Page 41 of Ace

“Angela Christina Lewis!” her mother yelled. “That was not appropriate, young lady! Apologize now!”

The sharp tone in her voice had Lizzie squirming but it had no apparent effect on her daughter.

Angela shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, Mom. It’s how people date these days.”

Christine flushed red and remained stern. “It’s still none of our business.” Turning to Lizzie, she gushed, “I’m so sorry. Really. I don’t know what’s gotten into her these days.”

Then she stopped abruptly and closed her eyes. Lizzie felt her pain. She obviously did know what had gotten into her daughter. Lizzie knew too. Heck, probably the whole city knew.

Lizzie didn’t really want to talk about her relationship with Ace, but if that was what the girl wanted to hear, that was what she would talk about.

“You’re fine,” she assured Angela. “I just don’t know the answer to that question. Ace and I are… a new thing. We are still figuring things out.” She smiled encouragingly. “You probably know more about him than I do.”

Angela relaxed, her eyes lighting up. “I might. How did you two meet? Did you have a meet-cute like in movies and books?”

“Not really. My family owns a liquor distribution company and I used to deliver to their club. So I’ve known him a long time, but not well.”

Angela nodded, seeming to like that answer. “I know him pretty well. Kinda. I mean it’s not like he talks to me about adult stuff, but he talks to me about lots of different things.” Angela slammed her math book closed and gave Lizzie her full attention. “I can probably tell you lots though. Ask me a question about him.”

It was not the conversation she’d been expecting to have, but Lizzie figured why not? If the girl wanted to talk about Ace, she would happily oblige. Searching the recesses of her brain, she came up with a teenager-appropriate question. “What’s Ace’s favorite color?” She didn’t know. Angela could swear it was hot pink or chartreuse green and Lizzie wouldn’t know any better.

“Navy blue,” Angela answered confidently.

It seemed like an accurate answer. “What’s his full name?” Lizzie found herself getting into the game of twenty questions. She loved names and she was insanely curious about Ace’s, but she just kept forgetting to ask.

Angela giggled and Lizzie’s curiosity grew.

“Ace’s full name is Arthur Allister Barrett.”

“What!” Lizzie almost choked on her lemonade. “Wow… I… never would have guessed that.”

“I know, right? No wonder he joined a motorcycle club. I’d have joined for the new name alone.”

Lizzie shook her head. “Arthur is not that bad of a name. He just… it doesn’t really fit him.”

“Micah calls him ‘Mr. Barrett’,” Angela supplied. “That suits him even less than Arthur if you ask me.”

When Lizzie frowned, Angela offered, “Micah is my big brother. He was in Ace’s class last year.”

“Ah. Well, now I’m going to have to call him Arthur just to see what happens,” Lizzie said with a mischievous wink.

“Ask me another question!” Angela cried.

Lizzie happily obliged. “Is he a dog or a cat person?” she asked, waiting for the answer. She was more of a cat person herself, because that’s all her parents had ever let her have, but she wanted to be a dog person. She wondered if Ace and her could get a dog someday, if they ever made it that far.

Angela shook her head. “He says he likes Fluffy, that’s my cat; She’s hiding upstairs right now, but he really isn’t a cat person or a dog person. He’s more of a… fish person.”

“That makes sense as to why he’s running an aquarium,” Lizzie responded, before clapping her hand over her mouth. It wasn’t like a new job was a secret, but the location of the aquarium made things more complicated.

Thankfully, Angela just nodded, and Lizzie moved on to the next question. “Besides riding a motorcycle, does Ace have any hobbies?”

“He likes kids,” Angela answered without hesitation. “His work with BACA is really important to him. But when he’s not working on that, he likes to read, and visit craft breweries, and watch action movies.”

The more Lizzie learned, the more impressed she was by the man she called Daddy. She hadn’t thought of Ace as someone who read for fun, but it made sense. He’d been a teacher, after all.

What else did she want to know? A half dozen questions popped into her head at the same time and she asked them rapid fire. “Where was Ace born? Does he have siblings? What’s his favorite flavor of ice cream? What are his favorite pizza toppings? What’s his favorite band? Ummm… Does he play video games?” Lizzie was a bit of a gamer herself when she had time and was with the right people.

Angela matched her energy, ticking the answers off on her fingers as she said them. “He’s a Vegas boy, born and bred, he always says. He has a sister I believe, but I can’t think of her name. His favorite ice cream is vanilla ‘cause he can do whatever he wants to it. His favorite pizza is sausage and mushroom. He claims his favorite band is AC DC but I think his favorite musician is Taylor Swift. I always catch him singing along when I play it, and yes, he plays video games, but I can’t remember the name of the one he likes.”