Felix opened the door. “I hope you didn’t pass up a good thing.”
“I didn’t. I had to come home so we three could go get some breakfast.” Leo made sure the door was locked and gestured for Julie and Felix to walk out onto the porch. “I know you two. If I’d looked anything more than my normal perky self, then you would’ve been all over me like lions on a gazelle.”
Felix turned and looked at Leo with a raised eyebrow. “Gazelle? When was the last time you went to the gym? Wildebeest, maybe. Not quite a hippo, but definitely not a gazelle.”
Leo shoved him toward the car. “Look who’s talking. Get a move on, Pumbaa.”
LEO MOTIONED for the waitress to refill his orange juice.
“So, I might’ve made a love connection myself,” Felix said, right before the server arrived with their breakfast.
“Really? Where did you two meet?” Julie asked.
“Online.” Felix slid his plate closer before he cut into his french toast.
“Dating site or cruising app?” Leo poured syrup over his pancakes.
Felix pouted. “If you must know, app. No one uses dating sites anymore; that was over two years ago. Nowadays all you have to do is pull up an app on your phone and see where all the hot guys are in your vicinity.”
“So what’s his name?” Julie asked between bites of her omelet.
“We didn’t get to names. His profile is Woodsyaxeman.” Felix set down his fork and pulled out his phone. “Here’s his picture. Kinda hot, huh?”
On the screen the picture looked more than a little out of focus and grainy. There wasn’t a head, just a chiseled chest and six-pack abs.
Julie frowned and went back to eating after returning the phone to Felix. “You know, I’m not big into headless guys. What happens if he’s some kind of meth addict with no teeth or something? There’s more to guys than just great bods.”
“Not to mention the odds are that isn’t even his torso,” Leo added.
“He said it was his picture.” Felix dropped his phone into his pocket a little harder than he needed to, obviously upset that Leo and Julie weren’t embracing Woodsyaxeman with the enthusiasm he wanted them to have.
“Did you go meet up with him?” Leo asked.
Felix stabbed his toast a little too hard and his fork slid across the slick plate. “No. He said he had other things to do last night, but he’d be in touch.”
“Oh, Felix.” Julie reached across the table and patted his hand. “I hope he does, but just please don’t sit around waiting for your app to beep. We all know how fickle men can be. That’s one of the reasons we have the three of us.”
“I know.” He pouted some more.
Leo sat silently eating his pancakes as Felix and Julie settled into quiet too. None of us has ever had really good luck with guys. I hope Aud is different. He seems super nice. But I know from experience that just because we’re having a second date, it doesn’t mean we’re going to connect. It felt like we were connecting last night, but it’s hard to say if that was real or not.
“So what are we going to do this afternoon?” Julie asked. “We never decided.”
“I thought all we wanted was the juicy details of Leo and Aud’s date, and then we were going to go our separate ways.” Felix still sounded mopey, but not as bad as he had before they all dropped into silence.
“Let’s go shopping,” Julie suggested.
Knowing her enjoyment of dragging them through all sorts of horrors while shoe or clothes shopping, Leo cocked an eyebrow. “For what?”
“You guys are actually going to like this one. I need a new laptop. Mine died last night, or at least I think it died.” She pushed her plate toward the center of the table. “It won’t come on. I guess that means it’s dead.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Leo set his empty plate on top of hers. “But how old is it?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Six or seven years.”
“Then it’s time to replace it,” Felix said, sounding better than he had since they started eating. “Okay, we’ll go find you a new laptop. If we’re lucky, Leo and I can sort out a way to get your important information off the old one.”
“We can try.” I just hope it’s not too big a problem. I wonder if Aud has thought about me today.
8
AUD UNLOCKED the gallery door and walked in, making a long mental list of the things he needed to do. He strolled back to the office and flipped the switches to turn on the lights. By the time he returned to the main counter, a soft beep from someone breaking the beam at the door sounded through the gallery as the front door opened again.
“Aud?” Heather walked toward him. “You’re in early this morning.”
He shook his head as he booted up the computer. “Not really. I only beat you in by a minute. I’m surprised you didn’t see me walking down the sidewalk.”
“You must’ve slipped past me.” She pulled off her cashmere jacket and headed for the back room. “I wasn’t expecting you to open today.”