Chapter 1
“Nine years.”
Allan Baker looked up, startled from scrolling through his phone, at the craggy-faced man sitting on the barstool to the right of him.
“Excuse me?”
The man appeared to be in his late seventies to early eighties, if Allan had to guess. The man wasn’t even really paying any attention to him, it seemed, since he was staring into the beer in front of him, but, on the other hand, there was no one else around.
“I said…nine years.”
“I heard you.” Allan frowned. “I just…how did you know? Are you like a psychic or something?”
The man glanced at him. “What?”
“You said nine years.” Allan swirled the whiskey in his glass, then took a sip.
It wasn’t a particularly trendy place. Not a club or a place young people would hang out. It was off the beaten path, really. A bar down a side street of the main business section in a suburb of Los Angeles. But Allan had been coming there for a long time.
“The first time I stepped foot in this place was nine years ago,” Allan said. “And even that was on a whim.”
“Yeah? What whim?”
“I’d gotten fired from my job. Needed a drink. Just happened to turn down the street this old bar was on. It’d been here forever even then. I remember it from when I was a kid. Not that I ever came in here and nobody I ever knew did either, but you know, going around, I’d see it.” He shrugged. “That day I found myself parking my car outside and coming in here.”
“Nine years ago today?” the old man asked.
“Yep. I was at my lowest point. Never felt worse in my life.”
“What job you get fired from?”
“Vet assistant.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t hurt the animals, did you?”
“Nah, nothing like that. I love animals. I’m married to one.”
“An animal?”
Allan laughed. “Er. No. Sorry. Sometimes, maybe.” He grinned. “I meant a veterinarian. We met right here.” He slapped the bar counter.
“Nine years ago,” the old man murmured.
“Yeah.” He stuck his hand toward the man. “Allan Baker.”
“Eugene. But everyone just calls me Gene.”
“Nice to meet you, Gene. I know it sounds corny and clichéd, but yep, we met here. I was already sitting here in this very seat, actually.”
“Did she sit where I am?”
Allan paused for a moment. Because that’s where his story could get a little dicey or at least uncomfortable. A lot more people were accepting these days, but it didn’t mean caution wasn’t wise. Still, Allan decided to be honest.
“He. And yeah, he sat where you’re sitting now.”
An explosion or derision didn’t come from Gene. He merely nodded. “Go on then.”
Bars really were the only places you could shoot the breeze with strangers, Allan thought. Or at least that had been his experience. “I don’t know what made me do it really, but when he sat down, I offered to buy him a drink.”
The guy who had just sat down next to Allan was smoking hot. Like “Hollywood star” hot. For a moment, Allan tried to place him, tried to figure out what television or movie he’d been in
Obviously, he’d been staring at Mr. Model for too long because the guy glanced his way and smiled tentatively. And what a smile. White, straight teeth flashed out at him. He had windswept dark hair and dark eyes to match, perfectly manicured eyebrows. Just…yum.
“Is this seat taken?” Mr. Gorgeous asked.
Allan couldn’t find words, so he shook his head.
The man got the attention of the bartender, who started to come their way.
“Can I buy your drink?” Allan blurted.
Those sultry dark eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because you’re so hot, you’re scalding me.”
The man laughed at that and Allan couldn’t blame him.
Allan winced. “I know. Bad pick up line, right?”
“Pretty bad. Phillip Walton.”
Allan took the offered hand and noted how warm it was as he shook it. “Allan Baker.”
The bartender got their drinks after Allan said he was buying.
“Here’s another for you…come here often?”
Philip smiled and shook his head. “You really are terrible at this.”
“Been a bad day. Got fired.” And geez, way to make an even better impression, Allan. “That is, I’m between jobs.”
“My sympathies on getting fired. It happens to most of us at one point or another.”
“Thanks. I didn’t embezzle or anything.”
Shut up, Allan.
“Good to know,” Phillip said easily. “I just got off work myself. Challenging day.”
“Stockbroker?”
Another laugh and Allan realized Phillip had a really great laugh. “No. Do I look like one?”
“A little. I mean, you kind of have that GQvibe going on.”
Phillip’s lips twitched. “Yeah? You look a bit like a rock star.”
It was Allan’s turn to laugh. And judging by the heat in his face, he was probably blushing, too. “Eyeliner?”
“Well, yeah, and the whole messy spiked dark hair.” Phillip picked up his drink. “Leather jacket. You almost look too young to be in this place.” He frowned. “You aren’t, are you?”
“You aren’t a cop?”
“No. But your question doesn’t reassure me.”
“I am twenty-two actually. Got the ID and everything to prove it.”
Phillip shook his head. “God, you are young.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t be that old. What are you? Thirty-five?”
“Ouch. Thirty.”
He grinned. “Anyway, not a rock star and you’re not a stockbroker. Glad we got that cleared up.”
“I’m a veterinarian actually.”
“No shit!”
“I’ve never had that reaction before.”
Allan put up his hands. “No, no. I just…I was fired from a vet’s office.”
“Seriously?”
“Completely. I guess the vet called it ‘laying off,’ but to me it’s the same thing. I didn’t get any severance or notice. They just said they couldn’t use me anymore. They were overstaffed.”
“What vet’s office?”
“Maloney.”
Phillip nodded. “I know it. I think he’s getting ready to retire, so he’s cutting back hours. Sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you. But there are other vet’s offices.”
“Sure,” Allan agreed. “But actually, no offense, it was just a job.”
“None taken. What then?”
Allan sipped thoughtfully at his drink. “Police academy?”
Gene stared at Allan. “So? You’re a police officer now?”
“Yep. Just made detective. As you can see, lost the rock-star look.”
“Pity,” Gene murmured cryptically. “So, that was it? You’ve never been apart since that night nine years ago?”
Allan laughed. “I would say that. We left the bar together, spent the night, and it went from there. About nine weeks in, we broke up.”
“Nine weeks.”
“Funny, huh? Phillip decided to move to the East Coast.”
“Just like that?”
Allan shrugged. “His family was there. Grew up there. There was a practice there going up for sale because the vet from their hometown was moving and his family talked him into returning there and taking over that practice.”
“You didn’t want to go?”
“I was already at the police academy, and nah, I really didn’t want to leave. I actually thought that was the end of us.”
Allan had noticed that Gene had yet to take a single drink of the beer that had been placed in front of him. Hadn’t even once moved toward it. He doubted his story was that interesting, but maybe Gene was waiting for someone just like he was. The seat on the other side of Gene was unoccupied.