Dakota was taken aback. “Wow. Bartenders are better educated than I thought,” he said.
Lola laughed. “She said she took a lot of math courses in college and she kind of wanted to see if she remembered any of it.”
“Huh,” he said, impressed.
“She remembers apparently,” Lola said. “Excuse me.” She turned and went to check on the boys.
Dakota took out his cell phone and made use of that phone number he’d recently scored. I know Neely went in the bar. Will you text me when she leaves and the coast is clear?
He sipped his coffee. A minute later he had a return text. Yes. You’re pathetic.
Family connexions were always worth preserving, good company always worth seeking.
—JANE AUSTEN
8
DAKOTA TOOK HIS usual seat at the bar.
Sidney gave the space in front of him a wipe and she was grinning. “Have you been hiding in your car? Slinked down in the seat so no one would see you?”
“No, I went to the diner and had coffee with Lola. I thought about having my dinner there but I know how much you like watching me eat.”
“It is a particular thrill,” she said. “Aren’t you being a little ridiculous? Can’t you keep the women at bay?”
“I had a doubleheader tonight. First Alyssa caught me on the sidewalk and she wanted a little showdown. Apparently she’s been worried that I was avoiding her because of some gossip I might’ve heard. I didn’t hear any. I told her I’m seeing someone.”
“Who?” Sid asked, putting his beer in front of him.
“You wouldn’t know her,” he said, lifting his mug and taking a big sip. “Ahh,” he said. “Then, after I got away from Alyssa, I ran into Neely a little down the block. Call me crazy but I think she was lurking. Hiding in the darkness. I didn’t see her, then she popped out of thin air. She said she wanted to apologize for her aggressiveness and she wanted to start over. I can’t think of a scarier thought. There’s something about her... She came up with this story that some guy she barely dated was practically stalking her and he might’ve been the one to—” Dakota cleared his throat.
“You’re hiding something,” Sid said.
“Can I have a Juicy Lucy, please?” he asked nicely.
“Yes, when you tell me what you’re hiding.”
“Why do you care?”
“I might have to rethink this wedding date if you’re sketchy.”
“I’m not the sketchy one!” he insisted.
He looked at her. She had one hand on her hip and a stern expression that said she wasn’t buying any of his bullshit and suddenly he wanted to look at that face every day for the rest of his life. How that happened, right then, right there, he had no idea. He could not lie to her. He sighed. “That night that Neely tricked me with her nonexistent flat tire, when I went back to get my car after dinner, one of my tires was slashed. The other three were deflated. Four flats.”
“But you didn’t come back here,” she said, perplexed.
“No. I called my brother and a tow truck. We talked to Stan, the chief. I didn’t want to mention it.”
“Why, for Pete’s sake?”
“I didn’t want to seem complicated...”
She laughed a little. Then she turned and put in the order for his hamburger. She checked around the bar to see if anyone needed anything, then returned to Dakota. “You are such a girl,” she said.
“I am not a girl!”
“We’re all complicated, just in different ways. I admit, I have never grappled with the problem of having many handsome men want me,” she said.
“And there is no explanation for that,” he said, grumbling. “Can I walk you home tonight?”
“Or drive me home,” she said. “But don’t you have an early start tomorrow?”
“Don’t worry about me,” he said, though he was experiencing a little surprise. I must have finally suffered enough, Dakota thought. God is throwing me a bone. “So,” he said, changing the subject, “I learned you’re helping Lola’s kid with physics...”
“I am. Trace. Good kid. Very smart. He works hard in here. He mostly busses and does dishes but every now and then Rob lets him take orders.”
“You’re good at physics?” he asked, making a face.
“High school physics, Dakota. I’m surprised I can even remember any of it. I think he’s teaching me more than I’m teaching him. But that’s the key—finding a way to figure it out. If we all went into a subject already knowing everything, there would be nothing to learn. Of course he doesn’t already know it—that’s why he’s studying it.”
“You would make a good teacher,” he said.
“I’m not patient enough,” she said. “About tonight—I don’t get off work till nine. And I have to go right home. I want to make sure the boys are in, chores and homework done, that sort of thing.”
“You could go inside, check on them, then come back outside to kiss your new boyfriend,” he said with a grin.
“I could probably do that, if I had a boyfriend. But not for too long. We get up early, too.” Then she turned away and went to serve the bar.
Dakota sat at the bar for two and a half hours while Sid finished her shift, then Rob came from the back wearing a short apron and relieved her of her duty. Dakota nearly leaped to his feet. Then, with a hand on her elbow, he walked with her down the street to where his SUV was parked.
“I can’t believe you’re letting me take you home,” he said.
“It’s four blocks. You’re going to have to work your charms fast.”
“When you check the kids, what does that mean?” he asked her.
“They might need something or have some crisis, like an assignment due tomorrow that they haven’t started or something they were supposed to buy but didn’t or need a signed permission slip. But Rob usually takes care of those things over dinner. He takes a break from about five till six, maybe more, maybe less. He brings dinner home, goes over the day with them. Sometimes he has to run to the store for them. Sometimes he has to pick them up from practice—baseball or track. We really need another car—Finn is ready to take on some of this stuff. Then it’s back to the bar till closing. One of us is usually available to be with the boys with just a few gaps here and there.”
“A working family,” he said. “I suppose this is how it will be with Elizabeth.”
“It’s good for kids to grow up with working parents—children emulate their parents. They may not listen to them but they’ll copy them, whether they want to or not. That can have a downside if they see their parents doing awful things. Or sometimes there’s an upside to seeing their parents doing awful things—they’re determined to break out of the dysfunction.”
Dakota wondered what she’d think of the way he grew up. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. But his dad was crazy and his mother was a “stay-at-home mom,” and that hadn’t given him any advantages.
She gave him directions and within a couple of minutes he was parked in front of her house.
“Let me get the lay of the land and then I’ll come back and let you know what’s going on. If everything is cool, we can talk awhile,” Sid said. She jogged up the walk and let herself in.
We talked all night. I don’t want to talk anymore, Dakota thought.
Within five minutes she was back. She jumped into the front seat, leaned over the console and kissed him. Not exactly a deep and passionate kiss but not just a starter kiss, either. She pulled away and just smiled at him.
“Cheater,” he said. “You brushed your teeth.”
“I thought you might appreciate the effort.”
“Tell me something, Sid. When did you decide you were going to give me a chance?”
“I’m not exactly sure. You’ve grown on me. I think maybe you’re nice. You worked at the soup kitchen without me. You’re consistent—that’s a good thing. You make me laugh.”
“I’ve been working that angle,” he said.
“I like that,” she said.
“It sure felt like that wasn’t going to be enough,” he said.
“Maybe the rest of it has nothing to do with you,” she said. She turned to look at him. “I’m not a little girl, Dakota. I want to have a normal life, too.”
His eyes grew large. “What’s a normal life to you?”
“Oh, nothing extraordinary. Just friends, family, work I like, a little social life, maybe a guy. You should get a medal. You’re the first guy I’ve even considered.”
“I’m honored.”
She grew serious. “I’d like to tell you something about my divorce. It might help you to understand why I’m like I am when it comes to relationships. I don’t know who knows—I don’t talk about it. Rob might’ve said things, I don’t know.”
“I don’t gossip,” he said.
“I met my husband when we were both in school. He was a medical student, poor, so I worked while he studied. That was our arrangement and I was happy to do it. The moment he finished his residency, he left me. He said he hadn’t been happy and he’d been with someone else. I had no idea. I fell apart. I’m sorry that you have to be on the receiving end of this, but the fact is, I might never trust a man again. But over a year later, I’m not sure I want to live my whole life without one, either. There it is—if you have expectations, you could be very disappointed. You might do better with Alyssa or Neely.”
He put an arm around her and pulled her a little closer. “That’s not gonna happen. I’m sorry about the husband, Sid. I get it. Someone left me suddenly—I had no warning, either. It was hell.”
“You weren’t married, though,” she said.
“No,” he confirmed. “It was still terrible. But I don’t have any expectations for us. A few hopes, maybe...”