“I’ve only had two.”
“Still, what would your momma say?”
“She knows I know these fields like the back of my hand,” he replies, his eyes dancing at my gently mocking tone.
As I stand up and dust myself off, a thought occurs to me. “Is that what you were doing that night? When we met? Were you looking for Jonas?”
“Yep.”
I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to put two and two together.
“And there I was, thinking you were simply the village idiot,” I tease.
His lip tugs up at the corner and I feel as though there’s an invisible line attaching the gesture to a hook lodged just behind my rib cage.
“Who says I’m not?”
14
You’re still in America!” Bailey squeals, having forgiven me for being late. She hooks her arm through mine and squeezes me as we walk.
We didn’t bother to drive this time and we’re almost there: the town square is at the end of this road.
“You’re my bar buddy. My new drinking partner,” she says with a giggle.
“Don’t you have any friends your own age?” I ask, my insides radiating at her joy.
“There’s one girl at work who’s okay. We went out a few times when Case and I first moved here, but now she’s pregnant and no fun at all.”
“How are you finding work at the moment?”
“Dull.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
She gives me a funny look. “Nothing. This is my life now,” she adds melodramatically.
I frown at her. “That doesn’t sound very good. Have you talked to Casey about it? Is he happy?”
“Deliriously. He loves being back home, living near hisbrother and his mom and dad. He couldn’t believe his luck when a position came up at the golf club.”
“But if you don’t want to be here...”
“I’ll suck it up. Don’t look so serious!”
The conversation is still playing inside my head when we arrive at Dirk’s.
“All My Favorite Songs” by Weezer is blaring from the speakers. That’s the first thing I notice. The second is that Jonas is at the bar.
I tug on Bailey’s sleeve. “Hang on.”
“What is it?” she asks as I drag her back into the stairwell and get out my phone. “What are you doing?”
“Texting Anders.”
“Wait, what? Why do you have Anders’s number? Why are you texting him? I have so many questions!”
“I saw him earlier. He was worried about Jonas,” I reply absently, tapping out:Jonas is at Dirk’s.
