Fourteen
Keith
My view of Bart had been turned on its head so many times lately, I wasn’t sure how he had changed so much in the time he’d been here.
When I first met him, he was so far out of his element and I didn’t expect to see him here ever again, but he’d proven me wrong.
Now here he was showing Evelyn what he was made of.
And I was here for it. “You are full of surprises,” I finally said as we walked into the bar.
Pints ‘n Pool was the local watering hole which just happened to have a couple of pool tables, a dartboard, and a place out back to park your trailer or camper if you needed to. We walked up to the bar where Nate was wiping out a glass with a towel and barely looked up. “Hey, Nate.”
“Keith, what can I do for you?” he asked right to business like always.
“Bart here is new to town, and I thought I’d show him some of the sights.”
Nate looked directly at Bart with his usual stoic and slightly scary glare. “Welcome to Foggy Basin, what can I get you to drink?”
“I’ll have a beer, whatever you choose is perfect,” Bart said, his eyes wide and his cheeks growing pink. Nate had that effect on people. He was intense and very handsome, unfortunately he was already taken.
“Anything for you, Keith?”
“I’ll have a beer too, a wheat if you’ve got it.”
“If I’ve got it? Of course I’ve got it.”
“I need some quarters. We’re going to play a game.” Nate took the bills from my hand and gave me back a handful of change. “Thanks, I think.”
The door opened and Nate looked up as he pushed our beers to us. “If you’re gonna play you better grab a table. These guys like to play all night.”
I raised my glass in thanks before leading Bart to the table in the back. “He’s intimidating,” Bart whispered as we set our beers down on a table.
“He doesn’t take much shit which is good. The locals know they can’t come here and get crazy.”
“I can’t imagine anyone messing with him,” Bart said and looked past me to where Nate was again wiping down the bar. Then Kit walked in, and his features softened before he pulled him in for a kiss. “Whoa.”
“Yeah, one more happy couple,” I chuckled.
“This town is fucking magic,” Bart said.
“It must be. Now, let’s flip to see who breaks.” He won the flip and I instantly regretted suggesting pool. It was obvious he played often and was very good.
“There’s a place in Auburn that has weekly tournaments. I used to go all the time for something to do outside of work,” he explained.
“Did you win all the time?”
“A few times,” he admitted.
“You could have warned me that you’re a shark,” I said just as Isaac Carter and his boyfriend Tig walked over to the table. Isaac was younger than Bart while Tig was around my age.
“Who’s this shark?” Isaac asked, never one to hold back.
“Isaac, this is Bart Martin; he’s working for Asa Martin.”
“No shit, is he your grandpa?” Isaac asked and took a seat at our table while Tig wandered over to the bar.
“My uncle,” Bart said with a grin before taking a sip of his beer. “Did you guys want to play?”
“I would have sworn I heard the word ‘shark’ as we were walking up. How do I know you’re not going to try to get us to bet on the game and then steal all our money?
” he asked, and I couldn’t control the way my brows contorted before shooting up into my hairline just as Tig walked back carrying two beers.
“Don’t mind him, we just watched The Hustler.”
It took me a minute to realize what he meant. “That old movie with Paul Neuman?”
“That’s the one. Now he’s convinced anyone playing pool is up to something.”
“Not true, and why are you telling my secrets,” Isaac said before kissing Tig then taking a drink of his beer.
“Well, usually you tell everyone your secrets, so I guess there’s not really a lot that I can’t share.” Tig looked at him like he hung the moon and even while they were giving each other a hard time, their feelings were there for everyone to see.
“I might resemble that comment. But you don’t need to be telling everyone. Especially the new transplants. Bart might have thought I was someone who could keep a secret and now he knows.”
“Everyone in town knows. It was only a matter of time before he figured it out,” Tig said with nothing but admiration in his voice.
“What are you doing hanging out with this old guy?” Isaac asked Bart while staring at me.
“He asked me out and he’s not bad to look at,” Bart said, making me nearly spit my beer out after an unfortunately timed drink.
“What?” I sputtered.
“It’s not a lie. Now are we playing or are we drinking?” he asked surprising me once again.
“We’re playing and we’re drinking,” Isaac said and picked up the quarter to flip.
“Oh, look at that, looks like we’re breaking,” Bart said, and I already knew this was not going to end well for Tig and Isaac.