Chapter 13 #3
“How’s Magic?” Kylie asked, peering at Dennis’s pouch.
A sweet blonde he barely remembered from childhood, Kylie and Luke had reconnected about four years ago.
She’d been raised in Luview until she was fifteen, but Dennis was long gone by the time the scandal around her father’s affair caused upheaval.
All he cared was that she was a fabulous stepmother to his niece. A damn fine baker, too.
“Magic’s good.”
“Can I hold him?” Kylie asked eagerly.
“You sound exactly like Harriet when you ask that!” Luke exclaimed, chuckling before taking a swig of his beer.
“Because Magic is so cutesy-wootsy!” she replied.
“You never call me cutesy-wootsy,” Luke challenged, then winked.
“You’re not an injured widdle baby.”
As Moore and Colleen started howling, and Luke looked at his wife like she was from another planet, Dennis made a split-second decision.
“Here. He needs a change of pace.”
Taking the sugar glider from his hands, Kylie’s face melted with sweetness. Luke rolled his eyes.
“You’re just making it worse for me,” he grumbled.
Dennis sipped his drink, which made him remember how kissing Ana tasted, which made him drink faster.
“How so, bro?”
“Harriet wants one. Bad.”
“Wants a sugar glider?”
“Yes.”
“She can babysit for me. Prove she can take care of a pet.”
“She does fine with Jester,” Kylie interjected, coming to Harriet’s defense. Dennis liked that. Team player.
Especially if it meant his baby bro didn’t get what he wanted.
“I am sure Harriet would make a fine sugar glider owner. I’ll hire her to babysit Magic for me. Pay her.”
Luke groaned. “You have no idea what you’ve unleashed.”
Rachel leaned across Kell to be heard, the volume rising in the tavern.
“Magic reminds me of Satan.”
Dennis had to hold back a sputter.
“Satan?” Kylie asked, rubbing noses with Magic. “Who could ever call such a cutie Satan?”
“Me,” said Rachel flatly.
“He’s not a squirrel,” Kell said to her slowly. It was clear there was a subtext Dennis didn’t understand.
“Doesn’t matter! Rodents aren’t pets,” Rachel declared, giving Kell major side-eye.
“That’s right!” Luke agreed. “Rachel has a very good point.” The two clinked glasses, toasting each other’s common point.
“If sugar gliders can’t be pets, why is Dennis walking around wearing one?”
“Hold on,” Dennis interjected. “Magic isn’t my pet. I’m just fostering him.”
The whole group started laughing.
“I mean it!” He picked up his drink, suddenly relaxing, even in the midst of being ribbed. The teasing, though different, reminded him of being with his team. If you were the butt of a joke, it meant you were accepted. Included.
One of the gang.
“Once his leg heals,” Kylie said, looking at Luke, “Magic isn’t going away. Dennis is keeping him, and the poor thing needs a friend.”
“If we get one of those… things, Jester will think it’s a chew toy.”
“Jester’s not that mean!”
“He’s a dog. Dogs are predators. Jester will think it’s a rabbit and he’ll eat it. You want to explain to Harriet why her beloved sugar glider got eaten by the friendliest dog on the planet?” Luke asked pointedly.
“Aha!” Kylie declared. “So we can get one!”
“When did I say that?”
As the two bickered, Dennis felt an elbow in his ribs.
“Pass the fries?” Colleen asked, pointing to a huge basket of string fries. “And the rings?”
“Sure. Want a giant turkey leg to go along with it?” But he did as requested, Moore grabbing the rings and immediately chomping down on one.
“What? We’re hungry. Besides, we always do this,” she answered pointedly.
“Do what?”
“Have appetizers for dinner.”
“Most people have dinner for dinner.”
“Not on Bilbee’s nights. And who the heck are you? Mom?”
“Nah. Just teasing.”
“It’s good to have you home.”
Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe the warmth–they were sitting close to the woodstove that heated much of the place. Perhaps the chatter of happy people, chill and engaged, having fun as their only goal, made something in him stand down.
Whatever it was, he was shifting. Breathing more deeply.
Settling in.
“Whatcha drinking?” Kell asked from across the table, holding up his own empty pint glass.
“Caipirinha.”
Rachel’s face lit up.
“I am so impressed!”
“What?”
“Rider has cachaca?”
“If he didn’t, I wouldn’t be drinking this.”
“I never thought to ask!” She smacked Kell’s thigh. “That’s my next drink.”
“Cai peer what?” Kell asked, puzzled.
“Cai-peer-een-ya,” Rachel tried to explain. And then:
“It’s like a lime mojito,” Dennis and Rachel said in unison. A comically confused expression filled her face as they caught each other’s eye.
Then laughed together. Maybe he had more in common with his future sister-in-law than he thought.
Quickly, Dennis finished his drink, then turned to Luke.
“I was going to stick to one, but any chance someone else is going light tonight?”
“Me,” Kylie said with a sad smile. She shook her soda glass.
“Everything okay?”
Rachel leaned in and whispered, “Do you have something to tell the class?”
“Stop it,” Luke said gruffly. “Don’t start rumors like that. My mother would set off fireworks if she thought we were pregnant.”
Kylie blushed. “Just a medication for a cut that went wrong.” She pulled up her right sleeve and showed a bandage.
“Is that from the greenhouse? When you scratched your arm on the way down the ladder?” Dennis asked, remembering the incident.
“Yep. Infected. I’m on antibiotics, and alcohol doesn’t mix well with them for me. So you all have a designated driver for another week.”
“Remember when you lived in the apartment upstairs?” Luke reminisced, pointing to the ceiling of the tavern.
She snuggled against him.
“I know. If I still had it, we wouldn’t need a designated driver. We could all just stay there.”
“I loved my apartment,” Kell said with a sigh. “Then you rented it, Kylie. It’s like it’s part of the family.”
“Apartments aren’t people,” Dennis pointed out. “But there’s a thought. Is it for rent? Is anyone living there now?” Dennis asked, earning a glare from Colleen.
“Don’t you even think about moving out. Mom would kill you.”
“Who said I’m moving out?”
“You’ve been a grump for a while.”
“Since when?”
The whole table snorted.
In an instant, he saw himself through their eyes, but more broadly, he saw all three couples through the lens of their loving relationships. They had what he wanted: love, stability, and predictability.
A life partner.
A soul mate.
Someone you could be yourself with.
Being ghosted had hurt his ego. Draining the final drops of his drink, he stood.
“Anyone up for another?”
“The tab is all on Dennis,” Moore announced to everyone.
Protests began, but he held up his palm.
“No argument,” Dennis announced. “Don’t get used to it, but tonight, this is how it is.”
“Then we’re getting fried lobster bites,” Colleen called out. “Double order.”
“Rachel, you want a caipirinha?” he asked.
“Of course! Thank you! And then I’m done,” she assured Kell, who was rubbing his fingers along her shoulder, smiling at her like she was his soul.
“I’m good,” Kell told Dennis. “Too much Valentine’s Day prep.” He glowered, the look half fake, half real. “Someone is leaving town and dumped a bunch of work on me.”
“Someone is me,” Dennis told the table. “I don’t want to be here for the festival.”
“Why not?” Rachel sounded incredulous. “It’s so much better than it ever was before!”
“Better?” Dennis crossed his arms over his chest, goading her. “How so?”
“We have the trolley, so parking is easier. We have more permanent wood kiosks on the common, which makes the look of the outdoor festival cleaner. Selena added more speakers to the outdoor music system, and now we have more live local bands in rotation at the gazebo. Lucinda ordered ten new heart costumes from Anya.”
“Who?”
“Anya. You know, Grady’s great-grandma? Judy’s grandma?”
He frowned. “That really old lady who tailored our prom tuxes?”
Rachel nodded.
“She was a hundred when I was in high school! How can she still be alive?”
“That woman is a wizard with zippers,” Kell muttered before shoving a crab rangoon in his mouth, Rachel giving him an amused smile. Her engagement ring glittered in the light when she gently patted his cheek, which made him roll his eyes.
“Students dressed in the new heart costumes will walk around the festival and downtown carrying chocolate hearts. Anyone wearing one of the town’s new pins gets a free heart,” Rachel continued.
“New pins?”
“We’ve been handing them out on the trolley. Just started today! Lucinda generously donated them to the business development office!”
“Do you have any?” Colleen asked. “I’ll wear a pin if it means getting free chocolate!”
“I'll buy my chocolate,” Dennis said, walking away from the table. The bar was crowded, but he found an empty spot to wait his turn.
Rider moved like a speed demon, taking orders and making drinks, moving in a flow state. In no hurry at all, Dennis just bided his time, admiring his cousin’s efficiency. When someone is highly competent, their work can be a form of beauty.
Finally, he turned to Dennis.
“Another caipirinha?”
“Two. And two orders of fried lobster bites.”
Rider laughed. “Colleen’s working your tab, huh?”
“Little sisters. What can I say?”
“Yours is way better than mine,” Rider said, a bitter laugh punctuating his words.
Last time Dennis had been in a bar was at the hotel in Boston. A woman in a red dress caught his eye now, her features very different from Ana’s, but the taste of his drink and the flash of red in his peripheral vision made him sigh.
Hung up on a memory. How pathetic had he become?
“Hey there, big guy,” crooned a woman behind him, a voice he knew full well.
Annabeth had struck again.
“Hi, Annabeth.”
Just then, Magic stirred between them.
Literally.
The sugar glider’s head popped up from his pouch, making Annabeth let out a tiny squeal and lean back.
“What the hell, Dennis?”
“He’s still injured.”
Doubt filled her beautifully painted eyes. Annabeth was an attractive woman, without question, though much of her appeal was hidden under her beauty regimen. It wasn’t that he didn’t like makeup.
It was that she seemed to think she needed a lot of it.
“You sure you didn’t have a head injury when you were doing your big military stuff?” she asked, a giggle at the end more mocking than flirty.
The worm had turned.
“I did. Plenty of times. Why?”
His bluntness caught her off guard, insecurity flashing in those pretty eyes.
“Oh. Just joking. Really? On a mission? You got hurt?”
“Sure did.”
“Do you have,” she asked, eyes combing over him, “scars?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of work did you do?”
“You know I can’t go into specifics.” Rider put the two caipirinhas on the counter, then nodded toward the kitchen, signaling that the lobster was coming shortly. Annabeth leaned against the bar with her hip and raised a hand to catch Rider’s attention.
He pivoted and returned.
“Another cosmo?” he asked her.
“Whatever he’s having.” Her eyes caught Dennis’s.
“Another caipirinha coming up.”
“On me,” he said reflexively.
Her fingers went to his forearm with a possessiveness that made his mouth turn to metal. Glancing back at their table, he could see his siblings and their partners had all turned in their seats and were openly watching what was transpiring between him and Annabeth.
A gust of cold from the front door opening caught his attention, Blake and Sheila walking in. Luke waved and let out a small whistle, catching their gaze.
“Oh, my goodness, thank you,” Annabeth gushed. “I haven’t had a handsome man buy me a drink in a long time.”
“I doubt that.”
The pressure of her fingers shifted against the cloth of his sweatshirt, triggering Magic to crawl out and perch along the crook of his elbow.
“Ugh!” Annabeth snatched her hand away.
“He didn’t even touch you.”
“Are you ever alone, Dennis?”
“Excuse me?”
“I’d love to see you without that little rat.”
“I’m his foster daddy.”
“Does he sleep with you, too?”
“Every night. He’s the best bed partner I’ve ever had.”
Titters and chuckling came from those around them.
“Annabeth.” Joe Boutin appeared over her shoulder, baseball cap on backwards, thick red flannel clean and sharp. “Buy you a drink?”
Rider appeared just then, sliding hers along the bar, dropping two baskets of lobster bites next to them. “A little too late, Joe.”
Joe worked down at the quarry, delivering rock in the region. About ten years younger, the guy was friendly enough, though Dennis barely remembered him from when he grew up here.
Joe’s eyes widened as they caught Dennis’s.
“Sorry, man. Didn’t know you two–”
“We’re not. My bad.”
As Annabeth sputtered, Dennis made haste to withdraw, secretly grateful for Magic’s comic relief. Now he just needed his little hitchhiker to stay put until he sat down again. Navigating through the crowd with two drinks and two baskets was hard enough.
Victory was his. Setting everything down meant he’d made it. Rachel gave him a smile, but the jackals that were his brothers and sister dug into the new appetizers like it was their Death Row meal.
Blake took a lobster bite, ate half in one chomp, and made a face like he was impressed.
“Was Annabeth hitting on you?” Kylie asked, giving him a very sly look.
“She was trying.”
“So she failed?”
“Not interested.”
Colleen cut him a look that said he had two seconds to shut her up.
“I have plenty on my mind. Romance will come later.”
“So you do think about it?” Rachel asked, oh, so innocently, across the table.
Kell began sputtering.
“Did Deanna put you up to that?” Kylie asked with a laugh, giving Rachel a smile.
“Of course not! Just making conversation.”
Going quiet, Dennis thought again about how much love the table held. He wanted his own version of what Colleen, Luke, and Kellan had.
His cousin Blake, too.
Not exactly what they had, but his own, unique sliver of it.
“Whatcha want, hon?” Blake asked his wife. “I heard Rider got his hands on some Merlot from that vineyard we visited in Napa last year.”
“Yes!”
As his cousin wandered to the bar, Sheila and Rachel began talking about restaurant capacity during the businest week of the year, and something about validated parking as a promotion in March.
Yearning won out, and he reached for his phone, pulling up the meager text stream with Ana.
Nothing.
Nothing, still.
Maybe it was time to move on. Leaving town for Valentine’s Day wasn’t just about hating the commercialism in Luview.
It was also about dodging his feelings for Ana.
Then clamor reigned as Moore and Kell got into an argument about Game of Thrones. Dennis cupped one hand around Magic, plucked two lobster bites from the basket, and almost–almost–closed his eyes.
Being back home meant adjusting to the new version of him.
Which would emerge slowly, one drink, one conversation, one run-in, and definitely one lobster bite at a time.