“I just moved here this year,” Sterling told him. “I used to live in Auckland.”
“But he fell in love with a nice local girl,” Jack said, smirking. “And that was the end of that.”
Tione made a sound in the back of his throat. “You’re one to talk. You’re going to Mt. Everest for your girl.”
Michael’s gaze shot to Jack. “Seriously?”
He chipped at something on the table with his thumbnail. “Yeah, got the tickets and everything. We go in four months.”
“Wow.”
Logan returned from the kitchen with a bowl of dip and two bags of chips tucked under his arm. He opened the bags and placed them on the table, then grabbed a beer from a box on the floor and emptied it into a glass, which he pushed across to Michael.
“Hey, shit for brains.” Logan lobbed a pack of cards at Jack. “Your turn to deal.”
Jack shuffled the cards, and then they began. It had been a while since Michael played poker, and he was out of practice. What’s worse, Sterling was a stone-cold shark, and Tione was impossible to read. On top of that, his beer seemed to refill itself every time he turned his back.
“So, Michael, do you have a woman in your life, or is it just you?” Logan asked.
“Just me,” he replied. “It’s been that way for a while.”
“No intention to change?”
Instantly, an image of Bex flashed into his mind. “No.” The word was more forceful than necessary.
“Are you sure about that?” Logan smirked. “Don’t need a few minutes to think about it? I heard from Shane that you were asking after Bex.”
“Because I work with her.”
“Okay.” Logan held up his hands in a gesture of peace. “But Bex is a tough nut to crack, so if you decide you want to know more about her, this is a safe place to ask. As long as you want to make her happy, because she deserves a bit of joy in her life. Right, men?”
“Yes, but we won’t share anything that would be an invasion of privacy, or something you could use to harm her,” Kyle clarified.
“I appreciate that.” Michael smiled at each of them. “From both of you.”
They continued playing, and by the time the game ended, he’d lost the entire packet of skittles he’d been using as betting chips and his thoughts were sluggish and fuzzy.
It wasn’t until he left and the icy night breeze sobered him that he realized the other men had been topping up his beer when he wasn’t paying attention. He groaned. Who knew how much he’d drunk? And how would Bex react if he turned up on her doorstep with a hangover in the morning?
He walked his bike home, ate a sandwich to soak up the alcohol, and crawled into bed, feeling rather sorry for himself.
At dawn,Michael popped two acetaminophen, downed a bottle of Powerade, and showered so he didn’t smell like a brewery. Preparing for his upcoming visit to the fair with Bex and Izzy felt like getting ready for a date. One with a ready-made family. Only, Michael hadn’t dated in a really long time, and even after agonizing over everything last night, he still didn’t know what to wear or how he ought to behave. He wanted Izzy to like him, but a sneaky voice in the back of his mind kept reminding him that he was far more stressed than spending time with a kid warranted. He knew how to handle children. If he were truthful with himself, he also wanted to impress Bex.
In the end, he opted for jeans and a nice black jacket over a long-sleeved blue shirt. He didn’t want to turn up empty handed, so he cruised the streets in his car until he spotted a funky little ice cream parlor and cupcake store on the pavilion beside the beach. He parked and headed inside, noting a sign above the door that read “The Shack”. He rubbed his palms together to ward off the cold. The interior of the shop was retro-chic with shades of pink and green everywhere. A selection of ice creams occupied the right of the store while a glass cabinet full of prettily decorated cupcakes occupied the left.
Two women chatted behind the counter, a curvaceous redhead in a floral print dress that matched the style of the shop, and a petite blonde who smiled shyly when he met her eyes.
“Well, aren’t you just an eyeful?” the redhead announced, twice as loud as necessary. She grinned at him, and with her cat’s-eye makeup and cheeky smile, he got the feeling she was trouble. “Let’s see.” She tapped her lip, her gaze raking him from head to toe, then she snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it. James Marsden.” She turned to the blonde. “What do you think?”
The blonde tilted her head and studied him in the same way she might a painting, with nothing at all sexual in it. “Yeah, I see that.”
The redhead’s grin widened. “James it is. How do you do? I’m Faith, and this is my BFF Megan. What can we help you with?”
Michael frowned, completely baffled by the exchange. “I’d like some cupcakes, please.”
“What type?” Megan asked, in a softer tone than her friend.
“Uh.” He scanned the selection, seeing chocolate, apple spice, carrot, caramelized banana, and a selection of strange combinations he’d never heard of. “One carrot cupcake.” He recalled they were Bex’s favorite. Hopefully she still enjoyed them. “One of the apple spice. I need another, but I’m not sure which type.” He wanted to get something Izzy would like, too.