Lunch Plans
Greer
The breakfast burrito sitting on my counter, already wrapped, is probably a stupid idea, yet I found myself getting up early to make them just in case Creed doesn’t have real food to eat today.
It’s tempting to go over and give his father a piece of my mind, but less conflict is required to just make him food myself.
It’s not like I’ve got a lot going on now.
I need to find something to fill my time with until the baby comes, or I’m going to lose my mind from boredom.
There’s never been a time in my life when my calendar wasn’t filled before, even though I’ve never had a real job.
What am I going to do in a town this small?
That’s a problem for later.
Right now, I need to get the paper and find out if my grumpy neighbor’s kid is hungry.
He leaves for school right around this time every day. I belt my robe tighter to ward off the chill and head outside.
The kid is consistent, got to give him that.
“Hey, Greer.” He gives me a smile as he walks over. “I wanted to apologize about the party. We don’t usually have people over this frequently. Were we too loud?”
For as many people as they had over, they were surprisingly reasonable. “You have some good taste in music.”
Creed smiles. “My dad picked out the playlist. He’s always had a thing for classic rock.”
It’s wrong to acknowledge liking anything that man does. “You can’t beat the classics.”
“Are you planning on having any company over soon?”
Company here? “Probably not soon.” Though I’m going to have to host one of the meetings soon or all my friends will just show up one day to see how things are going.
“Not even family? Like your grandfather?”
My grandfather almost never comes out of that mausoleum he calls a mansion. Why would Creed ask about my grandfather… “You mean Rothswyler. The man who gave me the keys to my new house?”
“Rothswyler?” He quirks up an eyebrow.
How do I explain Rothswyler without sounding like a stuck-up heiress? “Rothswyler is my lawyer. My family has used him since I was a child.” He’s more like family to me than my actual family.
“He’s your lawyer? I didn’t know lawyers bought houses. Isn’t that usually real estate agents?”
“Usually. It’s just easier to have him do both jobs, and then we always know he has our best interests at heart.”
Creed grins from ear to ear. “That makes sense. I’ve got to go to school.”
Now, ask him now. He doesn’t even have a toaster pastry this morning. “So I, um, made some breakfast burritos this morning. Way more than I could ever eat. Would you like one?”
“Sure.”
***
“How have your first few days in Silent Valley been?” Cordelia swirls icing on a mini cake with precision that is mind-boggling.
“Weird.”
“How so?” Round and round she goes in fluid swoops.
“Let’s see. My neighbor hates me—”
The piping bag almost slips out of her fingers. “What? No one hates you. Literally, I don’t know a single person in our entire lives that’s ever even been mad at you, let alone hated you. How did that happen?”
“No idea.” I shrug. “I brought a cake over to introduce myself to his family, and he lost his mind. Like lost his mind and slammed the door in my face.”
“What cake?”
Of course, that would be what Cordelia asked. “The caramel apple one you gave me the recipe for.”
“No.”
Exactly. “Yes.”
“It’s impossible. I’ve had a half-dozen marriage proposals from that cake alone. Did he see the cake before he slammed the door? No man slams the door on my caramel apple cake.”
“It wasn’t the cake.” At least I don’t think it was. “He just seemed to immediately hate the sight of me.”
“Your neighbor is crazy. Should we have Winnie pay him a visit? Or maybe Dylan’s boyfriend…
husband—I can’t believe she just went off and married a guy in a motorcycle gang.
They’re going to be back in town soon, so we can get all the details.
You’re going to love her. I really think she should be inducted into the spinsters’ club as an honorary member.
” Cordelia starts back to swirling, then stops.
“I bet he wouldn’t mind ‘talking’ to your neighbor. ”
Why do I think she means the kind of talking Winnie does when people disappear from the face of the earth? “I was actually thinking of turning Rothswyler loose on him.”
“Really? He’s that bad? It’s one thing to get a thrashing. It’s another to set Rothswyler on anyone. The last person your parents sent him after came back begging for forgiveness.”
She’s right. That doesn’t feel fair. Whatever problems this guy is having, he doesn’t need Rothswyler added to it. “Probably not. He has a really nice kid.”
“Aww. Talking about kids. How is everything going?” She nods towards my stomach. “You haven’t started showing yet.”
They say sometimes first-time moms don’t show until late in their pregnancy.
I’m almost five and a half months, and I have the smallest bump that I’m still able to hide with the right clothes.
“Everything’s good. I have a doctor’s appointment soon.
I’m not sure if I’m going to go to Urbium or try to find a gyno here.
It makes sense to find one I like here. But my family has been going to the same doctors for generations.
It seems weird to go anywhere else.” We give birth at the same hospital in the same VIP suites.
Our name is literally on a couple of the buildings.
“That’s a tough question. I still go into the city, but then again, I don’t have anything that might become urgent like the delivery of a baby.”
Rothswyler probably has a plan for that that involves a medical team and a helicopter. “Yeah. I’ve already bucked enough traditions.”
“Do you think your parents will show up for the birth?”
That’s a joke. “No. I’ll present their grandchild to them about six to eight weeks after the birth. They’ll ooh and ahh and promptly forget he exists until the time comes to read the next will.” It’s all so civilized.
“Sometimes I think I’d take that over my parents.” Cordelia sighs. “Then I remember how much they love me and appreciate how much they meddle in my life. Have you seen much of Silent Valley? There’s a nice little diner in town. We could grab some lunch.”
Lunch already? “Oh no. I’ve got to go. I’m meeting Bram for lunch.”
Her head pops up. “Bram?”
“It’s not what you think. I’ll tell you about him later. I’m late for lunch.”
***
As I slide into the chair across from Bram at the coffee shop, I start apologizing. “I’m so sorry. I’m never late. But I was chatting with my friend and totally lost track of time.”
“No worries. I already ordered for us. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. My ex used to…” Darrel isn’t the person I want to talk about. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Bram gives me an understanding smile. “Was that friend The Cake Lady?”
That’s funny. “Yeah, Cordelia invited me over for tea and to see how I am handling the move.”
Bram leans forward. “How are you handling it?”
“I’m bored, confused, and a little unsure of my life, but otherwise I think this place has potential.” That might have been way too honest.
“What’s confusing you?”
“My neighbor. He seems to hate me, but he doesn’t know me.”
“He? Is he threatening you or something?”
“No. Nothing like that.” At least not with violence. “It’s more like he hates that I bought the house next to him. Maybe he was hoping someone else would buy it. But it had been on the market for a while before I got it. So that doesn’t seem right.”
“Some old guys are just grumpy.”
I definitely wouldn’t describe Creed’s dad as old. “What about men your age who are grumpy? What’s their excuse?”
“We’re practicing for when we get old.” Bram winks at me.
The waitress walks up to our table with a full tray. “So all of this wasn’t just for you, Bram.”
“Told you I was expecting someone.”
“I’m Jane. You must be new around town.”
“Greer. Yeah, I moved in a few days ago.”
“Welcome to Silent Valley. It’s a really nice, quiet town, but the people are friendly. Like Bram here.” She smiles at him and sets our food down. “You two let me know if you need anything else.”
Bram waits for me to pick a sandwich.
They both look amazing, but I’m not picky. I just take the one closest to me. It looks like grilled chicken with bacon and some sort of cheese.
He takes the one that looks to be shaved beef of some sort. “So tell me more about this grumpy neighbor of yours.”
“There’s nothing much to tell. What I really need is to find something around here to do.”
“Do? Like a job?”
I shake my head. “No.” Getting a job just feels like taking money away from someone who needs it. “I need to find somewhere to volunteer or do some charity work.”
“Charity work?”
“That isn’t a thing here, is it?” Oh, no.
He shakes his head. “It’s not really a thing anywhere except among the super-rich. Not that we don’t have people who volunteer or projects that support the arts or those in need. But it doesn’t work that way here. The community just gets together and makes things happen.”
Oh. Oh.
“Was it your ex or your family?” He takes a bite of his sandwich and waits for me to reply.
My family or my ex…the money. “Not the ex.”
Bram nods. “He couldn’t handle your money?”
If only it were that. “No. It turned out his intern could give him something I couldn’t.”
“A felony charge?” He somehow manages to keep a straight face when he says that.
“Almost. She’s barely legal.”
“Idiot.”
“I’m just glad it happened when it did and not twenty years from now.”
“Truer words have never been said. The longer these things last, the harder they are to break apart.”
The doors to the café open, and two men in leather jackets walk up to the counter.
“Never seen a biker before?” Bram must have followed my gaze.
“Nope. I wonder what it would be like to be married to one.”
“For a woman who’s sworn off marriage, that’s an odd thought.”
It really is. Not that they’re bad-looking men. “A friend of mine just married a biker. Well, more like a friend of a friend. And for the life of me, I don’t see how she fits with a biker.”
“You know, all old ladies don’t wear leather and chaps. Though we don’t complain when they do.”
We?
One of the bikers turns towards us. “Bram. I didn’t know you were coming for coffee—” He notices me. “Well, hello.” The biker nudges the guy standing next to him and walks over to meet us. “Tell me you’re Bram’s sister, even though I know he’s an only child.”
I just smile at the flirtatious man.
“My name’s Fly and this is my friend Bear. Ignore him, he might be taken.”
“For the seventh time, I am not dating The Cake Lady.”
WHAT? “You’re dating Cordelia.”
Both of the men gape at me.
“You know her?” Bear asks.
Forever and a day. “Yeah.”
Bear walks over and grabs a chair. “Tell me all about her.”
“Bear…you weren’t invited to lunch.” Bram glares at him.
“But she knows Cordelia.” The bear man is funny. His name fits him so well.
“Greer doesn’t know you. That means she isn’t going to share anything interesting about her friend with you.”
“I’m a good guy. All I want to know is how she comes up with her recipes. And how I can talk her into delivering to our clubhouse. See, there’s nothing nefarious about that.”
“So you two really aren’t dating?” Because if they are, the club needs to know about this…STAT!
“Mostly, sort of, no.”
Fly leans forward. “That means yes.”
“You guys are funny.”
“And they’re about to go away and leave us in peace. Right?”
Fly grabs on to Bear’s jacket and pulls him away. “You guys enjoy your lunch.”
How can we not after that little bombshell was dropped? I have all the questions to ask Cordelia.
“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” I probably should have kept the conversation to small talk for after Bear and Fly left, but Bram is quickly becoming a good friend.
“Should I be worried?”
“Not yet.” I wink at him. “This one isn’t really hard. It’s just personal. Why did you join a motorcycle club?”
“Ahh. I wondered when you’d get the nerve up to ask me about it.”
A polite person would have ignored that fact and kept up the bookstore professor vibe, which he’s totally rocking right now with the sweater and tweed pants he’s wearing. “It’s just, you don’t seem to fit the motorcycle club stereotype.”
“You’d be surprised. I’m one of the least nerdy of our bunch. Most people see the cut and think we’re outlaws living on the fringes of society.”
Um. Kind of mostly. “Guilty as charged.”
“There are a few outlaw motorcycle clubs, but Children of Chaos isn’t one of them. Most of us are doctors, lawyers, and mechanics on weekdays. On weekends, you’ll find us riding bikes and living free.”
Really? “Couldn’t you do that without joining a motorcycle club?”
“Yeah, I could, but what I couldn’t have done is found a sense of community, a sense of family, like I did with Children of Chaos.
Though it might have been fun if we were a bunch of outlaws.
Instead, we became family when many of us had none.
I always know I’ll have a brother at my back.
Mix that with bikes and some of the best booze, and what could possibly go wrong? ”
“Booze but no half-naked women, drugs and rock&roll?”
“We wouldn’t complain about half-naked women, but our old ladies might.”
Old ladies. “You let grandmothers join? I thought motorcycle clubs were all boys.”
His grin gets wider. “Old lady is a term of endearment for the woman we choose to spend our life with. Though some bikers do weddings and all that formal stuff, all a guy needs to do is to invite a woman onto the back of his bike to make a formal statement to the club about his intent.”
“Let me get this straight: you ditch diamonds and gold bands for insulting names and dangerous rides.”
Bram laughs so loud that everyone in the café turns to stare at us.
I guess so. How did Dylan settle for a biker? She seems…like she enjoys having fun. Bram is nothing if not fun.