“Two hundred dollars,” I answer as he hands me the glass.
It’s after midnight. The music and lights, aside from those hanging on the front of my tent, long since turned off. A few stragglers are out there, still cleaning up. Guards walk the grounds, but for all intents and purposes, the festival is over for the day.
“That’s not too bad.” Tris sits.
“You must know Lisa Davies?”
“Yep, Chari’s friend.”
“She hooked me up too.”
Lisa owns a sign business and has a ton of contacts, including a guy who creates custom tents.
“Custom Creations?”
Of course he knows them.
“Yep.” I take a sip. “Owner is a nice guy, knows his stuff for sure.”
“What’s your favorite color?”
My hand freezes halfway to my mouth. “My favorite color?”
Talk about an abrupt change in topic.
“First it’s custom tents and next it will be the best inventory software. Figured I’d head it off.”
No shop talk.
“It’s a harder rule to follow than I thought.” I think about his question for a second. “Green. But not grass green. Hunter green. What’s yours?”
“Hunter green. Huh. That’s different. I think blue. Just regular blue.”
“Favorite vacation spot,” I fire off.
“Italy.”
“Ugh, I’m so jealous. I’ve never been.”
“You’ve got to go. Stay at Enzo and Chari’s. Their place is less than two hours from the border. You can start with Lake Como and go south from there.”
“Oh, sure, no problem. I can easily take off a few weeks and watch the restaurant get driven into the ground.”
He laughs.
“You have a point. Ok, what’s yours?”
That’s an easy one. “New Orleans.”
He seems surprised. “Of all the places in the world?”
“Well, I haven’t been to all the places in the world yet. But so far, yes. And why do you look so surprised?”
Tris shifts in his seat.
Stop thinking about that kiss.
It’s just so damn hard when he’s . . . right there. Just a few feet away. And his lips, holy hell. They’re perfect. That kiss was perfect.