I shrugged again. “Just sayin’,” I quotedsweetly.
The truth was, there were times when I envied Con. He was unabashedly about the flash and the bang… no pun intended. He went out to bars and scrutinized the available goodies the way I perused the sweets at the bakery across the street, and he didn’t expect more than the simple pleasure I got from a chocolate cupcake, either. He’d never been hung up on anyone in particular, or not that I knew of, and he’d sure as hell never committed the most stupid, cliched, ridiculous, fatal sin of all: he’d never fallen for his straight bestfriend.
Jamie lifted his chin toward the front window of the diner, where the wind was whipping bright October leaves across the bleak sky. “It’s definitely sweater weather,” he said. “Barely October, too. Definitely a day to curl up andread.”
He gave me a friendly wink that made his brown eyes crinkle beneath his shock of bright red hair, and I wished, not for the first time, that I could have fallen for a guy like Jamie—a guy whose life was an open book, who’d never had a conversation with me about anything more thought-provoking than the weather, and who was, you know, actuallygay.
“Maybe I will,” I agreed. But the truth was, I didn’t plan to spend the day at home. I’d decided last night, when I finally finished my book, that I would drive out to Daniel’s cabin today and drop it off. He preferred reading paperbacks, like I did, and we had an exchange going on. A kind of informal book club with only two participants. “What aboutyou?”
“Jamie has adatethis afternoon,” Con informed me, cackling when Jamie turned an alarming shade ofred.
“It’s not a date. It’s a… friend thing. Anyway, I’m workingtonight.”
“Sure,” Con said. “Anything you say. You guys gonna coming to watch footballtomorrow?”
“At Hoff’s bar? I dunno. Maybe.” Football was not my favorite sport—no sport was my favorite sport—but it reminded me of my dad, and I enjoyed hanging out with Jamie, Con, and some of the other guys. It was familiar. “Jamie?”
Jamie’s face stretched into something that was half smile, half grimace. “Yeah, I don’t think so. You might have noticed I’m persona non grata atHoff’s.”
“Parker said he didn’t want you there?” I frowned. “What the hell is going on with you two? I remember you used to be friends back in theday.”
Jamie grunted. “Ten years is a long time,” he said, and it occurred to me that maybe his life wasn’t as much of an open book as I’d thought. Maybe no one’swas.
“DocRoss!”
I turned at the sound of my name and looked around the restaurant, past the two- and four-person set-ups in the middle of the room, and the individual booths that ran along each side, to the long banquette that lined the back wall. Lina Davenport stood up from one of those tables and waved enthusiastically, like she’d only just now noticed me. She came rushing over, high-heels clacking on the linoleum, eyeglass chainswaying.
“I thought that was you! Oh, Doctor, thank goodness you’re here. I’ve been so worried about Macarena! He’sshedding, and it looks awful, and I swear he’ssick.”
Jamie’s eyes widened. “Macarena?”
“My baby bird,” Lina explained, as though Jamie should have known thisalready.
“He’s not shedding, Lina, he’s molting. Remember we talked about this? Macarena is a cockatoo, and cockatoos molt every year. It’s a totally normal processthat—”
“Thank you for watching this episode of Animal Facts,” Con said, not-quite under his breath. “I’m your host,JulianRoss!”
I shot him a dirtylook.
Lina gripped the strap of her enormous purse more tightly. “I know what you said aboutmolding.”
“Molting.”
“That’s what I said! I even looked it up on the internet, and it lookeddisgusting, but not athinglike what Macarena has. Can I bring himby?”
I blinked. There was not a doubt in my mind that she’d googled mold. But what the heck could I say? “I… yes. Of course. I’m happy to take a look at him if it’ll ease your mind. Monday morning, call Kathy andshe’ll…”
“Oh, no,” Lina said darkly. “Last time, Kathy insisted you couldn’t see Macarena for days. I was a nervouswreck. But I’m free today. Any time today. I’ll fit you inwhenever.”
How nice ofher.
“I’m not open on Saturdays except in emergencies,Lina.”
I knew exactly where this was going, though. A quick check of Con’s amused face said he did, too. She’d push and I’dcave.
Lina’s frown deepened. Her eyes narrowed. “Well, thisisan emergency. So what timeworks?”
The muscle between my eyebrows started to twitch, so I rubbed it with my finger. “Eleven,” I saidweakly.
