“Look, there was this cute blond guy who came by the truck today. His name is Jude, I think he works at the library. He actually had a Dominican woman with him, Carmen, I think. She was cool. Anyway, hewasvery attractive and did a little flirty thing with me in Spanish.”
I laughed at how intensely Pri, Easton, and Marty were looking at me. Like they were hanging on my every word.
How boring does shit get in this town?
“I mean he’s hot, no question, but I’m not here for that. I need to get my business going, and dating is not part of the plan. So, Mamí’s going to have to wait on the blond grandkids.”
Now even Marty was laughing at me.
Pri was not giving up easily, though. “I think I know him from the gay potluck.” She turned to Easton, “You know who I’m talking about right?”
Easton raised an eyebrow and took a long drink of his bourbon.
What the fuck was that?
“I know Jude, what there is to know anyway. He’s a bit mysterious.” He looked up and squinted at me. “He’s been in town a few years, but I haven’t heard any gossip about him. No love triangles or falling outs, which with the gay rumor mill on steroids we have over here is quite rare, let me tell you.”
Pri and Marty let out a heartfelt, “Word” in response to Easton’s comment.
“I’ve only talked to him a couple of times but know quite a few guys who’ve tried with him and haven’t gotten very far. The word is he doesn’t date. Not sure what that means.” He lifted a shoulder. “In any case he’s a nice guy. Always polite to everyone, really funny.”
Pri looked like Easton had just told her she’d won the ten-million-dollar Powerball.
“This is very promising. VERY,” she said, as she gave me a thumbs-up.
This was getting out of hand; Ihadto get Pri off of this. Mami did not need backup.
“Sure, he seems cool, but again, I can’t get distracted. I’m not interested in fucking around with random dudes.”
Right as I was done with my statement and feeling pretty good about my focus and determination, I saw Jude and Carmen walk in. They had their heads together and looked like they werediscussing something serious. I was about to try and distract Pri when I heard her inhale loudly and then felt a hard pinch on my arm.
I slapped her hand away, glaring.
“¡Coño! Pri, you gonna rip my damn arm off? The hell?”
“That’s him!” she said in the loudest whisper ever.
“I know that, but like I said, I am not here for that.” I made my point by taking a big gulp of my Beetarita, keeping an eye on Carmen and Jude as I swallowed.
I probably would’ve sounded more convincing if on my way here, I hadn’t been daydreaming about asking him out. I wasn’t even sure why I was being so stubborn, it wasn’t like there was a rule I had to be a monk to run a food truck.
Easton widened his eyes as he finished up his drink.
“I’m almost sad I have to get back to the office. This is certainly about to get interesting.”
He stood and slapped my shoulder. “Good to see you, man. I’ll be in touch.”
“Same here.” I nodded. “Come by the truck some time.”
“Will do.”
He gave Pri a big hug and a kiss and walked toward the door.
Carmen, who was standing with Jude talking to the tall man who’d come in after them, saw Easton heading out and then looked at the spot he’d left at the bar. It took her a second, but as soon as she recognized me, she started waving her hand so hard her wrist looked loose. She gave the man the ‘I’ll be back in a second’ hand signal, grabbed a slightly apprehensive-looking Jude by the arm, and came over to where Pri and I were sitting.
I refused to look at Pri as they came closer but could hear her giggles just fine.
“Hey! Look at you, only in town for a day and you already know one of the best spots! We just got out of work and needed to get a drink.” She turned toward the man she’d been talkingto and waved him over. “My poor husband had to come down to pick us up.”
