Shelaughed and, on her way out of the room, said, “I hope you take rainchecks.”
***
Andyhad gone out to spend the evening with Elle. She hadn't wanted to, but for thesake of keeping those close to her from getting suspicious, she went. It wasonly for dinner and drinks, she'd said, which was fine, and I had encouragedit. She needed to get the hell out of that apartment, away from bad habits, andso did I.
Itook the opportunity to see Goose, as I hadn't gone to his bar since before I'dsuccumbed to my demons. I found that I missed him and apparently, he'd missedme, too.
“Well,holy shit,” he shouted over the jukebox. “Vinnie! How've you been, man?”
“Well,”I sauntered over to the bar and flashed him my left hand, showing off the ringI now wore proudly, “I've been taken off the market.”
Goosepeered at the titanium band, like he couldn't quite believe it, brows pinchedand eyes narrowed. “You for real?”
“Forreal.”
Hisexpression softened as he nodded. “Andy?”
“Yep.”I grinned. I still wasn't tired of calling her my wife.
“She'sa good one, dude. I'm happy for you.”
Heoffered a hand and we shook as I gave him thanks, appreciating that he hadn'tcommented on how little time we'd known each other before tying the knot.
Goosepoured me a Coke and grabbed a basket of wings from the kitchen. I would'vepreferred something stronger to drink, something like whiskey or tequila, but Ikept my mouth shut. He could read me well enough without my stupid mouthhelping him along.
“How'sshit with you?” I asked him, monopolizing the conversation before he couldsteer it toward me.
Heshrugged. “Ah, you know. Same shit, different day.” He folded his thick, treetrunk arms on the bar's surface. “Been seein' this chick, actually. It'snothing serious right now but it's been kinda nice to be monogamous for once,you know?”
Gooseand I had once upon a time shared a certain taste for casual sex and no stringsattached. Now, to hear him say he'd been exclusively seeing someone made mewonder if my relationship with Andy had inspired the change.
“Nice,”I said, nodding before sipping at my drink. “That's awesome, man. Where'd youmeet?”
Hechuckled, a deep, jovial rumble. “Here, actually.”
Ifeigned shock, pressing a hand to my chest and gasping. “I thought you saidyou'd never get involved with a girl who came in here.”
“Yeah,well,” he grumbled, tipping his head down to hide his pinking cheeks, “if yousaw her, you wouldn't have said no, either.”
“Hot,huh?”
Heclosed his eyes and nodded slowly. “Smokin'.”
Weshot the shit for a while, making casual conversation while he tended to theoccasional customer. It was a quiet Thursday night and I was grateful for thetime spent with my friend.
Untilhe said, “So, hey, can I ask you a question?”
“'Sup?”
Goosepulled in a deep breath and dropped his gaze to the dirty glass in his hand.“So, uh, the last time you were here, you had said shit was getting pretty hardfor you.”
Myheart began to jitter with anxiety as I nodded. “Yeah.”
“So,uh ... what happened with that?”
Ilifted my shoulders high, too high, and shook my head. “Nothin', man. Nothin'happened.” Then, my shoulders dropped heavily as I quickly added, “Why do youask?”
Heslowly placed the glass in the sink, then said, “Nah, I was just wonderin', youknow? You were in a real bad way last time, so I was just making sure you wereall good.”
