Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Trail
“So, Freckles,” Brooks said as he led me back toward the motorcycle, “where am I taking you for dinner?”
I shook my head in negation.
“I thought you wanted to have dinner with me?” he asked.
“I do,” I said. “But I’m taking you to dinner.”
“Nope. You gave up a home-cooked meal to spend time with me. Ergo, I’m taking you.”
I flashed him a smile. “All right. I won’t fight you. We don’t have much in the way of choices though. We can go to The Diner again. Or the Copper Mule for barbecue.”
“Let’s go to the Copper Mule.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“That won’t be weird for you? Eating in a bar?”
“No, why would it?” His brow furrowed for a moment and then it cleared. “Ah, because I don’t drink. It’s a choice, Freckles. Not an addiction.”
“Oh?”
“I don’t like the way it makes me feel. Loose and out of control. I’ve had enough of that in my life. So, it’s better if I just stay away from it.”
Brooks handed me the spare helmet, and then I climbed on the back of his bike.
We zipped through the mountains, and I loved the feel of being wrapped around him as he expertly guided the motorcycle. It was pure excitement and a bit terrifying, but I trusted Brooks to keep me safe.
The Copper Mule wasn’t yet packed because it was still early. Hadley’s high-school ex was behind the bar, cutting lemons and limes into wedges.
“Poet!” he exclaimed in surprise.
I smiled. “Hey, Wade.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Ordering barbecue,” I quipped.
He flashed a grin. “You know what I meant. Hadley said you were coming, but not until Labor Day weekend.”
“Change of plans,” I said evasively. I gestured to Brooks. “Do you know each other?”
“Yeah, we’ve met,” Wade said, his eyes sliding to the looming man who was standing close enough that I could feel his body heat at my back. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Brooks said.
“So what can I put in for you guys?” Wade asked.
“Rib and three-meat combo platter,” Brooks said. “All the sides.”
I looked at him. “Is this all for you, or are we sharing?”
Brooks looked down at me. “What’s mine is yours, Freckles.”
I swallowed and quickly turned back around to face Wade. “And the lightest beer you have on draft.”
“You got it.” Wade grabbed a pint glass. “Brooks? What can I get you to drink?”
“Water’s fine.”
After Wade got our drinks, we took them to a corner booth.
Brooks stretched his legs out and he was tall enough that I felt his foot against mine. I reached for my pint and took a sip of beer and had no desire to fill the silence with idle chitchat.
Neither did Brooks, apparently, because he remained quiet too. But he decided to study me with an intensity that had me warming all over.
My belly felt like marshmallow fluff.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked, my cheeks hot, my eyes bold.
“I think you know,” he said, his voice low.
He shifted his leg, so it pressed against my knee. And then his hand went underneath the table to grasp my leg.
I jumped.
The door to the bar opened and a dimpled woman Muddy’s age entered. She looked around the room for a second and when her eyes landed on me, she grinned and immediately started toward the table.
“You don’t call?” she said in way of greeting.
“It was a last-minute decision to come,” I said, sliding out of the booth and enveloping her in a hug. “How are you, Lucy?”
“Can’t complain.” She pulled back and grasped my arms to peer at me. “You doing okay?”
I frowned but nodded. “How did you know I was—”
“Muddy.”
“Ah, of course.”
Lucy let me go and then her attention turned to Brooks. “Hello.”
“Ma’am,” he replied as he made a move to get up.
She waved him down. “None of that ma’am stuff, Brooks. You guys having a bite to eat?”
“We just ordered the ribs and meat combo,” I explained.
“Ah, so it won’t be out for a few minutes,” Lucy said.
“Yep. You want to join us for a drink?”
She shook her head. “I want to show you something. Brooks, you mind if I steal her for a second?”
“Go for it,” he said.
Lucy turned and headed to the door, waving to Wade as she went.
“Well, come on,” she called to me.
I looked at Brooks and raised my brows.
“Don’t look at me, I have no idea what’s going on,” he said.
I took a drink of my beer before setting it down on the table and then scrambling after Lucy.
The temperature had dropped, and the heat of the day was gone. It was the end of summer, and I was looking forward to the crisp air of autumn and the changing of the leaves.
“Muddy said you’re staying at The Regal Beagle,” she said as she pulled out a set of keys from her jacket pocket.
“Yeah, for the time being,” I said. “What else did you she tell you?”
“Oh, a few things,” she averred. “You and Brooks look cute together.”
“I see you guys talked about that, too,” I drawled.
She shot me a grin but said nothing.
I thought she was going to take me to General Merc, the store she owned, but she surprised me when she ducked down a side alley to the back street. We stopped at the building that was next to Sweet Teeth.
She stuck the key into the lock and turned the knob. She opened the heavy wooden door and hit a light switch, and it illuminated a narrow, freshly painted white hallway. I followed her up the scarred stairs to the landing. Lucy unlocked another door and pushed it open. She flipped on the light.
It was a large studio apartment, painted the same color as the hallway. It had a small kitchen and a queen-sized bed pushed against an interior wall. It was currently made up with blue sheets and two pillows.
“So, you may not know this, but I actually own this building.”
I looked at her. “You do?”
She nodded. “The store downstairs has been vacant for months. It shares a wall with Sweet Teeth, and I thought for sure Gracie was going to rent it so they could knock out the wall and expand the bakery, but they decided against it.”
I walked to the kitchen and opened a cabinet. There was a set of mismatched dishes that looked vaguely familiar. I pulled out a plate and stared at it for a moment before glancing at a smirking Lucy.
“These are the plates Hadley used at her wedding,” I stated.
“Yes.”
Still carrying a plate, I went to the bed so I could examine the headboard. “This is Hadley’s childhood bed. You and Muddy did this earlier today, didn’t you?”
Nodding, she laughed. “Check out the bathroom.”
Though small, it had enough room for a clawfoot tub and a medicine cabinet mirror. There was a gray towel hanging on the hook behind the door.
I went back into the main room and peered at Lucy.
“So anyway, it’s yours if you want it. To stay here, I mean. For as long as you’re here,” she said.
She came to me, took the plate from my hands, and dropped the keys into my palm.
“I don’t know what to say,” I murmured.
“Say you’ll stay.”
“What about the store?”
“What about it?”
“What if someone wants to rent it? They’ll want the apartment, won’t they?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” She patted my cheek. “You better get back to the bar. Food’s probably ready.”
“How much is it?”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said.
“I have to worry about it,” I protested. “I won’t stay here for free.”
“It’s been empty for months,” she said, heading for the door. “I don’t like it empty. Things have a way of breaking and leaking. It’s better if it’s occupied. You’d be doing me a favor by staying here.”
My eyes narrowed, but I didn’t say anything. Instead, I followed her out of the apartment. I turned off the light and locked the door.
She gestured to the other side of the landing. “That stairwell leads down into the store. So you can get to the apartment either directly through the store or the back door and stairs.”
I followed her down the front stairs and out into the vacant area.
“What used to be here?” I asked.
“Several things over the years. My late husband bought me the building as an anniversary gift.” She smiled thoughtfully. “He wasn’t very romantic. But he was practical. And he wanted to make sure I was taken care of. I always appreciated that about him.”
“Romance doesn’t pay the bills, does it?”
“No, it definitely doesn’t,” she agreed. She gestured with her chin in the direction of the bar. “Speaking of romance . . . you better get back to your date.”