Page 113 of Ozzie

The server comes up and asks if we want to order drinks.

“Two beers,” Durango says. “Whatever you have on tap.”

“Very good.” The server leaves.

“You think we’ll be here long enough to drink those?” I ask.

He laughs. “I hope so. I don’t know why, but Willow has made some remarks about Piper’s age before too.”

I glance back to the restroom, but there’s nothing to see. “Well, let’s hope they work out whatever it is.

Our beers arrive, and I take advantage of the fact that the women are gone.

“Are you and Willow dating?” I ask.

He takes a large sip, then sets his glass down. “We’re talking. She had a rough go with her ex and is a little gun-shy. She wants to get her own place and sort a few things out first.”

He fidgets with his napkin while he talks. One thing about Durango, he’s not a fidgeter normally. Unless something is really bothering him. This is the one tell that he’s had since the day I met him.

“You don’t want to wait,” I say.

He drops the napkin. “No, I don’t. This woman comes back into my life. We find out we both had crushes on each other years ago, and now here we are handed an opportunity to see where it could go, and she’s putting on the brakes before it can even begin.” He shakes his head. “I’m wondering if she’s still hung up on you.”

That takes me by surprise. “I thought she told you it was you she wanted the entire time. She was never hung up on me, even when we were doing whatever we did.”

He sighs. “Then why did she freak out over the fact you and Piper are dating?”

That is a good question, but I hope he’s wrong, for all our sakes. I drink down half my beer before I realize what I’ve done. I push it to the middle of the table.

Durango’s phone buzzes. He reads it, and the frown line between his brows deepens. “The senator has been questioned by the FBI and denies he has any involvement in trying to murder his wife and son.”

“Of course he’s going to deny it,” I say.

Durango’s brow shoots up. “He claims a junior senator has set him up.”

“Who?” I ask.

“She doesn’t say who, but she’s still texting.”

“Harding?”

He nods. After another minute of reading, he tosses his phone into the middle of the table. “Why can’t anything be straightforward?”

“What?” I ask.

“The senator provided some kind of proof that this junior senator was after his position and set up some kind of elaborate scheme to get him ousted.”

“So, they can arrest the other guy, and JB and his mom can go home,” I say as I finish my beer. I glance toward the bathrooms. “They’ve been gone too long. What if John found a way in from the back?”

Durango and I jump up and run to the bathroom as Willow and Piper walk out.

“Are you two all right?” Durango asks.

Willow cocks her head. “We’re great. Why were you running this way?”

“You have been gone a while, and we thought John got in.”

Piper loops her arm through mine. “No, we just needed to talk for a while. It’s all good. We should order. I’m hungry.”

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