Chapter 29

Jan wasn't the only one thinking about the day. Bryant stood in the shower thinking many of the same thoughts that had run through Jan's head.

She had seemed ... he tried to think of a better word than normal and couldn't come up with one. It had been a fun day, he decided. He had enjoyed spending the afternoon with Jan. Hell, he admitted to himself, he had even enjoyed kissing her. The kisses had surprised him. No, he decided, that wasn't right. They had stunned him. The first one had caught him completely off-guard. Even after Jan had expressly told him that she wanted to kiss him again, he hadn't been prepared.

He also hadn't been prepared for his reaction to the kisses. He had liked them. They had felt natural – even though he knew they were anything but usual. He realized that he had dried the same spot of his body four times now.

He pulled his briefs up his legs and then pulled on a pair of cotton khaki shorts.

Jan was ready when Bryant walked out of the bathroom. She had her back to him and he noticed she had nice legs.

"I was wrong," Bryant said.

Jan turned to him with a questioning look.

"You're ready before I am," Bryant said with a laugh.

Jan noticed that Bryant was shirtless and she fought an urge to walk over and run her hands over his chest. She felt her face redden at the thought and wondered what was happening to her.

"You can correct that," she said as she reached into his closet and pulled out a maroon polo shirt. She tossed it over to him. "Wear that one."

"Yes, Ma'am," Bryant said with a salute. Jan flushed further.

"I mean, if you want to," she added quickly. Bryant had already pulled the shirt over his head. He grinned over at her.

"It's what I probably would have grabbed," he said. "I was just picking on you."

The pair walked down the back stairs and out of the private door to the deck. There was a second door that led to the alley beside the bar. The bar crowd had changed. The complexion was the same – young adults in their early to mid-20s – but the faces were new.

Chuck gave the pair a wave when they walked in and headed over to them when they sat down at the bar. The inside of O'Bannon's Pub was generally less crowded than the back deck until later in the evening when the younger crowd hit the dance clubs and the locals would stop in for a quick drink or two.

Chuck stopped in front of Jan.

"I know you got this lug here, Girlie," he said in a low voice. "But if need someone to talk to about this, well, I been through it, too. Day or night, you hear me?"

Jan reached out and patted Chuck's hand. Like Bryant, it confused him. He heard stories about Jan's aversion to touching.

"Thank you, Chuck," she said sincerely. "I mean that. I know that you'd help me any way you could. But I'm really doing OK. Anyone else would have bothered me, I think. But not this guy."

Chuck nodded sagely.

"That can make it easier," he admitted. "All mine were clean but a couple of them caused me to think about things too much. The second one didn't. I didn't lose a minute's sleep over it. I was actually a little glad when the last one got to me. It meant I hadn't lost my humanity."

He gave Bryant a sideways glance.

"Sorry that you got some asshole trying to jam you up," he said.

"It'll pass," Jan said firmly. She removed her hand from Chuck's and put it on Bryant's. "We're going to take care of Bryant on this one."

She didn't remove her hand from Bryant's.

"So, what can I get you?" Chuck asked. He noticed that Jan's hand still rested on Bryant's.

"Can we have a couple of menus?" Bryant asked.

"I'm having a heaping pile of hot wings and some fries," Jan said. "And a Dos Equis."

"You having wings, too?" he asked Bryant.

"Uh, no," Bryant said. "I guess since I can't have a menu I'll have a bacon cheeseburger."

"Black and tan?" Chuck asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

"You know it," Bryant replied.

"Hey, that's what I'll have, too," Jan cut in.

Chuck shook his head.

"With wings, you want a pale beer," he said.

"Oh," Jan said. "Yeah, I guess so. Maybe I'll have one for dessert."

Jan and Bryant watched a baseball game on television and chatted about inconsequential things. The bar wasn't crowded but it was still a little too loud for much conversation.

The food came and Jan dug in. She had removed her hand from Bryant's but she had slid her stool closer in order to talk to him. They sat shoulder to shoulder. Once the food came, Jan shifted away.

Bryant watched as she picked up a wing by the tip with two fingers. She took two fingers from her other hand and slid it down between the bones, forcing all the meat to the bottom. She put the wing in her mouth and when she pulled it out again it was barren of anything edible.

"Good God," Bryant said. Jan had been focused on her wing and had been unaware of Bryant's scrutiny. She glanced over at him and he saw she had a little wing sauce on the side of her mouth. He smiled automatically.

"Sorry," Jan said. She realized that hot wings might not be the proper food for a date.

"No, it was impressive," Bryant said. "The thing I also hated about wings was how long it took to eat them."

Jan picked up another wing, repeated her actions and held it up to Bryant.

"These are really good," she said, when he looked dubiously at the proffered food.

"So I just, what, suck the meat off the bone?" he asked. "Like you do with oysters?"

Jan nodded. Bryant leaned forward and opened his mouth. The wing wasn't as clean as when Jan had done it but he thought he'd done OK.

"Jesus Christ!" he said as the heat of the wing hit him. He reached for his beer and took a gulp. It didn't help.

"Here," Jan said, handing over her beer. She saw tears in the corner of Bryant's eyes. He took a drink of Jan's beer and held it in his mouth.

"You're a wuss," Jan said, taking a drink of her beer before heading back to her wings. When she finished the wings, she turned to her fries. She took the potatoes and soaked up the rest of the hot wing sauce in the basket.

"Damn," Bryant said, watching and shaking his head. "You must have a cast-iron stomach."

"I rode around with you for four years," Jan said, laughing and then sucking the wing sauce off her fingers one at a time. "Think of some of the crap we've put into our bodies during that time."

"True," Bryant admitted.

"And I'm not the greatest cook in the world," Jan confessed.

"True," Bryant repeated.

"Hey!" Jan said.

"You brought in some of that jambalaya you made," he said. "That was pretty bad."

"I thought you liked it?" Jan said, with a frown.

"The first taste was good," Bryant laughed. "But the aftertaste was tough. And, well, I don't really like spicy stuff."

"Yeah, I got that," Jan said. "I thought you were going break into tears a little while ago."

"I sort of wondered about that myself," Bryant laughed. "I was starting to long for your jambalaya. At least with that I wasn't worried about the top of my head exploding."

"Wuss," Jan repeated. "You're going to have to toughen up if you plan to hang with me."

Jan sampled a black and tan while Bryant finished his burger. The college age crowd had departed as they ate and the noise level dropped considerably.

"Let's take a walk," Jan suggested. "I need to burn off some of that heavy beer."

"Sure," Bryant said. "Beach or boardwalk?"

"Let's do the boardwalk," Jan said. "You can show me your athletic prowess and win me a teddy bear or something."

Jan took Bryant's arm again as they stood to leave. They reached the front door just as Stan Williams and his wife, Sheila, walked in.

"Hey!" Jan said amiably. "How did you two manage an evening on the town?"

"The kids are at my mom's," Sheila Williams told them. "We decided to do something fun. How are you doing, Hon?"

"I'm OK," Jan said. She still had her hand tucked into the crook of Bryant's elbow. "I'll get through this."

Sheila Williams nodded sadly.

"So you guys are just out wandering?" Stan asked.

"We decided to treat our suspensions as a vacation," Jan told him with a smile. "It's been a while since either of us has really had one so we're making the best of it."

"I'm glad it hasn't been too traumatic," Stan said. "I've always wondered what I would do in that situation. I'm thankful I've never had to find out."

"Your training takes over," Bryant said. "That's the reason we all put in time at the range and on the simulators. It isn't easy but you do what you have to do."

"Hon, we're meeting Scott and Kristen Lewis for drinks before we head to dinner together," Shelia said. "Why don't you two join us?"

Jan hazarded a glance at Bryant. He shrugged. He liked Scott Lewis and Stan Williams and he really hadn't spent much time around their wives.

"If you're sure we won't bother you," Jan said.

"No bother," Stan replied.

They shifted over to a table located off to the side. A college-age waitress came over to take their drink order. It wasn't unusual for local couples – especially city employees – to stop into O'Bannon's for an evening drink after the hubbub died down.

"We're waiting for another couple," Sheila informed the waitress. "Oh, never mind, here they are."

She stood and waved a hand to Scott and Kristen.

"Well, hey!" Scott said. "Kris, this is Jan Elliot and Bryant Hawkins. I know you've heard me mention them."

Kristen Lewis laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Only every day," she replied. She extended her hand. "I'm Kristen – this guy's much better half."

Scott started to pull his wife's hand back but Jan simply reached forward and shook it. Bryant did the same.

"OK, one rule," Jan said. "No shop talk. Can we agree to that?"

"Oh, yeah," Kristen said with another laugh. "I think I can agree with that. I hear shop talk every evening."

"You and me both," Sheila said.

"Any fresh pictures of Emma?" Jan asked.

"Of course," Kristen said. She pulled out her phone and started to flip through the photos. She passed the phone across to Jan.

"Oh, she is adorable!" Jan said. She leaned over and showed the phone to Bryant.