Page 114 of Roommate
My jaw snaps shut.
Kieran gives me an amused glance. “You know, Grandpa, we were just thinking you should come over for dinner sometime. Weren’t we?” He nudges my knee under the table.
“Oh, definitely,” I say, nudging his back.
“Do you drink?” Grandpa asks me next. This is starting to sound like a job interview.
“Occasionally,” I admit.
“Do you play poker?”
“Ease up, Grandpa,” Kieran says. “Roddy was invited here to dinner. Not to an interrogation.”
“I know how to play poker,” I answer anyway. “But I’m not very good at it.”
“Excellent!” Grandpa says. “See, I knew you were good company. We’ll have a little game later. Low stakes. Nothing to worry about.”
“Yessir.”
Kieran just shakes his head and serves himself another spoonful of potato salad.
* * *
“That wasn’t so bad, right?” I ask on the way home.
“A walk in the park for me,” Kieran says as he accelerates on the highway. “You got all the hard questions.”
“They weren’t so hard. Your grandpa is amusing.”
“That he is.”
“Can I play some loud music on your phone?”
“Knock yourself out.”
I put on an old Phish album and rock out. I’m so into it that I don’t notice the car parked in front of our house, or the man sitting on the front porch in the January chill. Not until Kieran points him out, anyway. “Who is that?”
“Oh, fuck,” I whisper as the man stands up and crosses the yard toward us. “That’s B-Brian,” I stammer, fumbling to turn the music off.
I cannot believe my ex is here in Vermont. He must have some other business in Colebury, Vermont. Because the farthest he ever went out of his way for me before was to swing through a drive-thru Starbucks on his way home from the studio.
Kieran freezes with one foot out of the truck, and one foot still in. “Roddy? That guy looks like Brian Aimsley.”
“Yep.” If Kieran gets all starstruck I will vomit up all the good food I ate tonight. I get out of the truck, feeling wary.
“You’re Brian Aimsley,” Kieran says, walking slowly toward my ex. His voice is hushed with surprise.
“Yeah.” My ex gives him a big smile. “You’re a fan?”
My heart takes a dive toward my shoes.
Kieran stops, and his fingers tease the scruff on his chin. “You know, I was a fan. Until about two seconds ago. You’re the guy who cheated on Roddy? You’re the guy who froze Roddy’s credit cards?”
Brian’s smile fades. “Well, I was angry. That was just an overreaction.”
“Uh-huh,” Kieran says in that low-key way of his. “Did you know your overreaction had Roddy sleeping in his car? In the snow.”
To his credit, Brian looks mildly horrified. “Baby?” he says, turning in my direction. “I’m so sorry. I know we fought. But I’m here now. I came out for you. I can finally be your man.”
