“What the hell’s gotten into you?” Caden asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Zach, come on. Who sucked your dick good last night?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said.
“You’re smiling.”
“Do I not smile?” I asked.
“No, you don’t. Ever. And you’re in a good mood. You came into work humming, asshole. I wanna know who you fucked this weekend.”
“Not that it’s any of your goddamn business, weirdo, but I didn’t sleep with anyone this weekend.”
He narrowed his eyes at me in suspicion. “There was someone. There had to be. You’re the brooding, pessimistic one, and I’m the idealist with dreams in his eyes. You don’t come into work humming. That’s my job.”
“I had a date, but that’s it,” I said.
“I knew it! Okay, Zach. Spill. What’s her name? What did you guys do? And how good is she in bed?”
“Her name’s Paige, we went to dinner at Dick’s, and I didn’t sleep with her. But I wouldn’t mind. She’s fucking gorgeous.”
“You’re smiling and humming, and you didn’t get your dick wet?” he asked.
“Why are you still stuck on the humming? I wasn’t humming.”
“You were definitely humming.”
“Then what was I humming?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but you were. Trust me. You walked past me this morning, and the sound was so weird it took me a second to place it.”
“I was making a weird sound, so you thought it was me humming?” I asked.
“Look, we’re getting off track. What was so special about this girl that you’re smiling even though you didn’t get any?”
“Well, she’s not crazy, for one,” I said.
“Good, good. We like not-crazy.”
“She’s fucking gorgeous. Green eyes. Blonde hair. Curves for days.”
Caden let out a low whistle. “Oh, shit. You need to get on that train soon.”
“No shit. But the date was awesome. She’s from out of town.”
“Ah, so the ‘no-commitment’ thing you’re into is solidified with her. Got it. How’d she like the food?”
“She loved it,” I said, smiling.
“See?! There’s that damn smile again. Okay. What happened on this date?”
“We had a food-eating contest.”
Caden looked at me like I’d lost my fucking mind.
“You did what?” he asked.
“Our waiter was explaining their crab pots, and she thought they all sounded good. So, she ordered all of them.”
His eyes widened. “All of them?”
“Yep,” I said.
“That’s, like, twenty pounds of food,” he said.
“Twelve, but yes. We ended up making a bet for a second date. The person who ate the least amount of food from the pots had to pay.”
“For the second date.”
“Yep. And I won, of course. So, we exchanged numbers, and I’m gonna see her again soon.”
“And she’ll be paying,” he said.
“She will be, but I also let her arrange the second date.”
Caden grinned. “How much food did she eat?”
“She met me bite for bite until we got to the potatoes.”
“That woman scarfed down ten pounds of food?!”
“Four, but yeah, it was goddamn impressive.”
“She sounds like your kind of woman,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
“Zach, it doesn’t take a genius to know you don’t actually enjoy the women you pick up at the bars. I get it. You’ve got needs and so do they. But if you’re this happy after just hanging out with a girl, she sounds like your type. Which is why I’m curious about her, because I don’t know what your type is.”
“I’m not happy,” I said.
“Only you would try to combat that fact.”
I was about to argue with Caden again before his eyes drifted behind me. I followed his gaze and looked out toward the road. There was that damn white car again. At first, I thought I was mistaken. It couldn’t have been the same one from a few days ago. But the dent was there, along with the missing paint and hubcap.
It was the same car stalking our worksite.
“Who the fuck is that?” Caden asked.
“I don’t know, but it looks like a woman’s driving the car,” I said.
“Is there anyone in the backseat?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
I squinted and walked toward the road so I could get a better look. The car was stopped in the middle of the road, just looking out over the site. It sat there as I got closer, and I could tell there was definitely a woman driving the car. Then my eyes moved to the back, and I thought I saw something.
As I picked up my pace to a jog, the car suddenly took off down the road and vanished.
“Did you see anything?” Caden asked as he came up beside me.
“No. I mean, it is a woman driving the car, and she’s got something in the backseat, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Maybe she’s just checking us out,” he said.
“Only you would think shit like that. Come on. Our lunch break’s almost over.”
The work day flew by, and I was relieved when they let us off early. The lumber company had been working us overtime for the past three weeks because of the uptick in business. I loved my overtime paychecks, but my body was no longer agreeing with the schedule I was running. My legs were sore, my back ached, and my feet were screaming at me by the end of the day.
“Hey, Zach, wanna get a beer tonight?” Caden asked.
I was contemplating the offer just before my phone rang in my pocket.
“Hold on,” I said. “Hello?”
“Hi there. Is this Zach?”
I recognized her voice instantly. “Hello, Paige.”
Caden’s jaw unhinged, and he rushed over to my side.
“Put her on speakerphone,” he said, whispering.
I held him at arm’s length.
“Oh, come on,” he said. “Let me listen.”
“I was calling you to see if you were free tomorrow night,” she said.
“Tomorrow night,” I said as I looked at Caden. “I am, yes. I’m supposed to be off work at six.”
“Would meeting for dinner at seven be too much of a crunch?” she asked.
“Not at all,” I said. “Have you figured out where you want to go to eat?”
“There’s a place I passed earlier today that looked really interesting. It was called Introspect.”
“I’ve never been, but I’ve heard good things about it. If you like a quieter atmosphere, that is.”
“Sometimes quiet is nice,” she said. “Plus, the reviews I looked up said they have an awesome cocktail menu.”
“I wouldn’t know, but I guess we’ll find out tomorrow night. I do have a question, though.”
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Would you let me pick you up this time?”
Silence fell on the other end of the line, and I was worried that I’d overstepped my bounds. I could tell Caden was hanging on to every word of my part of the conversation like the little gossip girl he was. I felt my shoulders tense as the seconds of silence ticked by, and I had to hold my phone out from my ear and look at it just to make sure the call hadn’t dropped.
“Paige?” I asked.
“Yeah, yeah sorry. Um, sure. Will you be picking me up on your bike?”
“Have you never been on a motorcycle before? Because I have a car, but it’s a clunker.”
“A clunker, huh?” she asked. “Well, I wouldn’t want our lives in danger. You know, if the floorboard falls out from underneath us or something. And no, I’ve never been on a motorcycle.”
“Well, I’d be honored to be your first.”
I heard her giggle on the other end of the line, and it made me smile.
“Okay, I’ll send you the address of the hotel I’m at.”
“I know which one you’re at,” I said. “Remember? The purse thing?”
“Well, I kinda thought you might be a stalker, so I checked out and found another hotel.”
“At least you take precautions to be safe. Shoot me the address of where you’re staying now, and I’ll be there tomorrow at seven to pick you up.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” she said.
“So am I.”
I hung up the phone, and Caden started patting my back. He went in for a hug, and I stood there wondering what the fuck had gotten in to him.
“Zach!” he said. “You gotta tell me all about that shit when you’re done tomorrow night.”
“Why the fuck are you so happy about this?” I asked.
“You smiled on the phone conversation. She makes you smile. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen anything make you smile?”
“You make me sound like a depressed asshole.”
“That’s because you are,” he said, grinning. “But not anymore.”
“You’re an idiot. And I’m going home.”
“Wait, you’re not getting a drink with me?” he asked.
“Look, I’ve got plenty of beer at my house, Clingy Betty. Why don’t you come over, and we’ll order something in and have a drink there?”
“Can we order a pizza without vegetables this time?” he asked.
“We’ll get one for each of us so you can be a greasy hog,” I said.
“Good, because I don’t do vegetables.”
“Which is why you’ll die by the time you’re forty.”
“Just because I—”
Caden’s eyes were behind me again, and I whipped my head around. That fucking white car was back, and this time, I was determined to figure out what the hell was going on. I took off toward it at a full sprint, getting right up to the car just as the female driver sped off.
I was focused on the backseat, trying to figure out what the hell was back there. Did she have signs for a picket? Or a bag of shit to handcuff herself to a tree? Did she have shit for bomb-making materials, like maybe she was going to blow up a tractor just to make a point?
I caught a glimpse of what was in the backseat as the woman sped away, and my heart hammered in my chest.
“Did you catch anything?” Caden asked, panting.
“Yeah,” I said. “I saw what she had in the backseat.”
“Is it anything dangerous? Should we tell the boss man about it?”
“No, nothing dangerous,” I said.
“Then what did she have, dude? I can’t run like you.”
“Because you don’t eat your vegetables,” I said mindlessly.
“Caden. What was in the backseat?”
“A baby,” I said as I turned my head toward him. “There was a baby in the backseat.”