Chapter 10 #2
“Helloooo!” sang a chipper voice through part of the café that was further back. Evie closed the door and smiled. “Hey, Joey! How’s business today?”
Joey started frantically igniting the espresso machine with its hissing and gurgling sound. She seemed to have ten arms as she poured home-made syrup from glass bottles. “Oh, another day in the life!”
A big German Shepherd, tail wagging, approached Evie. She patted his belly while he jostled all over her. “Hi there, Atlas! I saw your chariot outside!”
As she approached the counter, Atlas trotted alongside her, and Deputy Hunt said warmly with a raise of his coffee cup, “Mornin’, Evie! How’ve you been?”
She greeted him with a hug and a smile. “Good morning, Dan! I’m good. Excited to be here. Joey wants me to redesign her menu for the rest of winter.”
“Good, ‘cause it’s terrible.”
Joey scoffed and laughed, pointing her finger. “Hey! I gave you a free extra shot of espresso! I can take it back. Or burn your bagel.”
Dan laughed and replied, “Do that and I’ll charge you with assault on a LEO.”
Joey was like a skinny sprite that grew into being a mom.
She always wore her dark-brown hair up in a messy bun and seemed to always wear athletic clothes that sported the Mustangs’ logo.
She fixed her glasses on her spray-tanned face and boomed loudly while she fixed another drink, “Another chai latte, Evie?”
“Yep! The usual.”
“Alrighty, you got it!” she yelled again for absolutely no reason. “One honey chai latte with oat milk, heavy ice, light syrup, and an everything bagel with jalapeno cream cheese coming right up!”
The familiarity was good for Evie’s sadness.
Joey, being the character she was, stopped working and got caught up in chatter with Deputy Hunt while the radio played country classics.
Brooks and Dunn “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” was playing, which lifted Evie’s spirits.
She looked to Atlas and patted her chest. Atlas jumped up and danced with her. He was as freaking tall as she was.
Joey yelled in play, “Hey now, you’re takin’ my man!”
“Well, you were too busy chattin’ with another,” Evie giggled.
“I don’t like him. He’s ugly.”
Hunt laughed at the banter. “What?” He stroked his peppered goatee and fixed his glasses. “I may have lost some hair, but I’m the finest in this town. My badge here says so.”
Joey playfully countered with her hand on her hip, “Dan, you can’t earn a badge at the Dollar Store toy aisle.”
He tightened his lips in play and acted like he was going to throw the hot drink in her face. She jerked with her hand up and laughed loudly. “Hey! I’ll kick your ass!”
“Sure, you will,” Dan said back with a smile. “Get back to work. Evie’s drink’s gonna get watered down.”
“Oh shit!”
Evie giggled as Joey went back to her work. “It’s fine, Joey.” She patted Atlas, who finally got down.
Dan looked at Evie. “I think it’s great you’ve been designing some local work. You’re really good with it. The school loves the new design you did.”
Joey called with her back turned, “Yeah, you can thank that tall, cool glass of water Caleb Wright for putting that bug in her head. Too bad he’s a jackass. He’s a fine jackass with a fine ass, but he’s still a jackass.”
Dan looked at Joey and put his hands on his vest straps. “What? Why him?”
Joey slid Evie’s order over the counter and raised her brows. “Don’t you know? They had a brief stint together.”
Evie’s feet went absolutely fucking cold.
“Oh really?” Dan asked teasingly.
Evie looked around. Her heart pounded. Memories of him were drowned in her blood by the whiskey still. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb, Evie. The whole town knows.”
What?!
Evie thought back. Neither Caleb nor she had posted anything about it. She didn’t tell anyone at all. Did he tell people? She grabbed her stuff off the counter and asked, “What makes you think Caleb and I had a stint together?”
“Evie, his truck was seen at your house a few months ago like twice. Or three times. I don’t remember.”
“I recommend knowing before gossiping. He’s a contractor, and that was almost three months ago,” she explained. “He was fixing stuff at my house. Everyone in town knows where I live and how crappy it is. It’s no secret.”
Joey raised her brow and put her hand on her hip again. She wasn’t buying it. “Uh-huh. He was at your house at midnight on a Friday?”
Evie was infuriated. Who the hell would know that? It was like someone was watching her house!
Dan corrected with a sip of his coffee, “That would technically be Saturday morning.”
“Shut up, Dan!” Joey said with a grinning scrunch of her face and rapid little head shake. “I’m trying to get tea, here.”
What was Evie going to say? She looked left and right.
Joey said, “Dan, read her face. Is she lying?”
Evie bit into her bagel. Dan smiled and stoutly said, “I’m not gonna disclose that. That’s her personal information.”
“Oh, you suck, Dan,” Joey laughed.
But then Dan turned to Evie with a sharp eye.
“I know you support law enforcement a lot. One of our deputies, Jake, recently got back on the market. You’d be good for him.
I can hook something up if you’d like. I’d feel a lot better about you going out with Jake than Caleb.
I’ve been dispatched to that house one too many times. ”
She smiled and winked. “No thanks, Dan, I’m not the cheatin’ kind.
” Evie tried to say the expression to derail Joey from thinking she ever had a stint with Caleb.
She planned to play it off like she had been seeing someone else.
Even if he ditched her, she still wanted to respect his privacy.
It wasn’t about her. It was about him and his kids.
“That’s horseshit,” Joey said again. “You’re not involved with him anymore obviously. Why does it matter? Jake’s hot as hell.”
Evie grinned and shrugged. “Who said I was talking about being involved with Caleb? I got someone else.” She raised her brows.
Joey turned. “I hate my customers today.”
Everyone laughed, and Atlas barked.
“Alright, let’s get to the tables. I wanna see what you designed. I’m so excited for this shit.”
Evie stopped them for a moment to ask, “I don’t understand. What’s everyone’s problem with Caleb? My pawpaw said he was bad news but never told me why. What’s everyone’s beef with him?”
Joey put her hand on her hip and slammed her other hand on the counter. “Because he fucking threw a chair at his wife for one. Then he always screamed at her and then cheated on her. Not to mention he also got kicked out of the bar here in town for fighting with someone. Dude’s fucking gone.”
Everything Joey said could’ve made sense, except for the cheating part.
That part was a wild card for sure. Caleb was loyal to a marriage that was ending, because he never had sex with her and wouldn’t.
Evie looked to Dan, hoping he wouldn’t say the same thing.
Her breath felt uneasy within her chest, but she tried not to make her emotions apparent and refrained from shifting around on her feet.
“Dan? What do you got to say about him?” Evie asked.
Dan Hunt scratched his bald head. “I can’t really say legally. Be careful around him, ya hear?”
The remarks didn’t steer her the other way in one bit. It could have been a stupid thing to do, but Caleb had been nothing but nice to her until recently. And even then, he wasn’t mean to her either. He was just avoiding her.
But why? She suddenly thought, and with the thought crashing her brain, she tilted her head as if the thought itself slapped her in the back of the head. Maybe he’s having a PTSD issue. Or perhaps the divorce had taken a nasty turn.
Everyone parted ways in a friendly manner.
Evie followed Joey to the table, but as she sipped her delicious and creamy drink, she thought deeply.
It was a good thing she had made that last comment to deflect the fact that she was still––regrettably and possibly stupidly––holding out for Caleb.
She had to play it off like she had someone in her life that wasn’t him, and never was him.
How the hell did anyone know about Caleb being at her house? It couldn’t have been Joshua who saw and blabbered it off somehow, could it? Or Sarah? Evie’s house was too far from the road to really be able to tell that. Or so she thought.
Evie wasn’t about to waste any time. As they sat down, she put her stuff up on the table but immediately asked while removing her design folder, “Joey, I need you to be straight with me. Who told you Caleb and I had a stint together?”
Joey shrugged. “What does it matter? You guys did. I don’t know why you’re denying it. You guys would make a hot couple!” She frantically shuffled things aside. “That is, if he could fucking take his meds.”
Evie shook her head out in irritation. “Because we didn’t.
We never did. We’re friends on Facebook, and he came over when I was having a panic attack.
He recognized what it was and saved me a huge hospital bill.
That’s why he was over there once, and the second time it was to mow my lawn.
If someone was snooping, they should have noticed him mowing my lawn. ”
They stared at each other. Evie warned, “And you probably shouldn’t be telling people he’s on meds. That’s really private, you know?”
Joey gave a look of suspicious disbelief and slightly turned her head, ignoring the recent comment. “You have almost three hundred chick friends on your list. Why didn’t you reach out to them? Why did it have to be Caleb?”
Evie leaned her head back in frustration.
“Oh my God, Joey. He plays guitar too, and we were having a conversation about flatpicking technique when my anxiety attack happened!” She began fixing her work.
“Not to mention, with the way the women act around here, they would only make my anxiety worse.” She rested her hands on the table.
“I really need you to tell me who told you.”
“It doesn’t matter. Let’s look at these awesome designs!”