Dideveryonein this town think he was gay? Because it wasn’t Evy’s dreadlocks Stuart was talking about, for sure.
Mark grunted, tossed back the whiskey as soon as Stuart put it in front of him, and then grabbed the bowl of pretzels closest to him. He slid off the stool and carried the bowl and his beer to the booth farthest from the card table.
He didn’t have to wait for long before Evy walked in. She looked around, waved at him, and went to get herself a drink. A few moments later, she sat across from him and smiled.
“Hi. Was I late?”
“No, I was a bit early, actually. I walked and reserved more time because of the snow, but the roads were clear enough,” Mark explained.
He felt nervousness rising from the inside, and she could tell. “Let’s just have a few drinks and relax. Talk if it comes naturally. If not, then there are other nights, right?” She smiled and lifted her wine glass in a toast.
Chuckling, Mark raised his bottle. “Okay. Sounds good.”
Her phone pinged with a message, and she glanced at where she’d put it on the table. “Sorry, my girlfriend promised to text tonight.”
Something about that made Mark feel wistful. “It’s okay, just reply if you want to, I don’t mind.” He smiled weakly. Part of him wanted to have someone to text with, and another part whispered a very specific name, which he tried to ignore.
Evy took a picture of her wine glass, then wrote something before sending the text. She put the phone on the table and concentrated on Mark again. “She keeps telling me I should go out more.”
“Is it hard to be apart like that?” he asked, not quite sure where the question came from. He was about to apologize for his directness—after all it didn’t have anything to do with him and they weren’t close enough for such questions—but Evy shrugged.
“Yes and no. Would I want her here? Of course, I love her. But I also know that she has a skill set that helps a lot of people around the world after natural disasters.”
Mark frowned. “She’s a… carpenter?”
Evy laughed. “Yes, but she also specializes in things like solar power, water purification, making sure people have toilets, that sort of stuff. She goes to places and figures out what’s needed, and works with her contacts in different organizations and charities to make things happen a bit faster. Sometimes smaller communities are overlooked. Those are the ones she helps.”
Mark felt a bit blown away. “Wow….”
“Yeah,” she said quietly, fiddling with the stem of her glass. “So you see, I can handle seeing her less than I’d like.”
He nodded. “I can understand that. What she does is admirable.”
Stuart passed their booth then and placed a bottle of beer in front of Mark. “On the house. It’s an apology, take it,” he said, before walking away toward the card table.
“What was that about?” Evy glanced after Stuart. “What did he do?”
The question was valid. Stuart was the kind of man who never offended anyone and always had a smile for his clients.
“He made the same assumption about me most of the town seems to have made when I told him I was here to have drinks with you.”
Evy made a small “huh” sound. “Well then he’s right to apologize.” When Mark didn’t comment further, she sighed, reached a hand to touch his briefly. “Mark, it’s nobody else’s business. Besides, I don’t think it’s that many people. Most humans prefer to not look too closely at things, they have their own lives to think about.”
He appreciated the touch, it grounded him in a weird way. “It’s just… I….” He grunted in frustration and took a sip from his bottle.
“Can I make a guess?” Evy asked almost gently. “It has something to do about the calls you get on Wednesdays.”
At least he’d swallowed his beer, otherwise he might’ve inhaled it. “W-what?”
“You do realize we tend to take our lunches around the same time a lot? And that a lot of times, I can see you from the inside of the diner, sitting in your car?”
The world swam around him all of a sudden. Sheknew? He’d been that obvious? He hadn’t thought about anyone watching, but of course he should’ve known someone would. Shit.Shit.
“Mark, breathe, okay.” She touched his hand again, this time gripping it hard, until he listened to her and started to breathe consciously. She instructed him to follow a rhythm, and eventually he heard the words, too. That many seconds in, hold for this many, then exhale again.
“Okay, I’m fine,” he said finally, when he felt that it was the truth. “You weren’t wrong,” he added, chuckling a little. Only then did he realized there were tears, he’d been crying too, it seemed. Amazing.
Evy snorted. “You don’t say?” Then she sighed. “I’ve seen you enough times to know that whatever happens in those calls, they’re extremely traumatic to you. So I’m guessing parent?”
