August in Hollow Brookis hotter than the surface of the sun, and that’s on a good day. On a day like today, when the soles of your shoes threaten to stick to the sidewalk like chewing gum, it’s more like the armpit of that solar menace in thesky.
I open the doors to Hallowed Grounds Coffee Shop, and both a blast of Arctic air and the scent of fresh roasted beans hit me. I’m in heaven. I can’t get inside fast enough. I used to frequent Hallowed Grounds back in my Briggs days. Heck, Lex and I ended up there more than a few times while we were dating. She would bring her laptop and work on her papers, and I’d vie for her attention mercilessly until her lips landed on mine right where they belonged. Lex never made me beg for long. How I miss those carefree days, worshiping at the altar of my favorite goddess. My mouth made a habit of tracing out her curves. Mapping out the landscape of her every inch with my tongue was my favorite pastime. I loved her more than I’ve loved anything or anyone. Lex was more than just a girlfriend. She was my home. She loved me too once. And we all know how thatended.
I grab a cup of iced coffee just as Levi and Brody strut in and do the same. We find a table near the back and slump into our seats. At least twice a month we try to have an officialunofficialmeeting regarding our investment. We used to meet at the Black Bear, the bar across the street from the university, but since we’ve befriended the guys that own the place, it just doesn’t feel right sharing thoughts of our struggling endeavor in their robust, high economy establishment. Not that The Pelican is still struggling any longer. Low put the kibosh on that, and it happens to be one of the chief reasons I really appreciate her. Ironically, the three of us have never talked shop at The Pelican in the event a stray ear picked up on one of our morbid conversations. And they were all morbid until Low stepped in and resuscitated life back into the menu. Things have been pretty solidsince.
“How they hanging?” Levi ticks his head over at me. I know Low’s been pumping him for information regarding Lex and me. He told me so himself. And disappointingly enough, there’s nothing toreport.
Brody gives a dry laugh. “He doesn’t have any. Lex has his balls dangling from her rearview mirror like a cheap carnivalprize.”
“Crap.” I pluck the laptop out of Brody’s hands and open it up to a clusterfuck of numbers. I can’t help but laugh. I talked to the boys at the accounting firm, and they’re having a good ol’ time giving poor Brody here the runaround. “Looks like shit. You sure you’re a numbers guy?” I slide it back to him with a grin on myface.
Brody looks as if he’s about to take that laptop and shove it down my throat. “What are you smiling about? This financial knot is going to take me weeks to undo. HopeDaddydoesn’t fire you from the firm. Your services are needed at the bar, myfriend.”
“No way.” Levi shakes his head at me. “You get back to the courtroom where your ass belongs. I’ll just tell Low that I need to spend more time at thebar.”
“Dude.” I laugh at the thought. “Your wedding is weeks away. There’s no way I’m having it. Do what you need to do and don’t worry. I’m covering your honeymoon, too. Take a couple of weeks. Take a couple of months. I gifted my workload to Chip and Shep. They love it. Believe it or not, people enjoy being busy. Everyone’shappy.”
Levi and Brody exchange a briefglance.
“What?” I take a long swig of my drink—and swear to God, on a hot day, iced coffee tastes just as good as an ice-coldbeer.
Levi folds his hands onto the table. That shit-eating grin he gets when he thinks he’s got something over you takes up precious real estate on his face. “You seem happy. Especially now that Lexy is waiting tables for us.Coincidence?”
“Maybe I hate law. You ever think of that? I like thebar.”
Both Levi and Brody light up with alaugh.
Brody wipes a tear from his eye as if it were too much to handle. “Dude—we know you’re loving it. We know you’re loving her in your airspace. But seriously, Lex is one brutal lady. You sure you want to ride that crazy trainagain?”
“I’m already onboard. Never left.” I didn’t even need a second to think about it because I’ve spent the last six years thinking of Lex. If it came right down to it, I’d swear it was one long continuous stream of consciousness. I’ve thought of her so much she’s become a part of me, encoded in my DNA, ingrained on a cellularlevel.
“Dude”—Levi leans in hard—“the chick isbatshit.”
“Say it again and I’ll bash your head through the window.” I give a sly smile because we both know it’s true. “Same goes for you.” I kick Brody’s foot from under the table. “She’s”—my voice pitches with emotion—“she’s the love of my life.” I press out a peaceable smile at the two of them, hoping they’ll go easy on my sudden urge to share my affection forLex.
“Okay.” Levi nods just once as if I put out a war plan and he were grimly going along with it because there were no otheralternatives.
“It’s fine by me.” Brody practically gouges his eye out with his palm and the action alone makes him look all of twelve. Brody is the same age as the rest of us, but for some reason I’ve always thought of him as being much younger. I know it’s not fair to say, but I pegged him for having a lack of direction in his life up until we embarked on The Pelican endeavor. In a way, I guess I’ve always envied him in that respect. I hauled ass getting my law degree, passing the bar—making partner at my father’s firm may sound like nepotism, but my father doesn’t adhere to archaic standards of climbing the corporate ladder. I had to prove myself. And it was tough asshit.
“Tell me something”—Brody cocks his head to the side, those narrowed eyes let me know he’s already come to a conclusion about whatever it is he’s about to inquire—“what attracted you to Lex—I mean, other than the obvious. Sure, she’s hot. She’s smoking. Anyone with eyes can see that, but once she opens thatmouth—”
Levi cuts him off, “Once she looks atyou—”
“Glares at you,” Brody adds. “You realize she’s got a chip on her shoulder the size of the Rock ofGibraltar.”
“The moon,” Levi counters. “She’s about as stable as plutonium. The girl is pissed at life. How’d you manage to see past that? She must have opened up to you, but was she ever—you know,nice?”
My gaze settles somewhere between the two of them, straight through the wall, straight through Hollow Brook, into the nebulous past where I try to decipher this formyself.
“Yes,” I say, lacking the confidence something of this magnitude requires. “She was great. It’s true we had our ups and downs, and unfortunately toward the end it was all downhill—but that sweet spot we shared…” I drift right back into the memories we built, her at my place, in my bed. Those nights where we attacked one another under the sheets like charging lions. Lex has always been a force to be reckoned with in and out of the bedroom. “She’s nice. You just need to crack thearmor.”
Levi’s brows flex and he looks momentarily pained for me. “Low says she’s pretty steady across the board with that caustic personality, but she likes her and I’m hoping the vice versa is true. She’s in our wedding.” He leans over and socks me on the arm just enough to make it hurt. “And she’s paired up withyou.”
“Perfect. By then I’m hoping she’ll be exactly that—paired up withme.”
Both Levi and Brody groan at the idea as if the thought wrenched theirballs.
Brody shakes his head with that despondent look on his face. “You really like a challenge, don’tyou?”
