“Are you brooding again?”
He did have one serious woman in his life, and she’d just walked in to do the night shift.
“Hey, baby girl, how’s your day been?”
Faith was his twin sister. They owned and ran The Howler together. Like him, she was unattached, but unlike him she had no problem with commitment, and yet if that was the case, why was she not hooked up? Strange how he hadn’t given this much thought until now.
Shame washed through him. Had he been too preoccupied to notice that maybe his sister had commitment issues too?
“Good, same stuff really, although I got my nails done.” She flashed long red talons at him.
“Nice. You doing okay?”
“What way okay?”
Noah cleared his throat. “I was just wondering if you were seeing anyone.” God, that sounded lame. “Anyone special.”
Faith put down the glass she’d picked up and looked at him.
Tall, elegant, with dark straight hair and soft brown eyes, she was the feminine version of him. She was beautiful. He knew this by the looks men threw her, and he’d dealt with a few of them when they’d tried to get too close from time to time.
“You don’t think I’d tell you if I was? Because I sure hope you’d tell me.”
“Right, gotcha. No one important in your life at the moment.”
“What’s this about, Noah?”
He shrugged. “Nothing, just catching up with what’s happening with you.”
She leaned in and checked out his eyes. “You smoke something?”
“I can’t show a little brotherly interest?” His collar suddenly felt tight.
“Not when you usually run a mile before getting personal.”
“I do not!”
“Sure you do.”
“Whatever. I’m sorry for being interested.” He tried to back out of the conversation by making her feel guilty. “The McBride party is in, and Newman and Hope. You want to take them their drinks and see what that loser and Hope want?”
She gave him another look, but much to his relief ran with the change in conversation. “It’s really not the thing to call patrons losers.” She picked up the tray he’d loaded. “I’m guessing the others stayed home as their wives are about to give birth?”
“Something like that.”
This was all he needed in his life anyway. His sister, The Howler, and his mom, who was a resident in the Lake Howling rest home. Why did he need a permanent woman in his life when he had everything he wanted now? Pushing aside the small niggle of doubt these words created, he began to set up the bar.
It was Friday and it would be busy. When Faith got back, he went to check everything was okay in the kitchen.
“How’s it going, Mikey?” The boy would be sixteen in a few months. Tall, thin, and growing into a man, he stood with his hands in the sink washing pots. There was even a line of fuzz on his top lip that looked like the hair on a newborn.
“Good, thanks, Noah. I’m working tonight ’cause I need to get my assignment done tomorrow, and Branna and Jake are going to help.”
“Nice to know they’re handy for something.”
“Ha.”
“All good, Nate?” he asked his chef.
