I’d expected to find Ev standing in the corner alone, hiding out or something, but he wasn’t. Instead, he stood behind the table, chatting animatedly with Ash Martin, who was probably a foot taller than Ev and a whole lot broader. Ash made some remark that got Ev laughing, his face tipping up as he smiled, and I swear to God, he was the hottest guy in the entire bar at that moment, the hottest guy in the whole damn town. The sight of him made me stop short and take a deep breath, acutely conscious that my palms were fucking sweating. I was about twenty-five years past middle school, but it didn’t seem tomatter.
There was no such thing as fate, just a series of choices and outcomes, but looking at Ev now felt like standing on the edge of a precipice and I couldn't remember how I'd gotten myself into such a precariousposition.
Ash excused himself with a smile and moved to the table where his brother was sitting, but Ev stood where he was, half-hidden by the cluster of football-shaped balloons that served as a centerpiece, munching on a plate of snacks and watching the table in the center of the bar, where Henry was. I could barely restrain my smile as I walked around the table and sidled up next tohim.
He was so busy spying, he didn’t notice mypresence.
“What are we doing?” I whispered in hisear.
He jumped and the celery stick in his hand went flying, landing in the center of the table with aplop.
“Silas!” he scolded. “Really?”
I bit the inside of my lip to keep from laughing at his outrage. “Sorry!” I lied. “I didn’t want to disturb yourconcentration.”
“Right,” he snorted. He picked up the celery stick and bit into it fiercely. “And to answer your question, we are snacking. I recommend the jalapeñopoppers.”
I grabbed one off his plate and bit into it. “Mmm. Agreed. And what are we looking at while we’resnacking?”
Ev rolled his eyes, but transferred his plate of food to his other hand so I could reach itbetter.
“We’re watching the mating ritual of the mature heterosexual,” he said quietly. “It’sfascinating.”
I choked on my popper. “Thewhat?”
He tipped his chin at the tables in the center of the bar and leaned slightly closer to me. “Behold the male preening before thefemale.”
I glanced over and saw his grandfather sitting beside Diane Perkins, smoothing his white hair back with his hand. I chuckled. “Are youkidding?”
“It should be noted,” Ev continued, “that last night, the female brought the male sustenance in the form of some insanely good brownies she’dbaked herself from scratch,and a three-cheese lasagna. But when asked to stay and partake of the meal, she said she wasjust being neighborlyand didn’t want tointrudesince she wasn’tfamily.”
I nodded. “Uh. Right,okay.”
Ev turned his head to look at me. “Brownies, Si. Browniesandlasagna. And this is at least the fourth time she cooked for him thisweek.”
“Well, yeah, but sheisa cook by trade, Ev,” I told him. “The diner is only a couple of doors down from the hardware store. And O’Learians tend to look out for each other. She was helping him for a couple weeks before you got here.” It sounded reasonable enough tome.
Ev somehow managed to make his smile both pitying and amused all at once. “Do you not see the way she’s leaning forward, just the way he is? She’s mimicking hisposture.”
“She’s drinking water and eating snacks.” I grabbed another popper off the plate. “I mean, maybe she doesn’t want to spill them all overherself.”
Ev laughed and shook his head. “Okay, fine. What aboutthem?”
He pointed at the next table, where Marci the dispatcher was sitting with my boss Mitch Turner and Lisa “The Dragon” Dorian, the librarian. Ms. Dorian was talking excitedly about something, and Mitch and Marci were shooting each other amused glances that Ms. Dorian didn’t seem tocatch.
“Yeah,” I said. “What aboutthem?”
“Are you being serious? Don’t you see the way the blonde is brushing the hair back from her face and crossing her legs in his direction. That’s aclassicsign she’s into him.” He crunched a chip from his plate. “Don’t they teach you people anything at policeman-school?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, they teach us not to leap to conclusions based on appearances.” I jabbed him lightly with my elbow. “That’s my boss, Mitch. And the woman he’s chatting with isMarci.”
“The one who called you about the shopliftingyesterday?”
“The same,” I confirmed. “They’re colleagues. Friends. That’s all.” I looked back at Mitch who was laughing hard at something Marci said and completely ignoring Ms. Dorian. I shook my head. “If you knew these people,” I said. “You’d know that Ms. Dorian is being ridiculous, so of course they’re laughing together. No more, noless.”
“Huh.” Ev tilted his head and smiled at me. “You’re blind,” he declared. “I can’t decide if it’s funny-strange or funny-hilarious. Can’t you recognize attraction when you seeit?”
“I hope so.” I smiled just a little bitsharply.
