Page 19 of The Midnight Order
His laugh trails off as he takes another swallow.
“You know, I should have you two by for dinner sometime.”
I don’t know where that came from. Maybe the small-town vibes are getting to my head.
“Oh, we’d love that. I know Karen would. Social butterfly, that one. And you wouldn’t mind inviting her in?”
“Uhh, no?! If I invite you over, I’m not going to force you to eat with the termites.” I laugh at my own joke, and he follows suit.
“Well, I’d best be getting this paperwork done. Bill’s a stickler for being on schedule and expecting me to be finished soon.” He hands his mug back to me, and I place it in the sink.
“I never got your name,” I tell him.
“Oh, I do that all the time. So sorry.” He places his hand out for me to shake. “I’m Ulysses. It’s a pleasure to meet you…”
“Silver.”
“What a pretty name.” He holds onto my hand for a second too long, and it’s when I realize the chill settling into my bones at his touch, like my subconscious is warning me of something.
However, I can’t decide what it’s trying to tell me, and Ulysses is the most normal resident of Blackmoore I’ve met yet, so I choose to brush it off.
“Thank you for the coffee,” he tells me, closing the door behind him as he steps back onto the porch.
I sigh, a bit shaken by my interaction with Ulysses, and then mentally stuff it into the box, where now the lid won’t close because it’s stuffed full, its contents bulging.
Ulysses finished in under an hour, giving me a copy of the paper confirming Bill’s initial suspicion.
I have to tent, and it’s going to cost thirty grand.
To forget about the cost and the hassle of staying in a hotel for a week, I’m at the local dive bar I found on Ulysses’ recommendation when I asked where I could get a stiff drink.
The Blue Bucketis small and packed to the brim. I found a stool early on, thank goodness, and I’m not letting it go to waste.
I ordered the special: a round of beers in a blue bucket, and I only have one left.
My bladder is done with me by the time I crack the lid on the final one, and I know that when I stand up, the room’s going to spin, and the alcohol is going to lace my veins like a freight train.
“This seat taken?” someone asks, and I turn to find Nova smiling back at me.
I look down at an empty stool to my right. “Nope. Go right ahead. I honestly hadn’t realized it was empty.”
There was someone beside me when I registered last.
“Drowning your sorrows in a blue bucket already, newbie? I bet you’d last at least a month before I found you here, warming a stool.”
“Well, sorry to disappoint.”
She laughs and taps me on the shoulder. “Ahh, don’t worry, it was only five dollars to enter my bet.”
“Wait, what?” I slur, the room blurring around me the more the alcohol rages through me.
“Bourbon on the rocks, please?” she asks the bartender.
He nods and pours her order as she hands over cash.
“So, rough day?”
“Thirty grand worth of rough. You know, I thought it would be easy to spend my hard-earned money on that house, but then my foot went through the porch, and Ulysses brought me the amazing news about fixing it. Well, shit, not even fixing it. I have to tent before I can fix it. Bill’s still working on the renovation estimate. He’s probably somewhere right now with his red pen and clipboard, crushing my dreams one calculator button at a time.” My words are rushed and slurred, and Nova is highly entertained. I can tell by the amused look on her face.
