"You go." He smiled.
"Feel free to reach around the bar and grab one when you're ready." She tapped her hand on the wood counter. "Buddy's buying anyway."
"Will do." He watched her pour six shots of tequila, place them on a tray, and bring them over to the young deputies of Calusa Cove and two firefighters.
"You're staring," Cullen Monroe said as he approached the bar. Cullen was Silas' nephew, a former Marine, the local handyman, and also part-time Aegis Network employee. Sterling also called him friend.
"Everyone in here is looking at something," Sterling said.
"Your eyes are fixed on the bartender." Cullen lowered himself onto the stool next to Sterling. "Like they are every time you're here." He held a fresh beer in his hand. "It's obvious to everyone."
"Drink your beer."
"I'm just saying." Cullen tipped his beer back. "I don't know if it's pathetic or sweet."
"Keep this conversation going, and the next time old lady Hannah calls, I'm giving the assignment to you."
"That's an easy one," Cullen said. "Just tell her the aliens have landed, and they want to harvest her eggs for reproduction."
"That's just mean."
"I grew up next to that crazy woman." Cullen leaned back. "Makes the stories about witch-owls seem normal."
"Nothing about those are normal." Sterling had a love-hate relationship with the folklore in this town. It was creepy as hell. But it also helped make Calusa Cove a rich, lively, and exciting place to live. Especially when at first glance it appeared to be a sleeper town with a population of four-hundred citizens and an economy that had been dying since the Great Depression.
"Never thought I'd see the day Buddy would get married," Sterling said. Out past Cullen, at the far curve of the bar, Buddy stood with his arm around Fallon's waist and his face pressed into her hair. They'd been like that, more or less, since they'd walked in two hours ago. Buddy looked like a man who had received a prize he wasn't sure he deserved but didn't intend to put down. Fallon leaned against his chest and had been smiling like she won the Calusa Cove pie making contest.
"And to Fallon." Cullen laughed. "And when I say that, it's not a put-down. Just that I've known that girl my entire life. Fiercely independent. Stubbornly loyal. And not someone I'd want to go head-to-head with on any argument."
"It's why she and Buddy are perfect for each other."
"You're probably right."
Sterling would remember this night forever and not just because he categorized everything like a library. But tonight was one of those nights that mattered. That made up touch pointsthat could lift a man during his darkest hour. Didn't matter that it wasn't his moment—it was still a moment.
"You hear what Trent's calling the baby?" Cullen asked.
Sterling pulled his eyes off Buddy and Fallon. "Do I even want to ask?"
"Scutelet. Scutelet Mallor."
"That's not a name. That's a reptile scale and a life sentence. No way will Dove go for that."
"He said he doesn't need her permission for the in-utero nickname. Said the kid is currently the size of a tadpole and a tadpole doesn't have an opinion."
"He's going to get hit."
"She's poked him in the biceps a dozen times. He's leaning into it. Says he's practicing for when she's in labor and calling him names and tossing tennis balls at his head." Cullen laughed. "I think Trent is enjoying this way too much. But I have to say, I'm glad he's excited to be a dad. It's good to see that man have some happiness in his life."
"They both deserve it." Sterling raised his beer before taking another slow sip. Down the bar, Juniper said something to Silas that made the old man's shoulders shake, and Sterling watched the corner of her mouth tip into a half smile.
He'd watched her for five months and had built a small private catalog of all her expressions. He shouldn't have. It was rude. He used to tell himself it was a hazard of the job, but the reality was, it was simply a hazard of being Sterling. Having the ability to remember every detail wasn't always the best.
"Earth to Sterling." Cullen waved his hand in front of Sterling. "Where'd you go? I've been having a conversation about coming into the office tomorrow and you're… staring."
"I'm taking a walk."
"You haven't moved."
