There was no risk in asking. There were other jobs, and even if she said no, I might consider it, weighing in all my other reasons for wanting to return to this town.
She leaned back, threading her fingers together in prayer hands, like some nefarious mob boss, and smiled. “What were you hoping for?”
After a heated discussion, Shelby and I came to an agreement. I told her I still needed a few days to read through the fine print and get my affairs in order, but we set a tentative start date of three weeks from Monday, if I accepted.
She smiled as she shook my hand again. “You’ll make a great addition to our team.”
I bowed my head slightly and backed out of her office, checking my phone as soon as I was alone again. I had a little time to kill, but if I walked all the way back to Elizabeth’s, would I ever leave?
I texted her instead.I wish I had time to come see you one more time.
My phone buzzed a moment later.I’d love to see you come one more time.
Laughing at her flirty innuendo, I headed back up the pedestrian mall, hoping to grab a quick bite. Customers had already taken up the tables outside the restaurant where I’d seen Kyan King the night before. I shouldered my way inside, gratified to find Kyan behind the bar, hand-drying stemware.
I pulled up a stool. “Canyon!” I said, smiling around that old nickname of his. He’d been a freaking force of nature in high school. Captain of the football team, life of the party. I’d been so jealous, never knowing if I wanted to be his friend, or if I wanted to behim.
He chuckled. “Seven! Fancy seeing you again.”
I groaned. “Oh, man. Don’t remind me.” Just one more connection to a past me I didn’t want to resurrect. “I never got a chance to chat with you last night. This place was booming. Do you ever get a break?”
“No rest for the wicked.” He reached up to hang a wineglass overhead, and I studied the long snake tattooed on his dark skin, evidence of how much life he’d lived since high school. He sported short spikey dreads up top with a fade along the sides. The style suited him. His mahogany eyes shot back to me. “What brings you to town?”
“Job interview.” I slid a menu over, my stomach grumbling at the delicious aromas filling the restaurant. “What’s good here?”
“It’s brunch, so y’know. Eggs?” He threw a dish towel over his shoulder and leaned against the counter. “The French toast is good. You want some coffee?”
It felt weird asking him to wait on me, but yeah, I needed some caffeine. I nodded, relieved when he flagged a waitress. While she took my order, Kyan disappeared, returning moments later with a steaming mug.
Shit. I was going to have to tip freaking Kyan King. The world could be so weird. “Thanks,” I said. “I’m sorry to bother.”
He just laughed. “No problem, man. It’s coffee.”
I blew on the hot liquid, then set the mug down to cool. “It’s good to see you.”
“Yeah. Wondered where you’d disappeared off to.”
I should have kept in touch with everyone better, but I’d been hesitant to confront that old version of myself. “I’ve been around,” I said, wrapping my hands around the mug. A non-answer. “What about you? What have you been up to since high school?”
“Shit. It’s not that interesting.” He dropped down below the bar and came up with a bowl of lemons. He set one on a cutting board and quartered it. “After I graduated, I had a football scholarship to VA Tech, but I never went.”
“Why not?”
“Planned to, but my nan got real sick.” He kept cutting lemons, and I wondered at the symbolism.
“Sorry to hear that.”
He waved a hand. “She’s okay. I was never much into school anyway, and then I met some musicians and fell in love with the vagabond life.”
“I never knew you played.” As if we’d ever been that close.
He laughed, setting aside a small army of lemon wedges and wiping down the bar. “Oh yeah. I thought myself too cool to join the high school band, but when I was alone, I’d fiddle around with my dad’s old steel guitar.”
My breakfast arrived: eggs, bacon, home fries, toast, juice. Perfection. I started eating, picturing high school Kyan. I’d never seen him alone, ever, but watching him now, methodically setting up this bar, responsible, focused, I realized he probably wasn’t the person I’d always imagined. Were any of us? “High school was such a weird time.”
He snorted. “No kidding.”
“Speaking of.” I dragged the toast through the busted egg yolk. “I ran into an old friend last night.”
