A tempered laugh escaped her, but again, I sensed something was off. My gut was telling me she didn’t find any of thisfunny.
“Sometimes…” she began, before abruptly stoppingherself.
I waited for the rest of her sentence but it never came. “Sometimes what? Talk tome,Case.”
“Sometimes I wish we could be like other couples and take a walk through the park or sit down for a cup of coffee, is all… and not with Vadim tagging along. He’s like the Terminator, Jake. He scarespeople.”
“That’s the point of abodyguard.”
“Well, I don’t like it. And I don’t like him being a third wheel. Having a homicidal cyborg along everywhere we go kills the romantic vibe. Why can’t it be like our honeymoon all the time? No one bothered us at theresort.”
“Because everyone paid handsomelynotto. When you’re rich, you have to pretend you don’t care about famous people. It’s in the handbook. Lookitup.”
Casey glanced over at me and her face softened, the stress lines gone. She responded coyly. “Coffee shop patrons are a sophisticated bunch. My bet is they won’t careeither.”
“That’s highly doubtful, but I’ll tell you what, if you don’t mind standing around for an hour while I sign autographs and take pictures, then why thehellnot?”
“Really?” sheperkedup.
No. The last thing I wanted to do was fake happiness for a bunch of strangers. But if it made Casey happy, and proved my point in the process, then I supposed it was a win-win. “Sure. Okay. Let’s getcoffee.”
Casey sat back in her seat, her arms crossed in front of her, a smug smile suddenly appearing on her face. Wait a minute! Had I just beenconned?
“Casey?” I asked, still not believing that my beloved was soshrewd.
“Yes?” she answered in the sweetest, most affectingvoice.
“You just played me like a deck of cards,didn’tyou?”
“Yes, sweetie, Isuredid.”
Iparkedthe Jeep out in front of a Starbucks and turned to my wife. Her eyes sparkled in amusement. I shook my head. If she wanted to play – well, then,gameon.
I jumped out and waited for her on the curb. Instead of trying to cover up with a cap or sunglasses, I decided to go au natural. I typically hated being gaped and gawked at, but today I welcomed it. Let’s just see how sophisticated her coffee crusaders were. There was no doubt in my mind that in a matter of seconds, my line would be longer than the one for a cup of joe. That wouldteachher.
Offering up my hand, Casey playfully slapped hers into mine and began to swing it like we were two six-year-old girls. Oh, she was good. She thought she could shame me into a second-place finish. But that’s not how this little coffee break was going to play out. I would not allow her to get the upper hand in this game of ours… at least not without afight.
The door opened with a swoosh of air, carrying the backdraft of the flavorful scent of coffee out onto the sidewalk, beckoning others to the holy land. I kept my head held high, making eye contact with other patrons as we took our place in line. Jaws began to drop all over the coffee shop. It was only a matter oftimenow.
Throwing my arm over Casey’s shoulder, I dipped into her neck, giving it a little nibble for the fun of it. Teaching her a lesson didn’t have to be boring. If done properly, learning could be beneficial for all. Casey reveled in the show I was putting on for herbenefit.
Whispering in my ear, she said, “You’re absolutely delectable right now,aren’tyou?”
I shook my head at her in disappointment. She wasn’t supposed to be liking this. And where the hell were my selfie takers? No one was bothering us. This was ridiculous. Who was I going to have to screw in order to get a little fan girlgushing?
When we arrived at the cashier after several minutes, the middle-aged woman behind the counter stared at me, her face flushed and her eyes all aglow. Here we go. She was about to blow. Finally.Jesus.
“What can I get for you two?” she asked, looking between Casey and me. “And, just so you know, your drinks were alreadypaidfor.”
“What? No, that’s not necessary,” I replied, looking around at all the patrons waiting on their drinks. Every single person in the place was staring in our direction. “Who paidforus?”
“Well, you had multiple offers, but the gentleman over there was first in line when you came in, so he got thehonors.”
The honors? It’s not that people didn’t offer to buy me stuff all the time, but this was different. This wasn’t the typical celebrity stuff. No, there was definitely something more takingplacehere
“What you two did for that poor man, wow, so brave,” the cashier said, nearly misting up as she spoke. “There just aren’t enough good people like you in theworld.”
Casey and I blinked back our surprise. Tony and his exaggerated rescue video, the one he’d spliced together to feature only the good parts, was certainly making the rounds on the Internet. My bar buddy had been nowhere near drowning when we’d come upon him in the water that day. The life vest clinging to his bulky curves was holding up nicely in the waves and would have kept him afloat long enough for someone else to find him, yet Tony had modified the truth to make us look likeheroes.
