Semi-Psychic Life (Glimmer Lake #2) - Elizabeth Hunter Page 0,39
wanted to get home before the boys did, start a fire, and eat her lunch.
She didn’t want to think about Josh. Or Savannah Anderson. Or blood on the snow.
She unwrapped her sandwich while she was waiting for the truck to heat up.
Pastrami and provolone. Damn, Ramon was good.
Her dark mood bled over from her afternoon into her evening. The boys came home and were quieter than usual. Jackson didn’t ask to go to the library. Andy put his head in a book as soon as his homework was finished. They didn’t even fight about doing the laundry or the dishes.
At nine o’clock, both boys were in their room and ready for bed.
Val stuck her head in the doorway and caught Jackson’s eye. “Hey.”
He looked up from his phone. “Hey.”
“I’m going out for a drink okay? I won’t be long.”
“Is it snowing?”
“Not supposed to come down until midnight. I won’t be that late.”
“Are you meeting Monica and Robin?”
“I’ll text them.” Which was not a yes. She would text them, but she didn’t want to catch a drink with them. “I’ll have my phone on me if you need anything.”
“Okay, no problem.” Jackson’s shaggy hair fell in his eyes, and Val fought back the sharp urge to brush it away and kiss his forehead like she had when he was little.
“I’ll see you later.” Val closed the door, grabbed her keys, and slipped out of the house, taking long sharp breaths on the front porch while she surveyed the night sky. The snow was coming soon. She could smell it. She could feel the stillness in the air. By morning, there would be an extra foot of the stuff on the ground.
Walk or drive?
She didn’t want to drive, but what was in walking distance? Oh yes. Chaco’s. She ducked back inside and wrapped an extra scarf around her neck before she grabbed her wallet and walked out the door again.
Chaco’s was a local bar. It wasn’t fancy, but it did attract the tourists. Hopefully none of them would be drinking on a weeknight in the middle of winter. Val shuffled down the sidewalk and toward the main drag with her hands stuffed in her pockets and her eyes on the road. She didn’t worry about bears or mountain lions, but a tourist who didn’t know how to navigate icy roads? Now that was a deadly predator.
Ten minutes after she left her house, she was sliding onto a barstool at Chaco’s with her phone in hand. She waved at Sergio behind the bar, and he gave her a chin nod to tell her he’d be right with her.
Before he walked over, Val sent a text to Robin and Val. At Chaco’s. Do not need rescuing. What are u up to?
Robin was the first to text back. Movie with Mark.
???
Social Network.
Good one.
“What’ll you have, Val?” Sergio took a rag and wiped off the bar in front of her. “Anyone joining you?”
“Nope. And just a beer.”
“805?”
“Sounds good.”
Robin texted back, You know, the movie’s not over but I think Facebook is evil.
Ur just figuring this out?
Monica joined in just as Sergio brought her beer. I’m cleaning out the guest room.
You wild woman.
Needed to be done.
Val typed, This is why her house always looks better than ours do, R.
You’re not wrong.
Val reached for the bowl of nuts on the bar, only to be met with the abrupt image of a tourist wiping his nose and then reaching for them.
Ew. No.
She waved the dish at Sergio. “Can I get a fresh bowl?”
He walked over and leaned against the bar. “You think my nuts are dirty?”
This was Chaco’s. She wasn’t getting out of here without a few nut jokes. “Are you telling me that tourists have been in and out of here all day and they haven’t put their fingers all over your nuts?”
The corner of Sergio’s mustache twitched. “I keep my nuts fresh, tourists or no tourists.”
Val tapped on the bowl, valiantly keeping a straight face. “Fresh nuts, please.”
“You’re lucky I like you.” He swiped the small silver bowl from her hand. “Or I’d be offended by you insulting my nuts.”
Val felt him before she heard him. Somehow she’d known he would show up that night.
“If the woman wants fresh nuts, give her fresh nuts.” Sully sat on the barstool next to her. “And don’t complain. It’s not like anyone else in here is asking for your nuts.”
Sergio smirked and walked across the bar to refill the tray.