Chapter Ten
Bo
“I was thinking of adopting a polar bear.”
I didn’t think too much about Louie’s statement, just focused on the game of eight-ball we were playing. With the stick lined up to the five ball, I angled it just right so when I hit the ball it flew into the pocket in Louie’s corner.
Then I walked around the table and studied how I needed to angle the stick to get my last one in before aiming for the black ball and winning this game. “Good for you, man,” I replied, still not sure why he was adopting a polar bear. It seemed a bit out of the blue to me, but whatever.
He moved around the table now, too, and placed a hand on the top of his stick before pointing to my ball. “Are you sure you want to try for that pocket?”
I blew outward and gave him my full attention now, pausing and leaning my stick against the wall as I crossed my arms. “All right, that does it. What’s going on?”
Let me explain because you don’t have the full story here. See, Louie was finally back in town through the new year—no more traveling, aside from his honeymoon. He invited me over to his place for beers and a guys’ night of shooting some pool. It was exactly what I was hoping we’d have time to do before his wedding.
But ever since I got here he’d talked about the weirdest (read: most random) stuff. At first, it was Santa’s tracker games online, then some app he found that could name a star after Fiona, a place in Nantucket he saw in a brochure, and now this. . . adopting a polar bear. So now you can see why I was right and truly baffled, especially when we were playing such a good game.
“What?” Louie shrugged, acting like he had no clue what I was talking about. “The polar bear would be for Fiona, not me.” Not the point. “She’s all for protecting nature and this is a good cause. Did you know that—”
I put a hand up. “Dude, I don’t care about fast facts about polar bears or any other species if that’s where this is going.”
He sighed and shook his head, his gaze dropping to his shoes. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry.”
“What are you talking about?” I was no therapist, but even I could see all this blabber was really about something else entirely. “Are you nervous about the wedding?” I hedged because that would make sense to me.
“What?” he asked, sounding incredulous. “No way, it’s not that.”
“Then what’s going on because I thought we were playing pool, but it seems like you have something else on your mind.”
“Fiona asked me to try to get you to talk about Izzy, that’s why I keep bringing up stuff that leads back to women, um, Izzy,” he explained and leaned against the table, crossing his arms now, too. “But I’m no good at this chick stuff, sorry, so let’s just pretend I did what she asked and you told me about Izzy.”
I felt like I was talking to Lassie. “What about Izzy?”
“I don’t know, Fiona heard Izzy was helping you enjoy Christmas again and I know that topic is off limits, so. . . .”
I exhaled and looked around the room. Was I being pranked? “You brought up Christmas within the first ten minutes with that Santa tracker stuff. Which, by the way, who cares about that anyway? It’s not like you and Fiona have kids or anything. What, you mean to tell me you play that stupid game for fun?”
He flipped me the bird. “Some of us actually like the holidays.”
“I don’t mind them,” I mumbled.
“Since when?” he grumbled, giving me a yeah-right look and tapped the edge of the table. “You’re like a real-life Scrooge.”
“I’m not that bad,” I defended. “And you know I didn’t grow up in a town centered around mistletoe and tinsel like you did.”
“What can I say?” He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just that cool.”
“Or lame,” I disputed.
“Whatever, dude.” Then he spat out, “Why don’t you just put us both out of our misery and answer the question—what’s going on with you and Izzy and apparently Christmas now?”
Truth was, I really didn’t want to talk about Izzy. “Well, I don’t think she and I are anywhere close to adopting a polar bear, but maybe a blue-footed booby. They need saving, too, you know?”
He smirked, understanding me and my intention to avoid answering his question directly. Izzy and I were friends, I supposed you could say, so wasn’t that enough? It was a ton more than I thought we’d ever be when we first met.
Playing along now, he replied, “Sounds good. Just make sure you work out who’s getting the plush one on the weekends. When you adopt, you only get one, you know. That can cause a tricky custody arrangement.”
I didn’t see why we had to go talking about this, even if his soon-to-be wife put him up to it. This wasn’t some love song or something. I didn’t write in a diary and, frankly, I had nothing to say. There was nothing going on between Izzy and me. “If you need to tell Fiona something, you can tell her this,” I paused before carefully crafting my answer. I didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea. “Izzy isn’t as bad as I originally thought.”
He nodded. “I can work with this.”
As much fun as this was, I raked a hand through my hair and picked up my stick again. “Good. Now are we going to finish this game so I can kick your butt or what?”
Laughing, he answered, “Yeah, yeah, sure.”
Pleased, I lined up the stick and was about to hit the ball to win the game when I heard Louie ask, “Wait! Not bad?” just as I made my move.
But his outburst caused me to apply too much pressure.
That was it, all my concentration was lost and the ball hit the wall of the table. It was so far from the hole it wasn’t even funny. I cursed under my breath and exhaled. Apparently, this wasn’t over and we were going to talk about this some more. Don’t get me wrong, I liked hanging out with Louie, he was my best friend for crying out loud, but I didn’t care for the third degree.
“Right, that’s what I said.”
He stared at the table, clearly trying to determine which ball he should try to shoot next, not that his head was in the game. “With all this wedding stuff—thanks again by the way—you’ve been spending plenty of time together, right, so that’s it?”
Fine, he clearly wasn’t letting this go, so I’d say it. “Yeah, she’s fine. I’ve never met anyone like her.”
But that didn’t mean anything.
In fact, it wasn’t really saying anything at all if you thought about it.
Technically, the acrobat from the circus I went to when I was a kid wasn’t like anyone I’d met before and I wasn’t interested in her.
“Okay,” Louie replied.
“Okay?”
What the heck? That vague answer did the trick?
I laid my stick down and slumped into one of this leather chairs, determined to forget about the game for now since he obviously wasn’t interested in playing anymore. I picked up a beer from his mini fridge and popped the cap.
He nodded and sat down next to me, reaching for his own bottle. “I don’t want to pry, just got to keep the fiancée happy.” Then he took a swig and added, “But just so you know, Izzy is never leaving this town.”
I did a double take. He thought I didn’t think that? Of course I knew that. Izzy and this town were like peanut butter and jelly. They didn’t have to be together, but when they were, magic happened. But still, I didn’t know why he was telling me that. “Why say that?” I asked, cocking a brow.
“I’m just stating facts. If you did want to start dating. . . .”
Oh, so this was where this was going. I wasn’t even going to entertain that notion, though, because I never said anything to make him believe I wanted to be with her, did I? Plus, it wasn’t like Izzy would be interested in me. And even if she was, it wouldn’t last, right? Someone like me didn’t land someone like her. No, someone like me ended up alone with nothing but his work to keep him warm at night.
I brushed off his insinuation. “Dude, just stop. You’re getting way ahead of yourself. I never said that.”
“All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Good, but surprisingly I did have one other thing to say on this topic. Just so we all knew where I stood. “I don’t hate this town by the way.” Louie shot me a look that said don’t be an idiot, to which I said, “Well, not as much as I did when I first got here anyway.”
“And you’re saying Izzy had nothing to do with that?”
I thought back to all of the moments we’d shared since I got here and let them play in mind for the briefest of moments, but then decidedly answered, “Not a thing.”
He tilted his head and then shook it. “I know what I’m buying you for Christmas now.”
“Oh, please, not another tie. I have enough of those things. And I don’t like stripes. I’m not a zebra.”
He laughed. “Not a tie. A mirror.”
“No, thanks. I already know how handsome I look,” I joked. A mirror—that was almost as bad as the gift cards I gave my parents because I had no clue what else to get them.
Now before you go thinking “wow, this Bo guy is a jerk,” I wasn’t. I mean, sometimes I was. But as far as gift-giving for my parents went. . . I tried, I really did in the past. One year I got my father an antique cigar holder, and sure, he thanked me, but I later found out he gave it to one of his friends from the club. And my mom? Same thing. Anytime I gave her anything, she returned it for something she actually wanted—her words. Just another reason I hated the holidays: expectations were too high and never met. See, not the bad guy.
Louie harrumphed. “You’re something else, you know that?” He shook his head. “You should see your face when Izzy’s name comes up. Honestly, it’s freaky how your expression changes. Almost like a smile is threatening to show up, the corners of your lips tugging up.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “What, do you think you’re like some relationship expert now that you’re getting married? We can’t all be like you and Fiona, okay? It’s great that you’re getting married, but it doesn’t mean I want to. I’m perfectly content with my life. I’m a freaking CEO, man.” I’d been down that road before, I was burned, and I’m not ready to go back down it. No, I was much better suited for business than romance.
Louie popped the cap on a second beer and took another swig. “Fine. Let’s change the subject.” Then he did. “So how about those polar bears?”