Chapter 6 #2
Dan and JD entered to see Libby with her arms around Ryder. They exchanged a kiss, then she gave them a wave before she disappeared into the kitchens.
He liked that his family were happy, even if sometimes it gnawed at him that he wasn’t. Not that Dan wanted to settle down, but a woman in his life would be nice. Someone to cuddle up to and watch movies with. Someone who knew shit about you no one else did. Clearly, I’m getting old, Dan thought.
He stomped down the vision of Leah and how he used to love holding her. No good could come from thinking about her right now, especially after he’d just made things worse.
The scent of coffee and food hit Dan as he sniffed the air.
After a lot of deliberation and arguing between Ryder and Zoe, who was an interior designer, the décor of his brother’s cafe was welcoming, with walls that he knew would have a different name for the color but to him looked like cream. There was a feature wall of old bricks behind the counter.
“Go away. We don’t serve losers,” Ryder called to them from where he now was behind the coffee machine.
There were a few snickers from the table seated to the right. The walking club was all in for their monthly brunch. Most were in their seventies and fitter than him.
“Well now, this is nice. Welcome back, Deputy Dan,” Tripp Lyntacky, town mayor, said, waving his fork.
Dan raised a hand and walked to the counter before someone waved him closer to talk about something going on in town they wanted him to look at.
“So, no hello for me?” JD called to the group.
“Hello, JD,” they all sang back.
“Coffee, stat,” JD demanded when he reached the counter.
Ryder wore an apron around his hips and a smile, which was a permanent fixture these days since Libby had entered his life.
“Why is he frowning?” Ryder asked JD.
“Not sure, but think it has something to do with Leah Reynolds.” After that, he wandered to the display cases to inspect the baked goods.
Dan’s brother was the best baker in Lyntacky, but he wouldn’t be telling anyone else in town that.
“You saw Leah again?” Ryder asked, starting on their coffees.
“A heads-up would have been nice with regards to Cassie’s boy and her death, Ry,” Dan said.
“Zoe was meant to tell you about him and Cassie but clearly forgot,” his brother said. “But you knew Leah was back, so what’s the problem?”
There was no way he was telling them what had just gone down.
“No problem.”
Ryder looked at him. “What happened?”
“How do you know anything happened?”
“Your frown line is showing,” Ryder said. “Spill.”
“Yeah, spill,” JD added, returning with his mouth full of gooey raspberry-and-chocolate muffin.
“It’s nothing. I was just confused when I saw the kid,” Dan said. “Just leave it now.”
“Confused about what?” He saw the moment his brother got it. “You thought Hudson was yours, didn’t you?”
JD whistled.
“Easy mistake considering Hudson’s age,” Ryder said. “Tell me you didn’t confront Leah.”
Dan stayed silent, and this time Ryder whistled. “I bet that went down real well.”
“I’m not talking about this. I want coffee, and a grilled cheese, and one of those muffins like he’s got.”
“I have to make you a grilled cheese again? When are you going to move on from those and eat other shit like adults? Plenty of savory in the cases,” Ryder said, looking disgusted.
“And this conversation is not done, but here in the café, where anyone can hear, is likely not the place to continue with it.”
“It’s done,” Dan said. “And I like grilled cheese sandwiches.” He’d been eating them since he was old enough to understand how good they were.
“What’s with that?” JD asked. “Who has a grilled cheese with hot sauce?”
“Me, so get to it. I’m a paying customer,” Dan told his brother.
“Oh, so you’re paying now? Goodie,” Ryder drawled.
“I’m family. I thought we got shit free?” Dan said, taking out a muffin.
“I’d go broke if that was the case,” Ryder said. “And nothing served in this place is shit.” His eyes went to the door as it opened. “And here comes Tweedle Dee,” he muttered.
Dan watched his best friend since school wander in as he grabbed a muffin.
Tall, on the lanky side, he was the honorary sixth Duke and had spent much of his childhood living in their house.
The man never brushed his hair, it usually needed a cut, and he wore anything he found that was clean in his closet even if it didn’t match.
The only time he dressed up was when he was dealing with clients, and then usually only the top half, as that was visible on conference calls.
Jay had only recently returned to Lyntacky after years in Washington. Dan was never sure exactly what his friend did, but thought it was something that involved the government.
“He has a style all of his own,” Ryder said.
“Is that what we’re calling it?” the family’s fashionista, JD, said, looking at Jay in horror. “Because it’s a style I don’t think will catch on.”
“What?” Jay demanded when he reached them. He did a chest bounce and hand slap with all of them, and then sniffed the air like a hound. “That coffee smells good, Rye.”
“Of course it’s fucking good. I have to make you one now too?”
“Appreciate it,” Jay said, going to the display cases. “Put it on my tab,” he added, taking out a wedge of cake.
“At least you actually pay yours,” Ryder muttered.
“How’s the hand, and how was your trip? You going to be an even more kick-ass deputy with all this new stuff you’ve learned?” Jay asked after he’d swallowed a large bite.
“Hand is fine, and I’m not sure I can be any more kick ass, but I learned a few things,” Dan said, feeling the tension ease inside him after seeing Leah and making a dick of himself ease.
He’d need to apologize to her, and that made the mouthful of food in his throat form a hard lump.
No one liked apologizing, but more than that, it would make him have to get close to her again, and one thing he’d realized in the minutes he’d just spent in Leah’s company was that woman still made his heart beat just a little faster, and that was a bad thing because there would never again be anything between them.