“It was nice to not be recognized,” he said. “I then ran into her at the casino last weekend. By then, she knew who I was. We spent hours talking in a private room.”
“Really?” Casey said. “You like to talk.”
“I do,” he said. “She listened. She’s funny. Kind of quirky.”
“Which you can appreciate.”
“Very much so,” he said.
They’d stayed in that room until two in the morning talking and laughing about old TV shows, movies, and books.
They didn’t talk about his career for more than a few minutes.
She didn’t ask and it felt as if it wasn’t even that important to her.
Maybe that was why he couldn’t get her out of his mind and decided to throw money down and come here again.
He wasn’t normally this frivolous to do that.
It’s not like he was cheap, but he also liked to make sure he put the bulk of his money away.
Coming to a place like this for three nights on the off chance of seeing a woman again wasn’t anything he’d ever done in his life.
“Have you talked to her again?” his mother asked.
“No. She hasn’t worked one night and I’m leaving in the morning.”
“Well,” his mother said. “If you like her and want to see her again, you can do a lot of outlandish things for her attention, I’m sure, or you can ask someone she works with when her next shift is.”
He sighed. “I thought of that. But they know who I am.”
“And you don’t want to start lips flapping. I’m sure you’ll figure it out if you want it bad enough. You’ve done that your whole life.”
“Thanks, Mom. Maybe I needed that pep talk.”
“You do know how funny that sounds coming from The War Show. He needs his mother to give him a pep talk to find out a woman’s last name and get her number?”
Casey was almost roaring with laughter. “Hey,” he said. “I’m not the playboy that people assume I am.”
“I know, sweetie. My money is on you. Just like it’s always been. Keep me posted.”
“Sure,” he said. “Only if I get her information.”
“Because you don’t want me to think you’ve failed at anything. You never can in my eyes.”
He hung up after that, slipped his bare feet into a pair of canvas sneakers, and made his way to the outdoor bar again.
When he didn’t see her working, he did what his mother said. “Do you know when Emma is working again?”
“Who?” the woman asked. She was smiling at him and clearly knew who he was.
“Emma,” he said. “She was working the bar a few weeks ago when I stayed here.”
“I don’t know of any Emmas,” the woman said. “Conrad, do we have any new bartenders named Emma working?”
“Not that I know of,” the guy said from the other end of the bar. “Hey, aren’t you?—”
“Yes,” he said. “I am. Can you get in touch with Hunter Bond for me?”
