Page 116 of Second Alarm
"I'll get my own. Drink yours, Ty."
He drinks it.
Under the table, he takes my hand. I let him.
The Just Coffee has a fourth movement.
At nine, Derek mentions the development project.
"Hey, speaking of bad business decisions — "
"Derek — "
" — the Wilder project is apparently falling apart."
"The resort thing?" I ask.
"The resort thing. Out past the river. Big fancy mountain resort. That billionaire guy, Colton Wilder. Apparently, he hurt his leg at the construction site on Tuesday. Wouldn't go to the ER. Made them call the local kinesiologist. The only one local is Laurel Finch."
"The kayak lady?"
"The kayak lady. Laurel runs that outfit out past the bridge. She's also a kinesiologist, which everybody forgets. She gets the call, shows up in paddling pants and a CPR kit. Wilder apparently wasn't pleased about being attended to by a woman."
"What happened."
"She told him to sit down and stop talking. His leg was fine, to ice it, to get over himself, and if he didn't listen to her, she was going to call his mother."
"Does she know his mother?"
"Nope. She said she'd find her, though."
Riley, across the table, is grinning. "I like her."
"Laurel Finch is a gem. Wait till Wilder finds out he has to be seen by her every day for the next six months because she's the only kinesiologist in a fifteen-hundred-mile radius. He's a man about to have a rough summer."
I file the name.Laurel Finch. Colton Wilder.The way you file a thing you're going to pick up again later.
At nine fifty-five we leave.
Ty and I walk out together under a sky that's purple at the top and still gold at the horizon, and we walk a block before he takes my hand, because Cal is behind us on the sidewalk, laughing with Aiden, and I’m sure Cal doesn't want to see us hold handsyet. I respect that. We've agreed to respect that. At the corner of Linden and First, Cal catches up.
"Brennan." He claps Ty on the shoulder.
"Cal."
"Dinner Sunday. Mom's."
"Okay,"
"You can bring wine." Cal says.
"Don’t I always bring the wine?"
"Don't cry at dinner," he says to me.
"Shut up."
"Love you."
