And I hate me for that.
I walk through the kitchen, grabbing my keys off the island where I tossed them when I came home from breakfast with the guys, and punch the elevator button harder than required. Once I’m outside, I throw on my shades and start to walk. I have absolutely no destination in mind. I just need to do something other than everything I have been doing. Because none of that is making me feel better. I find myself at the lake. The farmer’s market is just about to close up, but I grab some apples from Adler’s Apples and some goat cheese from the booth next to them and then some veggies from a booth down the way. I decide to grab some flowers at the last minute too. Sometimes I like to give some to Betty to brighten her day and her desk. After all, it’s the first thing people see when they come to my business.
But today, I take too long deciding between pink or purple tulips and I hear my name from a familiar voice. “Hey, cousin!”
I turn and there’s my cousin Amy. She’s pushing a stroller with her daughter in it. Next to her is another familiar face, Lacey Baldwin. “I was just telling Amy here how much fun your show was the other week.”
“Thanks!” I lean in and give them each a hug and a friendly kiss on the cheek. It’s more of an air kiss. It’s such a Waspy thing to do, but my family wouldn’t have any culture if it didn’t have Wasp.
“And I was just telling her not to bring that up to your father the next time she sees him,” Amy smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. It’s not that she doesn’t like me. She wouldn’t warn Lacey to avoid the topic of my music with my dad if she hated me. She’d want to shake that hornet’s nest. She does like me, as much as she likes anyone in her family, which is hardly at all. I get it. I wish I didn’t, but I do. “But then again, with the future mayor on your side maybe you’ll get so many gigs you won’t even need your inheritance. Then you can become a Godless, morally bankrupt musician full-time.”
I laugh, because she’s quoting my grandfather directly. He said that once. About the Backstreet Boys when Amy asked for tickets to their show for her sixteenth birthday. “You have to want more in life than to waste your birthday watching Godless, morally bankrupt musicians gyrate their pelvises.”
That’s when my brother had pointed out that Backstreet Boys aren’t musicians. They don’t play instruments and the tirade got worse. Amy never did get tickets to the show. I bend down to ruffle the downy hair of my second cousin, Lily Edwina Briggs. She giggles. “I have no intention of forfeiting my inheritance.”
“Then always use condoms,” Amy mutters under her breath. Our eyes meet and she swiftly changes the subject. “Lacey here has a problem she was telling me about. One that I think you can actually fix.”
Trepidation makes my heart quicken a little. I hope this isn’t election advice or marketing help because I already gave that to Lacey’s opponent and I, quite frankly, don’t want to work against Bowen’s brother. Lacey looks uncomfortable, her hazel eyes darting around, unable to look at me. “It’s not a big thing. But you would fit the bill. I mean, of course it would be a friend date. I just…. It’s hard to get them to take me seriously as a young candidate and then you add in being a woman… and then single. Well, single puts me over the edge into unvote-able territory, according to my father and his advisors.”
“Burlington is full of free love and liberal hippies and you think they care whether you’re single or not?” I ask, confused, still not sure what we’re talking about, exactly.
“My dad keeps reminding me my slim lead wouldn’t be so slim if I was male and not single,” Lacey confesses. “I won’t fix the first problem, but I can pretend I’ve taken care of the second.”
“Luckily that farmer dude gave you some breathing room, with his pro-drug agenda,” Amy pipes in, clearly referring to Woody Whitlock.
“He talked his way out of it on his website,” Lacey replies and frowns. “He must have gotten some better advisors. And now his face is everywhere because he finally got posters. Anyway, my lead against him is narrowing.”
“But you can take her to the cocktail party, right Chase?” Amy asks. “I mean you’re not involved with someone are you? I haven’t a clue to be honest, but you’ve never brought a girl to a family function. Not since college and that was only once.”
Amy’s eyes narrow on me with speculation. Lacey just looks curious. I wish I hadn’t stopped for flowers. “I’m single. But I’m not a great actor so pretending to be your boyfriend might not work out.”
“You don’t have to say you’re a boyfriend. Just be my date. Once. For this stupid cocktail party the soon-to-be former mayor is holding for the candidates and the press,” Lacey explains. “Look, some pictures in the newspaper with a handsome, successful man from a well-respected political family could go a long way.”
“You could always ask Colin,” I suggest. “He would drive down. And he needs a well-respected political ally like you and your family too. He’s running for office next year.”
Both women frown in unison. I have to laugh. “Your brother is a douchebag and you know it,” Lacey says flatly.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Amy waves her paper coffee cup in the air between us. “I’m sure Hayden has some friends who are suitable. I mean if Chase here doesn’t want to earn extra brownie points with his dad, the gate keeper of his pending inheritance, then we’ll find someone else.”
“I’ll do it,” I say without another thought, because Amy is right. My dad is good friends with Lacey’s dad and he will love that I’m helping her out. It may even make him believe I’m entertaining political thoughts of my own. And more than anything, it will help him forget that I’m not as straight as he would like. “Text me the details.”
Lacey hugs me and grins. “You are the best, Chase Ashton. I owe you.”
“It’s fine.”
Amy also smiles, like she’s Cupid and her arrow just hit a bullseye, which is not at all a look I want to see from her right now. Thankfully the flower vendor interrupts us. “Sir, are you still interested in flowers? I’m closing up.”
“Text me Lacey,” I repeat and give them both a wave. “Have a great day ladies.”
I give Lily’s hair another ruffle and she rewards me with another giggle. Then they go one way, and I buy my flowers and go the other way. I try not to overthink the whole thing with Lacey. I mean, after all, she’s known me for years and she’s never shown any romantic interest. I’ve never thought of her in that way either, even though she’s very attractive and not exactly too old for me. She’s closer in age to me than Bowen is.
And now I’m thinking about Bowen again. Shit. In an effort to squash those thoughts, I find myself walking down Church Street window shopping. Vino and Veritas isn’t open yet, so I don’t have to worry about being unable to control my urges to go into the place and look for him. But the bookstore is open — the veritas side of Vino & Veritas — and I find myself going in. I need a new notebook for songwriting. Well, need is a bit of an overstatement. I am unable to resist a good notebook though, and this bookstore carries some of the nicest, so I go in and decide to browse and possibly treat myself.
There’s a guy behind the cash register who smiles at me as I enter. “Hi. I’m Briar. If you need anything or have any questions let me know.”
“Thanks.” I nod and even though I know where the journals and notebooks are kept, I wander down the aisles first. They have a great selection of books. I spend half an hour just plucking titles off the shelves. Everything from fiction to self-help to biographies. I’m reading the back cover of an unofficial biography of Joni Mitchell when I hear a woman’s voice.
“Briar, have you read this one yet?” she says to the guy who greeted me when I walked in. “About a guy who has a crush on his best friend when they’re teens. They drift apart but end up working together at a hockey camp when they’re older. I started it last night and couldn’t put it down. Finished it at three in the morning. Worth every sleepless second. So hot. Highly recommend.”
