He glanced away. “I kind of felt like I owed you.”
“For what? I got you the dials for the Mustang, but that was in exchange for selling Evan the convertible carriage.”
“Not for that.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You were right about Jill.”
“Uh-oh.”
“I don’t know why I thought…” He sighed. “I saw her in town and we started talking, but I kept thinking about what you said. How she’d given Evan her number right in front of me and that had been a crappy thing to do. I blamed Evan for that whole thing—and it was mostly his fault—but I had to think about why she’d done that, you know?”
“Yeah, absolutely.”
“So I was sitting there chatting with her and trying to decide whether to keep talking to her or move on when she started showing me house listings on her phone.”
“Why?”
“For when we move in together.”
“Did she actually say that?”
“Yep.”
“Wow.”
He shook his head. “I know. It was… a little much. We were just talking, we weren’t even on a date together and she was ready to pick appliances.”
“Wait until she starts texting you and asking why you’ve been ignoring her even though you’ve never gone out.”
“Oh great.”
I laughed. “Maybe she won’t. Hopefully she’ll find a guy who loves her brand of crazy.”
“Yeah, I hope she does too. Anyway, after that I figured a goodwill gesture on my part wasn’t a bad idea. Good karma and all that. I remembered you asking me about John Haven, so there you go.”
“Thanks, Luke. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. I’ll see you around.” With a friendly chin tip, he walked away.
I tucked the paper back in the envelope. I couldn’t wait to show this to Grace. Of course, her wedding was in a week, so maybe I’d wait until they got back from their honeymoon. She had enough going on.
My iced coffee had gotten very melty, but I took a drink anyway, then skipped back to Evan.
“What was that about?” he asked, then put up his hand. “Never mind. You don’t have to tell me.”
“He just did a little research for me,” I said. “Tilikum history stuff.”
He hooked an arm around my waist and drew me in close. “That was nice of him.”
“Yeah, it really was. So could you possibly consider not hating him with all the burning fires of hell? Maybe tone it down to just mild antipathy?”
He laughed and kissed my forehead. “I think I can manage something like that.”
“That’s very big of you, Evan Bailey.”
“We still need to prank them, though.”
“What?”
The corner of his mouth hooked in a sly grin. “We haven’t answered back for the goats at the Caboose. I have an idea, but I’m going to need your help.”
I raised my eyebrows. “My first prank?”
“Gotta break the ice sometime. You’re basically a Bailey, right?”
Smiling, I nibbled my bottom lip and nodded. Basically a Bailey. I really liked the sound of that.
In fact, maybe someday, we’d take out that little basically and I’d be an actual Bailey.
45
Evan
“I’m so nervous,” Fiona whispered, pulling the bill of her hat lower on her forehead. She had a nondescript cardboard box on her lap, addressed to the Timberbeast Tavern owner. It looked pretty legit.
I reached over to rub her thigh. “Don’t be. You’ve got this. And you don’t have to whisper, there’s no one around.”
She glanced out the window. We were sitting in my Camaro, parked down the street from the Timberbeast Tavern. It was a Friday and the place was starting to fill up. Luke’s truck was parked outside and a few more cars pulled into the parking lot while we waited for my brothers to finish their part of tonight’s prank.
So far, so good.
Fiona looked at the kennel secured in the back seat. “Do you think Peek and Boo are okay?”
The two shifty little squirrels were deceptively quiet. She’d easily coaxed them into the kennel with what she’d determined was their favorite treat—a mix of peanut butter, nuts, birdseed, and cookies. Fortunately, she hadn’t trained them to open the kennel from the inside, although I’d feel better when they were no longer in my car, just in case they figured out the latch on their own.
You couldn’t trust those little shits.
“They’re fine,” I said. “You spoiled them so much they don’t even care that they’re in a car.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Good boys, Peek and Boo. You’re such good boys.”