Page 58 of The Alibi Club

“So, what do you like to do beyond work?” asked a nonchalant Shannon.

“Uh, I, uh, play golf?”

“You sure?” Shannon giggled as if this couldn’t possibly be true.

“Yes?” Kyle said, sounding completely unsure.

“Come on,” Shannon jabbed him playfully. “You’re a gamer, aren’t you? I heard you drop a hint about World of Warcraft earlier.”

Kyle nearly turned white. He barked, “Adults don’t game. Gamers are losers.”

Shannon sighed, seemed to shut down, and went back to sipping her vodka soda.

And then there was Cliff. Jamie and Cliff were creating their own universe across the table, quietly, as if the rest of the table, the restaurant, the whole world had just melted away.

“How’s Dash?”

Jamie couldn’t help but smile. “You remembered his name.”

“He’s hard to forget.”

“Dash hates everyone but the mailman. He’s complicated.”

Cliff chuckled and Jamie saw the dimple on the side of his cheek.

“So, what brings you here tonight, on a group blind date?” Jamie asked.

“It’s funny, I almost canceled.”

“Is that why you were late? Second thoughts?”

“Yeah, you could say that. See, I met this girl. But we kept getting interrupted before we could connect in any real way.”

Her heart beat a little faster. “Funny, I met a guy. Same thing kept happening. The last time I had a client meeting, I saw him.”

“The one who grabbed your wrist.” Cliff looked down at the table.

Jamie remembered Duncan’s whipsaw change in attitude and his broken phones. “You don’t happen to know anything about why Duncan had a red mark on his forehead, as if he’d been slapped, and two broken phones, do you?”

Cliff gave her a thin smile and a look that told her he absolutely was the one who broke those phones. “Some men need a friendly reminder how to be chivalrous.”

Jamie grinned. “Agreed.” He had threatened another man for her. Hot.

He clasped his hands together and leaned in. “So, I was going to cancel, but then I got here, and it turns out—”

“Second course!” Amber nearly yelled as she delivered plates of small roasted artichokes in a citrus sauce. Justin the bartender was behind her with more plates.

Jamie cast a glance Cliff’s way over the commotion of the food delivery. Her senses filled with the glow of possibility at the other end of the white linen tablecloth.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Ghosts

CLIFF

Cliff had a way with a certain kind of woman. The wayward kind. Broken, damaged, lonely souls who sought him out and sidled up to him. They could spot a sucker like him a mile away. It never lasted long. Eventually, he’d find himself drowning in the chasms of their needs and drama, which was almost always self-created. He would gently extricate himself after bailing them out of jail, paying off gambling debts, or patching up a rift with their children. He’d leave them with the equivalent of a kiss on the forehead and good memories. No permanent damage done. He knew how to handle himself with a woman like that.

So, when he met Jamie Frisco he was not prepared. He was physically drawn to her, but it was something about her energy that kept him there. Moth, meet flame.