Page 90 of Seer
“So, Butch—sorry, Brantleigh,” Cal said. “What are you doing with yourself these days?” He blinked innocently at the man across the table.
Brantleigh puffed up. “I run three car dealerships. Mercedes, BMW, and Jaguar.”
Cal made an exaggerated thinking face. “Oh. You mean your dad’s dealerships?”
“He’s given complete control over to me.”
“Ah.”
Fantine coughed and immediately took a sip of her drink.
Brantleigh asked, “How did the two of you get together?” He didn’t bother hiding the disbelief in his tone. Asshole.
Cal tilted his head toward me with a raised eyebrow. “Do you want to tell him, or shall I?”
I raised an eyebrow back. “By all means, go ahead.” This should be good. I lifted my beer bottle to my mouth.
Cal shrugged and said, “His mother set us up.”
I almost spewed out my beer.
When I had recovered, Cal turned to me and said, “What? That’s what it boils down to, right?”
“Um....” I tried to think of something to say to play along with whatever tale he was spinning, but I had nothing.
Cal looked at the others and turned his free hand palm up. “My friend Felix is dating one of Greg’s good friends. Greg mentioned in front of them that his mom has the best recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Felix knows I like to make cookies, so he got Greg’s mom’s number for me. I spoke to her on the phone, and after I made my cookies, she asked me to drop some by for Greg at the pet resort so he could have a little taste of home.”
Oh, that was good.
He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “She was totally trying to set us up.” He let go of my hand and picked up his beer.
Losing the intimacy of the mind-to-mind bond was an unwelcome shock. I tucked my hair behind my ear. “I hadn’t really thought about it like that.” Since that wasn’t the way it happened. I sent amusement through our connection, and Cal grinned.
Ruben boomed out a laugh from over by the grill. “Greg, your mother is a force of nature.”
Brantleigh continued to look between me and Cal, but he didn’t ask any more questions.
Ruben called out to Karla to help him with plates, so she got up and went over to the grill.
“What do you do, Fantine?” Cal asked.
She smiled. “I’m a veterinarian.”
“No shit? That’s awesome. You and Greg should trade pet stories.”
She and I laughed. She said, “I have some doozies for sure.”
Karla and Ruben came back with plates full of steak, baked potatoes, and grilled vegetables.
“This looks delicious,” I said, taking my plate from Ruben.
After he sat down, I asked him how Jon, the new employee I’d referred to him, was working out. I was pleased when Ruben had nothing but praise for him. Then we touched briefly on the timing for the renovations of my new house.
Hmmm. If we were boyfriends now—and how exciting was that!—I should probably take Cal to see the place. Especially since the strength of our connection meant he’d almost certainly end up living there with me.
Cal jumped when Karla addressed him.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I was focused on this amazing food. What did you say?”
