Sidetracked (The Busy Bean)

by R. L. Kenderson

  She went to the back to grab more bakery items to fill the case. As she restocked, she looked at me out of the corner of her eye while I straightened up the counter.

  “So, is everything really okay with Gabe? You’re not having any troubles with the new place, are you, that you were too worried to share with Lauren?”

  “Everything is fine. I rarely see Gabe, and I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t afraid to ask him to do something. But he sure is in a bad mood a lot though, isn’t he?” I didn’t want Audrey to think I was a gossip, but since she’d brought up the subject of Gabe, maybe she wouldn’t notice my prying. “Has he always been like that?”

  “As long as I’ve known him.” She stood and closed the bakery case. “But I didn’t grow up here. You’re better off asking Zara if she knows his backstory.”

  Dang it.

  “But I do know that his mom wasn’t from around here, and she left him and his brother with their dad when they were kids. They never heard from her again—or so the rumor goes. Whether that is part of the reason he’s the way he is, I have no idea.” She shrugged. “I mean, Max is nice, and he grew up in the same house.”

  Poor Gabe and Max. I didn’t have the best relationship with my mother, but she had never left me. Even in high school, when she’d claimed I was giving her gray hair.

  “That’s still kind of sad.”

  “Yeah.”

  Another customer came in, and all conversations of Gabe were cut off.

  I had hoped that finding out more about him would make me feel better about his sudden coldness toward me, but all it did was make me more interested in him.

  14

  Charli

  After work, I went home, ate a quick dinner, showered, and got ready for the night.

  As I picked out my clothes and put on my makeup, I had to remind myself that I was going to a small-town bar and not a club in a big city. I wanted to look nice, but I didn’t need everyone staring at me because they immediately knew I wasn’t from around here. I didn’t want to stand out. I wanted to blend in.

  I chose a black flared skirt that hit just above the knee and a simple red top. I left my hair down around my shoulders and skipped the flashy earrings I would normally wear out. I couldn’t, however, resist wearing my red lipstick.

  I really loved my natural color, and I was lucky that my lips weren’t as pale as the rest of me. But sometimes, a girl just needed that extra oomph to make something pop.

  Since the Gin Mill was right next to The Busy Bean, I decided to walk and opted for flats that would be comfortable after being on my feet all day at work. And since it was autumn, I put on a jacket to keep me warm now that the sun had gone down.

  I put my money and ID in a small purse that I could wear crisscross over my body, grabbed my keys to my place, and walked out.

  I quickly flipped on my porch light before locking the door.

  I turned around at the same time I heard, “Where are you going?”

  Gabe was standing on the lawn, hands halfway in his pockets, hip cocked. He had a flannel shirt on, but it was unbuttoned. The muscles on his bare chest rippled under the porch light.

  God, he looks good. Maybe tonight, I would find someone who would remind me why I had a vagina.

  I wish Gabe would remind me why I had a vagina.

  My gaze traveled up his chest to his grim face and his hard eyes.

  So, he was probably the last guy who would be willing to go near my vagina.

  I wondered if I went home with someone, if everyone in town would know about it. I supposed I didn’t have to worry about that unless I found someone.

  “Charli.”

  “What?”

  The corner of Gabe’s mouth ticked up in what actually might be the first smile I’d gotten all week. “I asked where you were going.”

  “Oh. To the Gin Mill with your sister-in-law and brother.”

  His shoulders seemed to relax, which was odd. “Oh.”

  I came down the stairs. “Yeah, I met Lauren today, and she asked me. She seems nice.”

  “She is.”

  I moved to walk past him but looked over my shoulder. “I guess I’ll see you later then. Have a good night.”

  But Gabe wasn’t listening. The momentary semi-happiness vanished as he narrowed his eyes at my mouth.

  He scoffed and spun on his heel. “Fuck,” he said and stomped up to his half of the house.

  “You have a good night too, Charli,” I said to nothing but the night air.

  It was after eight by the time I got to the Gin Mill, and Lauren stood up and waved as soon as I walked through the door.

  I made my way over to her and Max’s table.

  “You made it,” she said.

  “Thanks for inviting me. Hi, Max,” I said to her smiling husband.

  “Hey, Charli.” Max stood. “I was going to get Lauren and myself a drink. What do you want?”

  When in Vermont…

  “Surprise me.”

  He smiled. “Will do.”

  I pulled up a chair next to the wall adjacent to her and sat.

  “You look great,” Lauren said.

  I wrinkled my nose. “Do I look like I’m trying too hard? I haven’t been anywhere but The Busy Bean, the grocery store, and the hardware store in the last two weeks. I got a little excited at the idea of going out.”

  She shook her head. “No way. You look perfect. I love the lipstick.”

  I grinned. “Thank you. You don’t look too shabby yourself.”

  She fluffed her hair as Max came back with our drinks.

  “Alec brews his own beer. I hope it’s okay because that’s what I got you.”

  “I love beer,” I said, taking my glass from him. I took a sip. I didn’t have a strong palate, so I didn’t know what all the different flavors were that I was tasting, but I liked whatever Max had picked out for me.

  The three of us chatted for a while as we drank until Audrey showed up with a handsome man who had to be her husband.

  “Hey, everyone. Griff, this is our new barista, Charli. Charli, this is my husband, Griff.”

  Griff and I shook hands.

  “And these two tagalongs are Griff’s cousins, Kyle and Kieran.”

  “Hello,” I said, noticing the family resemblance.

  “Come, sit down,” Max said, looking around.

  Our table made for four wasn’t big enough. Unfortunately, there were no other tables free that were bigger or that we could push next to ours.

  Max brought one lone chair over. “Lauren, it looks like you’re sitting on my lap.” That freed up one other spot.

  “Princess, you know you’re always welcome in my lap,” Griff said.

  “Unless Charli wants to sit on mine,” the brother I thought was named Kyle said.

  “Maybe later. I need to get to know you first.”

  Everyone laughed.

  While both Kyle and Kieran were good-looking, they didn’t stir anything in me.

  After we were all seated, the owner, Alec, came over to say hi to everyone. That was how I found out that he was married to Griffin’s sister, May.

  I had known Colebury was small, but I didn’t know it was that small.

  After he left, I said, “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.”

  All eyes turned to me.

  “What?” Lauren said.

  “You know, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. The game where you can connect another actor to him in six degrees or less. I feel like that’s all of you. Alec is married to May. May’s brother is Griff. Griff’s wife is Audrey. Audrey is my boss. My landlord is Max. And Max’s wife is Lauren.” I smiled. “I connected Alec to Lauren in six degrees. Of course, we could just cut all of them out and say that Alec and Lauren live in the same town. But you get the gist of the game. My friends and I used to play it on road trips when we were in college.”

  “I want to try,” Kieran said. “But with Kevin Bacon.”

  “Okay.” I tapped my chin. “How about Sa
muel L. Jackson? Can you connect the two?”

  “But I want to play too,” Kyle said.

  I chuckled. “You can each figure it out in your head. Whoever connects them faster wins.”

  The two brothers went to work, thinking of movies and actors, and I stood up from my chair.

  “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go find the restroom.”

  Lauren pointed me in the correct direction.

  “I’ll be right back. Don’t let anyone steal my chair.”

  15

  Gabe

  I opened the door to the Gin Mill and immediately regretted my decision to come. I was about to turn around and leave when my brother spotted me and motioned me over.

  Crap. I couldn’t leave now without raising questions.

  I could always tell Max I was in a piss-poor mood because it was the truth.

  When he had texted me that afternoon, asking if I wanted to go for a drink, I had said no. I had plans to work in my garage all night. I was running behind on an order because I’d gotten sidetracked, working on something else, and I needed to play catch-up.

  I wasn’t someone who had FOMO. I didn’t even care when I saw Charli step out of her front door in her cute little outfit. I still planned to stay home.

  But ever since she turned around to say good night and I saw her lipstick in the porch light, I couldn’t think of anything else.

  Even though I knew she was with my brother and sister-in-law, I kept picturing all these guys hitting on her. Then, I imagined her kissing one of them and doing something much worse with that mouth of hers.

  And it’d made me envious as hell.

  So, here I was, walking over to Max and Lauren’s table, regretting that I had let my jealous dick lead me here tonight.

  To make matters worse, I didn’t see Charli anywhere.

  Fuck. Had she already found a guy to take her home?

  I looked at the only empty chair at the table and took it as my own.

  “Hey, that’s—” Kyle said but shut up when I shot him a look.

  I didn’t know Griffin Shipley’s cousins well, so I always forgot who was who, and I didn’t really care either.

  I briefly looked up at Lauren sitting on Max’s lap and Audrey sitting on Griff’s and wondered why neither of them had taken this chair.

  Before I could ask, someone spoke up before me, “Did you guys figure it out?”

  I looked over to see Charli walking up to the table.

  “Oh,” she said when she saw me. She smiled, and my gaze went straight to her fuck-me red lips. “You took my chair.”

  She bit on the plump lower lip as she looked around, and I had to turn away as my jeans got tight.

  “Darn. There are still no free chairs,” she said.

  I was about to stand up and give her the seat back when one of the Shipley cousins said, “You can sit on my lap, Charli.” He held his arms out. “The offer still stands.”

  Before she could say anything, I slid my arm around her waist and yanked her down.

  She yelped in surprise.

  I looked at the cousin. “Too late. She’s already found a place to sit.”

  She looked over her shoulder at me and, in the process, grazed her ass over my swollen dick.

  I groaned quietly.

  “Are you okay with this?”

  “I set you here, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, but you don’t seem very happy to have me sitting here.”

  No, I liked it way too much. Tonight, instead of fantasizing about her masturbating, I was going to picture her riding me on this chair.

  “I’m fine,” I bit out.

  She looked like she wanted to say more, but one of the Shipleys spoke up, “Hey, Charli. We each came up with an answer for you.”

  She turned to face the cousins. “You did? Whatcha got?”

  “I’ll go first,” the cousin who had offered Charli his lap said. “Are you ready?”

  “I am,” she said, and I felt her body relax more into mine.

  “Okay. Samuel L. Jackson was in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, which was directed by Quentin Tarantino. Then, Quentin Tarantino was in Reservoir Dogs with Chris Penn. And Chris Penn was in Footloose with Kevin Bacon. That’s three degrees.”

  “Great job. What about you?” Charli asked the other cousin.

  “Samuel L. Jackson was in Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr. Robert Downey Jr. was in Tropic Thunder with Tom Cruise. And Tom Cruise was in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon. I got the same amount.” He sounded disappointed.

  “What are you guys doing?” I asked.

  Charli looked over her shoulder at me again.

  Fuck. I wish she’d stop moving.

  “We’re playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Do you know it?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  Her face brightened. “You do?”

  She’d completely missed the unfortunate part of my answer.

  “We’re connecting Samuel L. Jackson to Kevin Bacon. So far, Kyle and Kieran got three degrees.”

  I snorted. “I could do it in two.”

  “No way,” one of the cousins said. “Not that fast. We had to think about it while Charli was in the restroom.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Kevin Bacon was in Animal House with Donald Sutherland, who was in A Time to Kill with Samuel L. Jackson. Two degrees.”

  “Damn,” the other cousin said.

  Charli smiled at me over her shoulder. “Good job, Gabe.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Do another one,” the cousin demanded. “I want to see if you can do it that fast again.”

  I was going to say no, but when I saw Charli’s face, I gave in. “Fine.”

  “Charli, does everyone have to be connected to Kevin Bacon?”

  “I don’t know the official rules, but my friends and I would sometimes pick two actors and connect them.”

  “You pick someone, and I’ll pick someone,” one cousin said to the other.

  “I’ll pick one,” Griff interrupted.

  “Okay,” his cousin said.

  “You say yours first,” Griff said.

  “Alyssa Milano. She’s hot. Who’s your person?”

  “Dermot Mulroney.”

  I smiled. “That’s easy. They were both in Where the Day Takes You.”

  “What?” a cousin said. “You made that movie up.”

  “No, I didn’t. It’s not well known, but it’s a great movie. You should watch it sometime.”

  Kyle or Kieran grabbed his phone. A few seconds later, he said, “Holy shit, Gabe’s right.”

  “I know I am.”

  Charli smiled at me again, but this time, she looked me up and down, as if she was appreciating what she was seeing. “That was pretty impressive, Gabe,” she said in a low voice so only I could hear.

  I wanted to pull her to me and kiss the hell out of her.

  A waitress walked up to our table and asked, “Can I get anyone anything?”

  I tore my eyes from Charli.

  “God, yes,” I said to the server. “A beer.” And a bag of ice for my crotch.

  16

  Charli

  We were probably into our fifteenth game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon when I noticed that I was lying back on Gabe, spread out and comfortable.

  When he’d first pulled me down, I had been nervous. And confused.

  He’d been avoiding me all week and only seemed to be angry when we spoke, yet he’d chosen to share his chair with me. I didn’t get it.

  I didn’t think he did either because he’d been tense too.

  But after a few drinks, a relaxing atmosphere, and fun conversation, I noticed that Gabe had loosened up. And I had to wonder if it was going to last. Was he going to go back to avoiding me after we went back home tonight?

  I supposed there was only one way to find out.

  I waited until we were done playing our game and the group started talking about something else to pounce.

  I adjusted myself on Gabe’s lap,
so I was sitting sideways. I wanted to see his face.

  “Do you hate me?”

  He frowned. “No.”

  “Are you mad at me?”

  “No.”

  “Then, what is it? Whenever I’ve seen you all week, you act like you’d rather be anywhere but around me.”

  “It’s not you.”

  “It’s you?” I finished for him. “We’re not even in a relationship, and you’re giving me that line.” I bit my lip as a thought came to me. “Is it because of what I told Felix? Because I explained to him that I had made it up because I was upset and tired.”

  “I don’t care about you bragging to your ex that I’m hung like a horse and I make you come.” He looked me in the eye. “I’ve been feeling guilty.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “About what? Sure, you charged me two months’ rent to move in, but you’ve been helpful ever since.”

  A slight chuckle escaped out of Gabe’s mouth, and I was momentarily shocked. The man didn’t laugh.

  He rubbed his bottom lip, and I wanted to kiss him. I’d never kissed a man with a beard before. I wondered what it would feel like on my face. And other parts of my body.

  I got a shiver at the thought.

  “It’s not because of the rent.”

  “Then, what is it? If you don’t tell me, we’re going to have this awkwardness between us.”

  “I’m not sure about that.”

  “I am.”

  He sighed, and I knew I had convinced him.

  “If I tell you, do you promise not to run away, screaming?”

  I made an X over my heart. “I promise.”

  Unless he confessed that he was a murderer or rapist, he wasn’t going to scare me away.

  He studied my face. “I heard you the other night in your bedroom. We have thin walls.”

  I didn’t get it. “Heard me?”

  “With your toy?”

  With my toy? “Oh.” I felt my eyes go round and my face heat. That toy.

  “Yeah.”

  “But I still don’t understand why you feel guilty. It’s not your fault you could hear me.”

  He drew me close and pushed my hair back with his nose, so he could speak in my ear. “Instead of leaving the room like a gentleman would, I might have touched myself while I listened to you come.”