11. Lynne （Then）
Lynne (Then)
Andrew was different than other guys she’d dated.
Safe, predictable. Kind of a relief. He taught history at Autumn Ridge High School and coached their soccer team.
So she figured, if he had the patience to handle being around a bunch of teenagers all day, he must be able to handle a lot of other things well.
But he came for her, and that made her smile. Plus, she told him it was the only place in town where he could grab her ass in public tonight without fear of one of his students or their parents catching him. Suddenly, Andrew loved the idea.
Andrew raised his empty glass to catch her eye, and she sauntered down the length of the bar with another stout.
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, then held her there for a moment.
“You’re so busy,” he whispered. “Maybe your dad could hire more staff so you all don’t have to do it alone? ”
He wasn’t wrong. Lynne and Ruby had been telling her dad this for years. He should be enjoying more nights off—maybe even giving his back a rest—instead of constantly getting his hands sticky in the trenches with them.
“He loves nights like tonight, though,” Lynne told Andrew. “I mean, just look at him.”
They glanced toward the entrance, where her dad was wiping his brow from laughing too hard at someone’s joke and passing out hugs to everyone who came through the door.
Andrew sighed. “Well, I don’t want to be the man who takes away Dale’s happiness,” he admitted. His hand slid down to her ass and gripped it tight, pulling her in for another kiss. “Speaking of happiness … you coming back to my place after all these shenanigans are done?”
Before she could answer, the bell above the door chimed again, and in strutted Leo March and half the Autumn Ridge Fire Department. Lynne tried to hide behind Andrew, but she wasn’t fast enough. Leo spotted her and waved just as Dale smothered him with a hug.
Lynne waved back, and Leo flashed her a smile cut with vampire teeth. But her dad clapped him on the back, and he spat the teeth into his hand by accident.
Lynne tried to stifle a laugh but ended up snorting into her fist.
“Who’s that?” Andrew asked, crinkling his nose.
“A walking disaster, apparently,” Lynne quipped.
There was no use in trying to explain much more. Leo was already headed over. The guys next to Andrew cleared their bar stools and gave Leo and his friends their seats, shouting “Happy birthday, man!” and offering to buy him his first drink.
“Thanks, but Dale’s got my first one covered. Right, Lynne? Hey, where’s Mazzy?”
Lynne felt Andrew’s arm around her stiffen.
“Andrew, this is Leo March.” She cleared her throat. “It’s his birthday. Leo, this is Andrew—my boyfriend.”
Leo didn’t miss a beat in extending his hand and offering Andrew a warm greeting. Andrew forced a smile as he shook Leo’s hand.
“We put her upstairs a couple hours ago. Too rowdy,” Lynne explained.
“Ahh. Sad I missed her.”
“So how did you all meet?” Andrew asked.
Lynne’s eyes locked on Leo. “I used to babysit him.”
“Damn, Leo,” one of the other firefighters—Mark, maybe?—shouted. He was dressed like a hair band member and reeked of alcohol. Guess the party had already started. “From diapers to drinks.”
“Let me guess,” Lynne said, pointing at Mark then Leo. “The Lost Boys?”
The small crowd that had surrounded them burst into laughter.
“Burn!” Mark shouted. He riffed some air guitar.
Leo leaned in. “Please forgive Mark tonight, Andrew. He’s not usually like this.
I promise.” He kept gliding his tongue along his teeth.
The pale makeup couldn’t hide the way he owned a room.
If anything, it sharpened it. Under those stupid fangs and eyeliner, he looked older somehow.
“Seriously, though. Lynne and I go way back. She used to date my brother. Our dads co-owned this bar a long time ago. We’re like … family.”
“Did someone say family?” Her dad bear-hugged Leo from behind and sent his fake teeth flying back into his hands. “Cheers to Jake!”
He caught Lynne’s eye and they both cackled.
“Cheers to Jake!” the fire crew echoed. As if on cue, Ruby swung in with a round of shots, and the guys all chanted, “Jake! Jake! Jake!” until Leo downed his in one gulp and winced at the sting.
When the jeering quieted, Andrew asked, “Who’s Jake?”
A couple of the guys froze. Lynne’s dad stared at her like he’d just stepped in shit.
Leo saved them all, of course. “My dad. It’s a … long story. Lynne can tell you more about it later.”
Andrew glanced at Lynne, and then it felt like everyone was staring at her. “Okay, all. Enough nostalgia for now. And, Dad, enough with those bear hugs. We’re not insured for hugging accidents. Let me get that old fashioned for you, Leo.”
“And the cherries?”
“Of course. Can’t forget something to rot those vampire teeth,” she teased. “But how are you going to do that, uh, trick of yours with fake teeth in your mouth?”
Leo’s expression was cocky, as if he anticipated someone was going to ask this. “I’ve been practicing,” he said. “Just as good as ever.”
Lynne suddenly felt the room grow hot and excused herself, leaving Andrew to take in all this new information.
But she trusted Leo to not make things uncomfortable, disclose anything they’d done in the past. Andrew didn’t need to know what had happened between them.
Did he? It didn’t matter now. She was with him.
Besides, in a half hour, Leo would have him as drunk as the rest and convinced he’d made a new best friend tonight.
As she disappeared, she heard Andrew ask Leo, “What trick?”
All night long, Leo laughed from the other end of the counter, cheeks flushed, surrounded by regulars who’d watched him grow up.
He moved like he belonged to the noise. Like the noise belonged to him.
And when “Thriller” played on the jukebox for what felt like the fifteenth time, Leo started doing the choreography from the music video.
A larger-than-expected crowd of patrons joined him in perfectly sloppy sync.
Everyone was clapping by the end of the song.
So it was no surprise when a slim Elvira-dressed woman sashayed up to him, started chatting, and Leo showed her his cherry stem trick.
But just before the bar was about to close, he was back at Andrew’s side, asking questions about his students, soccer, life. He excused himself to the bathroom, and Andrew turned to Lynne. “That kid’s really something.”
If only he knew the half of it.
Ruby was kicking everyone out as Leo stumbled back to his bar stool. His friends all bid him goodbye. But Lynne grew concerned. He really did look drunk tonight. Glassy eyes. Slow blinks like a cat. It was getting harder for him to stay focused and steady.
Her dad tapped her on the shoulder. “I think the kid needs help back home, Lynny. We’ll put Andrew to good use, if you can spare the ten minutes.”
Leo suddenly looked wide awake. “Nah. Just send me home with Mazzy. I’ll be fine.” He looked a wreck, and no one believed him.
Lynne gulped and glanced at Andrew. “It’s okay. I trust you,” he said. Simple as that. But the words landed heavier than jealousy would have. Andrew turned to her dad. “I’d be glad to help, Dale. Where do you need me?”
Within seconds, she was left alone with Leo.
“So here we are again,” she sighed. “Let me go grab my coat.”
She stayed near but didn’t brace Leo up as they shuffled toward the back door. Instead, she mumbled something about being cold and kept her hands tucked in her pockets.
The minute they stepped out into the frigid end-of-October air, Leo said, “We’re good, right? I don’t want this to be weird for you.”
“No,” she brushed off the comment. “He’s fine. We’re fine. Everything’s fine.”
Leo huffed. “I don’t know much about women, but I know when it’s said like that, it’s probably not fine.”
She didn’t want to argue about this, didn’t want to drag it out. “Leo, it’s just … let’s get you home.”
They walked in silence, their footsteps the only sound between them. She kept their pace slow so he wouldn’t stumble.
“Your boyfriend seems like a good guy,” Leo told her.
“He is.”
“Good.”
The fallen leaves crunched under their shoes. She glanced up and realized how clear the night sky was tonight. How filled with stars.
Leo caught her looking and peered up, too.
After a few moments, he said, “You don’t have to walk all the way, Lynne.”
“I know,” she said. But she kept walking.
He stopped abruptly a few doors short of his apartment building, and they turned toward each other. His weight shifted between his feet. “Tell Andrew it was nice meeting him, okay? I’ll see myself the rest of the way there.”
Relief swelled in her chest. “Yeah, of course,” she said. She turned, ready to sprint toward the bar. But then she turned back to him. “Hey, Leo?”
“Yeah?”
“I know you didn’t ask, but…” She gazed past him, toward the dim orange lights threaded through the trees in the park at the end of the road.
Rows of little paper bag luminarias with jack-o’-lantern faces stood in a row along the sidewalk.
“He used to take the long way home on clear nights like this. Your dad, I mean. Said it helped him think.” She shrugged and pulled a hand through her hair then shoved it back in her coat pocket. “Just thought you’d like to know.”
Leo smiled, soft and crooked with those vampire teeth. “Thanks, Lynne.”
He seemed relieved, too.
She shuffled toward the bar as his footsteps fell behind her, as the crackling of leaves dimmed to a rustle. But when she reached O’Donnell’s back door, something made her stop and turn again.
Far down the alley—hands in pockets, shoulders slightly hunched against the cold—was Leo. She eyed him for a moment.
He was heading toward the park instead of the warmth of his apartment.
Taking the long way home.