Leslie—who by now was nearly finished with her second beer and realized she wasn’t going to be driving home tonight—smiled. “I really like it, and I’m not usually a fan of IPAs,” she told him. “Want to joinus?”
“Naw, that’s all right. I’m meeting a friend. Just wanted to say hi and let you know the tea was a big hit at the game last night, Orbra. You might be giving me a run for my money when it comes to supplying locally brewedlibation.”
Everyone laughed, and he went on. “Did you all see the segment on Channel Four last night? With Marcus Levin? He was here for the game, and interviewed some of the players—and also some of the football alum who were in for Homecoming. Including Bill Gary, Declan Zyler—and yourstruly.”
“I missed it,” Cherry said. “But I bet it’sonline.”
“Yes—I’m going to ask him when he gets here. We’re supposed to be meeting at eight. He’s going to sample some of my beer, and I’m hoping for an endorsement.” He glanced at the wall clock, which showed seven fifty-five. “He’s coming from dinner with the Underwhites, and you know Aaron. He must be talking his earoff.”
Leslie paused with her burger in hand, halfway to her mouth. “I just saw Regina Underwhite and she said they’d had dinner with Marcus Levin last night. After thegame.”
Baxter frowned. “Huh. Well, maybe Trib got his info mixed up—that’s what he told me. Or maybe he’s being wined and dined two nights in a row. Levin might be an arrogant ass, but he’s well known in Chicago as well as Grand Rapids. A good word from him could send a lot of tourists our way. And a lot of beer distributors.” Hegrinned.
“Hmm. Maybe I ought to try and hook up with Marcus Levin, then,” Orbra said, drawing another round oflaughter.
“Have a seat till he comes in, anyway,” Cherry said. “Leslie was just telling us about her ghost. And she’s probably not going to eat all thosefries.”
“Oh yes I will,” Leslie retorted, but smiled at Baxter anyway. “But I’ll share, since you did such a great article about ShenstoneHouse.”
He laughed. “That sounds like a great deal to me.” He lifted his beer and they clinked bottles…then he dugin.
* * *
Declan took a swig of beer—Baxter’slatest testbrew.
The guy was trying for something with cherries, since Traverse City, the Cherry Capital of the World, was only a couple hours north. Dec wasn’t sold on it—a good beer didn’t need frou-frou stuff like cherries or maple syrup (another of Baxter’s great ideas that, fortunately, didn’t makeit).
It was Sunday evening—soon to be too late for him to be out with it being a school night and having to get up at six a.m., but when a friend needed you to test out a new brew, youwent.
“You met up with Marcus Levin again lastnight?”
“Yep. He wanted to try some of my stuff. I’m hoping if he likes it enough, I’ll get an endorsement out of him.” Baxter took a sip of beer, swished it around in his mouth, closed his eyes, then swallowed. And sighed as if a woman was going down onhim.
Declan shook his head, smiling. It was a blessing when a man loved his work that much. Fortunately, he couldrelate.
When Baxter opened his eyes, he said, “Leslie Nakano was there last night too—at the Roost. I sat down with her and Cherry and Orbra. Yeah, I was thinking I might see if Leslie wanted to have dinner some time or at least meet for a drink—she said she liked my IPA—but she was there with someone. So I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t step inthat.”
Declan almost choked on his beer. Leslie was there with a guy? He blinked to make sure he’d heard that right. Well, damn. That pretty much sucked. He swallowed a large mouthful too fast and too hard, and barely managed to keep from choking onit.
“What, you don’t like it?” Baxter said, looking at him askance. “I thought it turned out prettygood.”
“I don’t think it needs the cherry flavor,” Dec replied. His voice was rough from the beer. “Unless you’re trying to attract more women to drink it, thenmaybe.”
Declan frowned, still thinking about Leslie. Well, what the hell. That was not cool. Hadn’t she been the one to grab him when they got inside her kitchen Fridaynight?
“Did you have a good time last night? Weren’t you out with Emily Delton?” Baxter pulled him out of his unpleasantthoughts.
“I wasn’toutwith her, per se…I was just sitting next to her. A bunch of us parents went out to eat after the kids left for thedance.”
“Well, when I walked by and saw you two in the front window, you looked pretty cozy to me.” Baxter raised his glass in a toast. “Nice going. She’s been running around as the most eligible single woman in town for about two years now, refusing to date anyone here. You move back, and two months later,bam! She’shooked.”
“We’re not going out,” Declan told him firmly. “Our daughters are friends. So we do some carpooling andstuff.”
“Well, she was practically in your lap the way I saw it, dude. Just saying. If youaren’tseeing her, you sure couldbe.”
Declan didn’t want to hear any more. He was still mulling over the fact that Leslie had been out with a guy last night. Who the hell was it? That high-powered lawyer, Yarborough? Come in a few days early for whatever Wednesday-with-the-heart was? He realized he was gripping the beer glass tightly enough that his fingers wereaching.
“So when do you think Levin will get back to you?” he said to change the subjectback.
