same.”
Walker had him there.
The light was red, and Gus waited impatiently for it to change.
“Come on. Help a buddy out.”
“Not gonna happen,” Gus retorted. Walker was a player — no way was he getting near Faith.
He didn’t know her well, but he knew his buddy.
The guy went through women like chocolate.
And he fucking loved chocolate. He didn’t know Faith all that well, but she didn’t strike him as the kind of woman who went for casual.
He was looking out for her, the same as he’d so for his sister or any other woman in Walker’s orbit.
“Is she local?”
“Nope.”
“Where’s she from?”
“Have no clue.” He’d wondered about it, though. Several times, in fact.
“What’s her story?”
“Don’t know.” The light was now green, and Gus strode into the intersection, Walker close on his heel.
“You have servers and people at your fingertips who can find out anything about anyone on the planet. Christ, you have Dozer for God’s sake. He could find Elvis if you needed him to.”
“Can we drop this?” He glanced over Walker’s shoulder.
Faith had continued down the street with Ford, Benjamin happily leading her dog.
The park was a block ahead. They looked cozy.
The three of them. And though it shouldn’t, the sight of Ford Boone with Faith looking as if they were on a date or something didn’t sit right with him.
“Someone didn’t eat their Frosted Flakes this morning.”
“Let’s get a beer,” was his answer.
Walker grinned. “Thought we had to go to the hardware store.”
“Not in the mood.”
“Copy that. Now where the hell do we go for a drink in this Hallmark movie town?”
* * *
He took Walker to Tully’s for lunch since it was close by, and after that, the two men headed out of town to The Dock.
It was a beautiful day; the Mets were about to start a double-header, and they bellied up to the bar for a couple of cold ones and the game.
With the Fourth of July around the corner, the place was packed with tourists.
By six, they were back at Lawson House, groceries in hand, prepared to barbecue steaks.
“How long you are staying?” he asked Walker as they walked into the house.
“Unsure. Does it matter?”
“Nope.” He glanced at his friend. “You gonna tell me why you’re here?”
“Truth?”
Gus sighed and set his bag down on the hall table. He grabbed a beer from the bag and took a good long pull. Walker showing up in Fire Lake had been unexpected. He’d been happy to see his closest friend, but now he was thinking there was more to it.
Walker grabbed a beer for himself and leaned against the table. “Look, the guys are worried is all. We respect that you’ve got to deal with some stuff, but I was dispatched to check up on you.”
“I’m a big boy. I don’t need looking after.”
“No shit. It was Mary who left me no choice. Said she’d kick my ass all the way to New York State and back if I didn’t swing by Fire Lake and make sure her precious little August was doing okay.”
That got a smile out of him. Mary, their office manager, was on the back end of sixty, two inches past five feet, with thick silver hair she wore in two braids. She treated all the men as her own and he’d do anything for the woman.
“Tell Mary I’m good.”
“Aye, aye captain.” Walker paused. “We’ve got enough steaks to feed an army. Why don’t we have a little party in the backyard?”
“Because I want some peace and quiet.”
“Do you?” Walker grinned. “Come on. I know you’re a grouch and all, but I’d like to get to know your neighbors.” He grabbed the bag and headed for the stairs. “I’ll put this stuff away and you can do the honors.”
He raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Invite them.”
Gus watched him jog up the stairs and, with a sigh, knocked on Liam’s door.
He supposed it couldn’t hurt to play nice one night out of the week.
It took a bit, but eventually, the elderly gentleman opened up and seemed pleased to be invited for a backyard barbecue.
It almost made Gus feel bad for not wanting company — almost being the keyword.
“I’ve got some of them good pickles that my daughter-in-law done up for me. I can bring those.”
“Sounds good.” Gus stepped back. “See you in a bit.”
He took two steps past Candy’s door and then stopped and knocked.
He was going to make Walker pay. His landlady offered half of an apple pie she’d bought from the market the week before.
“Just as good as homemade,” she said, huffing a bit as she stood at her door.
Three cats whined behind her, obviously in need of food or water or attention.
His nose told him she should maybe work on their litter boxes.
“I’m sure it will be fine.” She meant well, but he made a mental note not to touch the pie.
He knew Sage was away for the weekend, and that left Faith. Before he could stop himself, he climbed the stairs and knocked on her door, but there was no answer — more importantly, there was no barking. It meant she wasn’t home.
Huh. Was she still with Ford?
He scowled and backed away from her door. The comings and goings of Faith weren’t his business.
He crossed the hall to his place, and by the time he had his steaks ready to go, Walker had the potatoes prepped with onions and seasonings and wrapped in tinfoil.
He followed his buddy downstairs, swearing under his breath while lugging a cooler of sodas and beer with his left hand and balancing a platter of steaks with his right.
Just as he parked the cooler on the deck, he heard her. Gus set down his tray and spied Faith with Candy. The elderly woman seemed to have her cornered by the honeysuckle.
“You want me to save her?” Walker asked.
“I got this.”
Gus crossed the yard. “Hey,” he said, walking up to them both. Taco got to his feet, his tail going a mile a minute, when he spied Gus.
“I was just telling Faith about my pie.” The older woman winced.
“That knee bothering you again, Candy?” he asked. When she nodded, he reached out his arm. “Come on. Let me get you settled while Faith takes your pie and . . .”
“I’ll put it on the counter in the back room.”
Her eyes shone, her skin glowed, and her hair was down, the waves wild from the humidity. A strand stuck to her neck, right where her pulse was located. He blinked it away, feeling like an idiot. What was it about this woman? He’d been with a lot of beautiful women. It wasn’t something new.
“Gus?” she asked, a small frown marring her forehead.
He cleared his throat. “That’d be great.” A pause. “We’ve got steak and potatoes if you haven’t eaten yet.”
“Oh,” she replied with a small smile. “Can I bring something? Do you have a salad prepared?”
“This was a last-minute kind of thing, and we didn’t think our menu through, so no.”
Her gaze moved past him. “You have a friend.”
“You seem surprised.”
A small smile lit up her face. “I guess I am.”
Was that the honeysuckle that smelled so damn good, or was it—
“I can whip up a salad. It won’t be fancy or anything, but at least we can say we’ve had some greens.”
“Sounds good.” More pleased than he should be that Faith would be joining them, he helped Candy over to her chair, and while his landlord kept Liam occupied with enough conversation to make a man go blind, Gus got the potatoes on the barbecue, and Walker offered him a cold beer.
“I introduced myself to your girlfriend.” Walker grinned and took another drink.
“Is now the time I should tell you to go fuck yourself?”
“She smells as good as she looks.”
So, my nose hadn’t been wrong.
He didn’t engage because, with Walker, this kind of crap could go on all day long.
Instead, he told Candy that Walker was from Texas, which coincidentally was where her family had come from.
That started up an entirely new conversation, and with no choice but to keep Candy and Liam company, Walker gave Gus an aggressive one-finger salute while he raised his beer in return.
Gus knew the potatoes were going to take some time, but he kept busy checking on them, and when Faith appeared, he took the large salad bowl off her hands and put it on the table. She’d changed into jean shorts and a simple T-shirt, but she’d left her hair loose. He liked it loose.
An image of his hand fisted in the waves momentarily blinded him and he damn near fell off the side of the deck. What in the actual fuck? He might be getting too buzzed.