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I didn’t deny it. “You know my name. Can I know yours?”
“Wouldn’t it make it more fun if I was just a stranger in a bar?”
“Okay,” I said, playing along. “I could go up to the bartender and ask him for your name, but something tells me he would try to talk me out of going home with you.”
“Mike,” he said. “And you’re right. He would most definitely try to talk you out of it.”
“I don’t want to make a mistake,” I cautioned myself.
He picked a bottle and took a sip. “You don’t strike me as the kind of girl who picks up guys in bars all the time.”
“How do you know?” I challenged.
“Something about you.” He shrugged. “You seem sweet.”
“Well, you seem like you’ve done this before.”
He shook his head. “Not recently.”
“What did you do to piss the bartender off?”
“In a town this small, everyone gossips.”
“Everyone gossips in the city too,” I said.
“Not the same.” He looked out the window, seeming to wish he were somewhere else.
“You’re trying to leave this town,” I guessed. “And I’m trying to escape by moving here.”
“And we meet at the bar for one night of fun,” he teased. “Like ships passing.”
“Where would you go?”
“I could try Austin,” he said. “Anywhere that everyone wasn’t in my business would be nice.”
“I think it’s quaint,” I said. “You know, the guy at the storage place was so nice, he even gave me a ride to Macy’s house.”
Macy returned to our table and slid in beside me. “How’s it going?” she asked conversationally.
“Was that your friend?” I asked.
“Oh yeah.” Macy checked her phone. “You always see someone you know in Singer’s Ridge. You work at the lumberyard, right?” She pointed at Mike.
He nodded.
“How do you like it?” Macy kept him talking, oblivious to his discomfort.
I could see it in the way his eyes changed, from blue to grey, he didn’t want to talk about himself or his place in the community. He was enchanted with me because I offered him something new, a taste of life outside this town. I wasn’t sure why he was so eager to move on, but he seemed stifled by Macy’s questions. His answer was curt and unrevealing.
“Fine. It was kind of you to take your cousin in. And to take her out to a bar to meet a man.” He flashed a wicked grin at me.
“Oh,” Macy gasped, her subterfuge revealed. “Was I that obvious?”
Mike didn’t answer, just sat there looking at me as if I were an expensive sandwich he wanted to unwrap and devour. I blushed. I had so little experience being offered up on the market that I doubted my seduction skills. Not only did I have this guy on the hook, but he looked ready to jump into the boat. All I had to do was say yes, and I would be treated to a night of pleasure. I would be able to peel off that tight T-shirt he was wearing and run my hands along his muscular frame. I could undo the belt that held his pants in place and dip my fingers deep into the darkness there. I wondered if he would fill my palm, if he was already swollen. I felt heat between my thighs and knew that I was ready to hold up my end of the bargain. Now there was just this awkward social dance we had to do before the lovemaking could commence.
“Since I’m being so obvious,” Macy continued when neither Mike nor I responded, “I was hoping we could find someone without kids to show Tammy around town.”
“I think I can do that,” Mike said, “but first there are a couple things I want to do.”
