Jace glanced around, clearly trying to take it all in. I told him a little about where things were located, possible ways that we could make our way around town, and then we reached the restaurant, and the host ushered us to atable.
“This is kind of nice,” I said as I looked around the familiarrestaurant.
“What’sthat?”
“When we met, I was the one out of my element in your hometown, in your fire station, which God knows that was the first time I’d ever been in one of those. But now the tables haveturned.”
“I’ve never minded being out of my element.” Jace had this determined expression on his face, like he knew exactly what he wanted, and it reminded me of his comment in the hotellobby.
“Yeah, doesn’t seem like much of an issue for you. Which is good, because all this looks like it’s going to be slightly outside your norm. How was the station about you heading out, by theway?”
“The guys are all happy for me. They even had a celebration for me leaving for a bit. It was over-the-top, considering I’ll be back, but it was nice that they thought of me. And they are all really cool knowing the money will be going to FeverFight.”
“I bet. So you already took care of allthat?”
“I didn’t make any promises or anything, but once everything’s signed, I have my uncle set up to help me get the ball rolling. He’s a lawyer, and he’s gonna help me orchestrate getting it all taken care of. I do my own taxes and stuff, but this seemed a lot more than that. I mean, when you said six figures, I was thinking more in the ballpark of a hundred grand, not sixhundred.”
“You underestimated how popular you are. Celebrity goes a long way in this business, Jace. Hell, it’severything.”
The way his forehead scrunched up, it was apparent he was curious about thatremark.
“Enough shoptalk, though,” I said. “We can get to that later. How are Nance and Keegan doing? Keegan still giving you hell about being Internetfamous?”
He caught me up on the family, and then we ordered drinks and food. When they arrived, he eyed the platter he’d ordered and then my chicken salad. “You think I need to be on a diet or something for theseshoots?”
“Are you eating the same as you normally eat, or have the past few meals I’ve seen you consume been larger thannormal?”
He pondered that for a moment, then shrugged. “I feel like I’m eating a little less,actually.”
“Then I wouldn’t stress about it,” I said, pouring my lite vinaigrette dressing over my salad, something Jace obviouslynoticed.
“You hit the gym…what? Three or four times a week?” Iasked.
“Gym?” His brows pulledtogether.
My jaw dropped when Jace threw his head back and enjoyed a laugh. “Oh, come on. I’m fucking with you. Of course I hit the gym. We have a fitness center at the station that I go to during breaks, and between being on the job and going to the gym is how I hang with my buddies. I’d love to say that I could get my body looking like this without working out at all, butno.”
As soon as he finished saying that, he started shoveling spoonfuls of loaded mashed potatoes into his mouth. I mixed my dressing into my chicken salad, but couldn’t help looking over at hispotatoes.
“You want some?” he asked. “Come on. You can have some of my delicious loaded mashed potatoes. Just a spoonful won’t killyou.”
“No, I shouldn’t. I’m very good at sticking to mydiet.”
He shrugged. “Your loss.” Then he took a bite. “It’s a shame to have so many delicious things in the world if you can’t enjoy them. All I’msaying.”
“I confine my tastetesting to other areas of my life,” Iquipped.
“I bet youdo.”
* * *
“That was awesome!”Jace exclaimed as we headed into my hotelroom.
We’d chatted some more over lunch—Jace about his buddies and family as though I knew each and every one of them intimately—before we hit the sights: Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and the National HistoryMuseum.
Even on our return to the hotel, Jace couldn’t stop talking about the information we learned on the audio tours and posted plaques at our variousdestinations.
“You learn about these things in history class, but it’s so different when you’re over here. Like that was crazy at the Westminster Abbey, finding out Mary and Elizabeth are stacked right on top of each other. I get that they were sisters, but they hated each other’s religious beliefs, and then that comment about ‘sisters sleeping in hope of the Resurrection.’ That’s kind of messedup.”
