Page 20 of Finding Alfred
“That doesn’t answer my question. Why are you putting in a pool? The damn river back there has always been enough.”
He wasn’t lying. We’d grown up diving into that river. Hell, going fishing was our excuse to jump in and swim. We never gave a damn about catching anything, and we wouldn’t have known what to do with it if we had. But that wasn’t what this pool was about. “We’re not kids anymore, Brock. It’s not enough. I need a pool.”
“You going to blog about this?”
I wasn’t, but now that he’d mentioned it, maybe I would. I dug out my phone and started snapping pictures. “Great idea.” I’d work on that all summer, maybe stretch it out to three episodes to mark the progression. After my Seattle piece, of course, which was coming up next. I was almost finished. “Now back to shoveling, dude.”
“Jackie, is this about Alfred?”
“Why would you ask that?”
He shook his head. “You really are certifiable.”
I gave him my best maniacal laugh. “That is the nicest thing you ever said to me.” I didn’t tell him the truth. Let him figure it out, but in the end, Alfred wanted a pool, and I wanted his ass at my place.
Chapter fourteen
What the hell was that about? Jackie knew by now that I stopped in for coffee every morning. I showered, dressed, and headed out, trying to deny the anticipation the entire way. He didn’t need to do things for me, but the thrill of his special attention did stupid thingstome.
I parked in the town lot and headed over to Books Beans and Buns. Jackie sat at the front desk, pecking away at his keyboard when I walked in. “Hey.”
“Hey, back. How’re you this morning?”
“I haven’t had coffee yet.”
“Oh, right. Come on. I have something for you.” He rounded the counter and headed toward the coffee bar in the back.
I followed, mumbling, “So you said.”
He grabbed something off the counter and turned, extending an oversized cupcake withWelcome to Foggy Basinin tiny scrolly letters out to me.
“Uh…kind of late, isn’t it?” I took it—because cupcake! “Well, thanks?”
“Sure. That was nothing really. I—”
Brock and Eddy came in the back door. Greetings went around, and I realized that Eddy had become kind of a noisy dude. But he was laughing, and that was something he hadn’t done enough of in the past, so I didn’t hate it. “So I heard about your giant hole, Jackie.”
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. What the hell did he say? Was Jackie a bottom? And why was Eddy talking about it? Jackie glared at Eddy and mouthedshut up. Brock busted out laughing and ducked into the other room, apparently wanting to avoid whatever the hell this was.
“What?” Eddy asked. Innocently. Which made it even funnier.
And I needed to give him hell. “Tell me about this, uh, hole, Jackie?”
Eddy gasped. “You don’t know. Oh. Shit. Sorry, Jackie.” So something was going on and not with his ass.
He glared at Eddy again. “It’s supposed to be a surprise.”
Eddy wiped over his face as if he were exasperated. “Jackie. There is no way you’re keeping that a secret.” He turned to me. “It’s a giant hole—”
“Shut up. Damn.” Jackie stormed to the front of the store.
I patted Eddy’s shoulder to let him know I wasn’t upset, but I had to follow Jackie and find out what the fuck this was all about.
He sat on his stool, obviously pouting with his arms crossed over his chest and bottom lip poking out. Damn, that man was adorable.
“What’s going on, Jack?” I licked the edge of my cupcake. So sweet and yummy!
With a loud exhale, he threw his arms to the side. “Fine. I didn’t want to tell you until the concrete started going in this weekend. But…”
