“Actually, I’m ready.” Evander smiled up at her. “I just want a Long Island.”
“We can do that.” She glanced to Ozzy. “You need more time?”
“Tequila soda.” He nodded to her. “Thanks.” Once she was gone, he sighed and flicked open the menu. “Food first or work first?”
“Food. It’s almost like you’ve never even met me.” Evander scanned through the menu, but there wasn’t much that caught his eye. Well, not in a good way, anyway. “What do you suppose Nancy’s Special Chicken is?”
Ozzy’s eyes narrowed and he cocked his head to the side. “Well, it says to ask your server, so I’m guessing it’s how they use up leftovers. Sounds like an exercise in bravery.” He drummed his fingers on the tabletop, eyes staying on the move. “Split appetizers? They’re probably mass-produced so there’s some level of quality control.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time we had apps for dinner.” Ev scanned back to the top of the menu, then nodded. “Two app platters?”
Ozzy closed the menu. “Sounds about right. Then we can focus on work instead of figuring out how special the chicken is.”
Ev snorted, then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Okay, so here’s what I was thinking about that fence. While they get drinks together.” He flicked over to his saved pictures. “I grabbed a few inspo pics. Not saying they need to be exact.” To his surprise, looking for ‘fences with windows’ had turned up a bevy of options.
“I understand the concept of inspiration.” He held his hand out and Evander pressed the phone into his palm, then waited as his eyes darted around the screen. Ozzy flicked to the next picture and nodded. “I like this one. I’m not sold on anything with actual glass in it. Think that’s going to defeat the whole purpose in the winter time. But these framed cutouts are actually a nice idea.” He flicked again, then shook his head.
Evander got up and took the chair next to him. “It’s hard to argue with you about how wrong you are when I can’t see which pictures you’re looking at.” He leaned in close, then reached out and flickered his fingers over the screen to get back to the first picture. It showed a thick white fence with a foot-wide pane of glass embedded into the wood. “So not this.”
“Not that. If the goal is to open up the view, they’re going to lose their purpose when they ice over. May not be super far north, but you’re still looking at a Midwest winter.”
“Didn’t consider that.” Ev sighed. “You can go forward.”
“Thanks for the permission to do what I came here for.” Ozzy flicked through more pictures, until he got back to where he was. “What about trellis? Would that be a decent compromise to keep their privacy?”
Evander tutted his tongue, then snagged the phone back and started searching until he found something that seemed close. Then he placed it back on the table and scooted in closer so he could point as he spoke. “I like the framing. Maybe a bigger section? I don’t know how hard the fence is going to be to cut, but you and Jake can figure that out, right?”
Ozzy bobbed his head side to side. “I think it wouldn’t be too bad. I’d like a trellis with bigger gaps, otherwise it seems like it defeats the entire purpose of opening it up. Still won’t ice up like glass.”
“Hey, I’d be good with leaving it wide open. Unless you think they’re going to be putting on adisplayfor the neighbors.”
“Shit happens. You remember the duplex job back home?”
“Oh. God yes.” It had been one of their first jobs, fixing up one half of a duplex for the local high school English teacher after her husband passed. The older couple next door had no interest, but the walls of the duplex were not thick. And they were anactivecouple. In the middle of the day. “What the hell was the excuse she used for her son to explain the noise?”
Ozzy snorted. “Old people basketball.”
“That’s right.” Evander chuckled. “You think the kid ever figured out it was just old people fucking, not old people basketball?”
“Had to have, right? Or he will at some point, if he’s not old enough yet.”
Evander lowered himself into his chair again and slid his phone back across the table. “Well, I hope my sex life is that active when I’m in my seventies or eighties or whatever.”
Which was, of course, when the server came back over with their drinks. Ev put on his most charming smile to try and disarm any awkwardness. “Imagine how loose my lips are when I’ve actuallyhada drink.”
She chuckled and passed the two glasses over, then took their order for the appetizer platters and headed away. A little quicker than before.
“You have to chill around the small town folks.” Ozzy sipped from his tequila soda, and only grimaced a little bit. “They tend to like their gays sexless and quaint, not mouthy and overly honest.”
“I’m notthatmouthy.” Ev took a drink. It was hard to screw up a Long Island Iced Tea, but he was still pleased with what he’d actually gotten. “Unless you just mean I’m a loud lay. Then yeah, sure. No disagreement from this quarter.”
Ozzy said nothing, just buried his face in his drink and gave the slightest shake of his head.
Chapter seventeen
Ozzy
He wouldn’t admit it,of course, but Ozzy was having a decent time with Evander down in that little hotel bar. Probably more than decent. Being three drinks deep into the evening was certainly helping things move a little more smoothly between them. And he had to admit, in spite of his usually careful control over his diet, he was enjoying all the frozen, deep fried appetizers. He even thought the wings might have been made in-house.
