Page 31 of Chasing Smoke

Fowler’s forehead creases, and he pushes his hand through his dirty-blond hair—his uncomfortable sign. He might as well be wearing a neon sign with What the fuck are you doing?

“Why are you hanging out with Collins?” And there’s the slight judgmental tone.

Without telling him everything she’s told me, I give him a quick rundown of my conversation with her when I went to replace the smoke detector. Just that she’s struggling a little putting herself out there. I don’t have to tell him much—the entire town of Echo Lake knows she’s not who she was before Caleb’s death. The further I go on, the more he nods, understanding there are no ill intentions on my part.

“Is it working?” he asks.

“I think so. There’s still some hesitancy, but she’s doing things.”

He nods, keeping his expression neutral. “What can I get you?”

“I’ll wait until—oh, here she comes.”

Collins walks through the door with her hair up in a messy bun. She’s changed into a cream cable-knit sweater and jeans.

“Hey, how are you?” She and Fowler hug, then she sets her purse on an empty chair, sitting across from me.

“Good, yourself?”

Their conversation about the weather and how horrible I was at hot yoga all looks and sounds normal, but Fowler keeps running his hands through his hair as if he’s uncomfortable. Which I guess is understandable since the three of us minus Caleb was never a thing.

“What can I get you guys?”

I motion for Collins to order first.

“Can I just have a glass of rosé, please?”

He nods and looks at me.

“The usual.”

Fowler nods and heads behind the bar.

“I think I’m going to be sore in muscles I didn’t even know I had tomorrow.” I twist my neck side to side.

Collins rolls her eyes. “You’ll be fine.”

“You said it’d be easy,” I say accusingly.

“I said it’d be good for you. There’s a difference.”

I shake my head. “Liar.”

She chuckles. “Okay, maybe I didn’t say that, but I did say it was a beginner class, and it was.”

“Sure as hell didn’t feel like a beginner class.”

Before she can say anything, Fowler returns with our drinks.

“Thanks, man.”

“Just holler if you guys need anything else.” He checks on one of the tables to our right, but I catch his eyes shifting to us again. I’ll talk to him later.

I raise my beer. “Cheers.”

Collins lifts her wineglass and gently taps it to my bottle. “What do you have going on for the rest of the week?”

My mental calendar unrolls in my mind. “Gotta take my truck in for an oil change, I work, and then I might go ice fishing with one of the guys from the station. Then I’m thinking about driving down to the national park to go snowshoeing.”