Page 3 of The Intimacy of Finding You

He glared at me. “I don’t like it when you’re right.”

Shrugging, I went to stand from my chair. “It’s a shame I usually am, huh?”

“Don’t get too cocky, now. Oh, also,” he raised a finger and looked across the table. “Are y’all three coming to our house for Christmas? I want to get a final head count before we go shopping next week. Willow is bringing David and their new puppy.”

Jesse glanced at Liam and Isaac. “We should be there, yeah. Hey, this’ll be David’s first time coming to one of our get-togethers, isn’t it?”

Price nodded. “Yeah, I think they’re a bit nervous. So, Callum, you need to be on your best behavior so you don’t scare them away.”

I put a hand over my heart, gasping for dramatics. “Me? Scare someone away? Pfft, never!”

“Yeah, okay. I’ve known you a long time, and the one thing that has never changed about you is the fact that you’re pure chaos in human form.”

He was bluffing. Fibbing. Practically lying to my face. “I’m a fucking delight, and you know it, Price.”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough.” Crew picked up the folder and pulled Price up by the arm. “Thank y’all for staying for the meeting. I’ll get my husband home so he can shower and stop being a prick.”

I nodded with a very serious, no-smile expression on my face. I was sure I almost looked scary. “Thanks, disco buddy. See you all tomorrow!”

Christmas was right around the corner, and the sidewalks were covered in snow. All the stores and small shops had their decorations out, lighting up a festive path as I’d driven down the roads. Shifting my car into park, I turned the engine off and hopped out, trudging through the snow that’d kept falling.

There weren’t very many people inside, most of them probably deciding to stay home and keep warm instead of being out in the freezing elements. I walked up to the bar, plopping onto one of the stools. Jack turned his head, spotting me from the side, his lips curling into a big grin. I waved to him and waited until he finished serving someone a drink before he slid down to me.

“Hey, Cal! I was starting to think you weren’t going to make it.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I started to think I wouldn’t either. We had to have a meeting at work, so we all stayed late.”

Jack frowned, accentuating the honestly criminal mustache on his upper lip. It really didn’t suit his face, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him that. “Well, that sucks. But hey, I’m glad you’re here. I never see you anymore.”

“I know. Tell me when you’re off next, and maybe we can work something out. Price and Crew owe me, so I’m sure they’d give me an extra day off.”

“Oh, man. They owe you?”

“Sure as fuck do. You know that fartface asshole Brandt I told you about?”

“The miserable bastard who always picked a fight and had a major power trip kink?”

“Yeah, that one.” I nodded and leaned my elbows on the bar counter. “He fucking showed up at work the other day.”

Jack’s jaw dropped as he gasped. “No fucking way.”

“Way. He was being a huge asshole to one of my servers. She came running to me with tears down her face!”

He turned his nose up, scoffing.

“Right? Anyway, I looked out on the floor to the table she was talking about, saw who it was, and immediately told Crew, who told Price. They were both too busy to do anything. Crew pleaded with me to go deal with him, as if it was my restaurant we were standing in.” I sighed, shaking my head. “I was so fucking anxious, dude.”

“Per usual.”

I glanced up at him, hopefully glaring into his soul. “Okay, rude. I pushed through the anxiety, pretended like I didn’t even know what anxiety was, and told the dude off. Sad sack of shit didn’t even have the money to pay for his course. He looked like he’d really gone downhill over the years.”

Jack clapped his hands together, laughing. “Good! All that fucking karma from years of being an asshole served him right. Kinda sucks you guys lost out on money because of him, though.”

“Eh.” He reached down below the bar and pulled out a club soda for me. I grabbed it from him and popped the tab. “I told them they owed me for it. I don’t know how seriously they took that, but I meant it. I thought we were done with him for good.”

“I’ll look at the schedule and see when my off days are. Let me check on some stuff, and then I’ll switch with Mav so we can take a smoke break. God knows I need one.”

I wouldn’t have minded one either. I let him go, sipping on the club soda as I scanned the rest of the bar. It was always ironic to me how often I ended up in here, despite refusing to ever drink. From what Papa always said, drinking was what made my parents unfit to take care of me. I’d never been one to tempt fate.