thank you, I’m fine.”
“He’ll be back in a minute, so don’t worry,” Rex said, suddenly engaging with the group again. “Don’t base your decision to drink or not on whether or not Grant is coming back. Me, I’m on vacation. I’m going to drink regardless. I am glad to see you, Annie, even though I know you never liked me much. Grant is glad to see you, too. Oh, and I like your friend here.”
“I never said that I didn’t—” Annie started to say, but Rex cut her off.
“Look, even though I am not as smart as your doctor comrade here—tell me what do doctors do again?—I am smart enough to know you just sort of, I don’t know, maybe toler—”
“Stop it, Rex. It was all a long time ago, and the main thing is we are where we are now. Back then was … it was….”
“Was a lot of fun, and you know it,” Rex said, looking straight at Annie, challenging her to disagree.
“Well, it was….”
“It was fun, don’t deny it. It was a helluva lot of fun.”
“It was….”
“It was fun,” Rex said determinedly, emphasizing every syllable.
Annie turned back towards the entrance to the bar, where Grant was re-entering.
“Yes, it was fun,” Annie said quietly.
“I knew it!” Rex said, slamming his hand down on the top of the bar.
Grant had quietly returned to the bar, but jerked back as Rex’s hand hit the bar, clearly startled. He tilted his head as he approached the table, easing back into the chair.
“You starting things here in the bar?” Grant sat back in his chair.
“They started it, they are picking on me! Can you imagine that?” Rex said.
“Somehow I can imagine them doing something, but ‘picking on you’ probably isn’t the phrasing I would use,” Grant said.
“The friend, she’s pretty sharp. And not that Annie’s not sharp, we all know that she is smarter than us. By us, I mean me and Grant. Well, Grant for sure,” Rex said.
“No explanation needed,” Kat responded.
“Agreed,” Isobelle said.
The group all turned to look at her.
“But what do I know?” Isobelle said, suddenly embarrassed that she had been listening in to their conversation. Trying to save face, she sputtered, “She seems very smart to me.”
Annie laughed quietly to herself, seeming more relieved than before. “Everything all right, Grant? Rex told me you were in an accident,” Annie said, touching him on the arm.
“Yep, could have done without that. What did I miss here?” Grant asked, trying to change the subject.
“Are you sure you are all right?” Annie looked worried.
“A little bunged up, but I’m upright.”
“Well, your friend here was just charming us while you were away,” Kat said.
“Really? I wasn’t gone long enough for Rex to become charming. We’re only here for the weekend, and that would take several millenniums.”
CHAPTER 7
“Well, I suppose that in certain circumstances he could be charming, but I have yet to encounter any of those circumstances. Then again, I’ve only been around him a short time,” Kat said.
“He is amazing. We know that,” Isobelle said.
“You know that because he told you that he was amazing,” Grant put his hands together.
“Exactly!” Kat did the same.
“He has that capability,” Grant wiggled his fingers.
“To be amazing?” Kat trying to sound startled.
“No, to tell you he is amazing,” Grant retorted.
“Well, he did.”
“Ah.”
“So now let’s hear about you,” Kat opened her hands in Grant’s direction.
“About me?” Grant asked.
“Yes, about you. It sounds like you’ve had an eventful day.”
“Well, yes. Having somebody run a red light and plow into me was not on my list of things to do.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear you’re okay, at least. But we all want to know what you have been doing lately. Isn’t this the part of the program where we wonder how we all managed to get here together at this moment in time?” Kat asked.
“Oh, maybe,” Grant moved his head slightly. He still wasn't feeling great.
“Then let’s hear it,” Kat turned her palms up.
“I work, I work out … you know.”
“That’s it?”
“Well, I guess so. I ride my bike a lot, swim,” Grant looked down. He didn’t have a big story to tell. “Oh, and woodworking. I make furniture. Oh, and I like to fish.”
“We all exercise. Well, maybe not him,” Kat said, pointing at Rex, “but the woodworking thing, and the fishing, that sounds cool. I bet you don’t exercise, or do anything cool,” she said to Rex.
Rex laughed, looking back down to the end of the bar where the other women were, then again to the couple with the sunglasses in the corner, then back to the group.
“I work. Satisfied? Hey, you notice anything odd about those two over in the corner?” Rex asked.
“I thought you were interested in the two at the end of the bar. This is just fascinating, both of you. Annie is probably beside herself to learn these revelations about you two.” Kat tilted her head back, opening her eyes wide.
Annie again was laughing to herself, and her face seemed to show a great deal more peace than discomfort. She was happier now that Grant was back.
“What does he keep looking at?” Grant asked.
Annie and Kat looked at each other, and then both motioned with their heads towards the other end of the bar, to where the other two women were seated.
“Ah, I see,” Grant said.
“Local, how do you say … gold diggers,” Isobelle said, looking at Grant just a little more than she was the others. “I know nothing about the other two.”
“Any chance we could
