Free Cassidy Lane by Maria Murnane

his favor.
    He stole a quick peek at the woman, then turned back to Cassidy and smiled. “OK, now what?” His gray eyes were poking holes in her resolve not to get nervous around him, but she did her best to stay composed.
    “What’s her name?” Cassidy asked him.
    He pointed to himself. “You want me to name her?”
    “Yep. What’s her name?”
    “OK… Amanda. No, Audrey.”
    “Audrey what?”
    “Audrey… Winston.”
    Cassidy nodded. “Audrey Winston, got it. Where’s she from?”
    “Um… Alabama.”
    “Nice. What does she do?”
    “I say… lead dancer in a Broadway musical.”
    Cassidy smiled. “You’re already good at this. OK, what makes her angry?”
    He thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers and pointed at her. “When people ask her how old she is. That really ticks her off.”
    Cassidy laughed. “Nice. What makes her laugh?”
    Brandon scratched his chin. “Hmm…I’d say…when people trip on the sidewalk.”
    “Oooh, so she’s mean . I like it. What’s her pet phrase?”
    “Her pet phrase?”
    “Yes. Something she says all the time, like the way Patti always says stop it to me, or the way my editor likes to say cool beans .”
    “Ah, got it.” He paused to think, then snapped his fingers again. “How about she calls people darling ?”
    Cassidy nodded. “Nice. She really does sound like a bitch. OK, last one for you. What’s her secret talent?”
    “You mean besides keeping her age under wraps?”
    “Yes, something totally random. For example, I can stand on one leg for like an hour.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “I’d like to see that. OK…how about…she can touch her nose with her tongue?”
    Cassidy applauded. “I think your secret talent might be playing my character game. Well done, sir. Maybe you can help me with my next book.”
    “That sounds way more exciting than writing legal briefs, although then again, pretty much anything is more exciting than writing legal briefs. Except maybe reading legal briefs.”
    She held up her palms like the scales of justice. “I’d call it a tie. Equally boring.”
    He smiled and sipped his drink. “Do you like living in New York? I think it would be fun but exhausting.”
    “Fun but exhausting pretty much sums it up, actually. I love it, but yes, it can be draining. There’s just so much going on all around, all the time, which can be a good thing and a bad thing.”
    “How so?”
    She gestured around the bar, which was now nearly full. “When you feel like going out for a margarita on a Wednesday night, the energy buzzing every which way is great. But when you have to elbow your way through a sea of pedestrian traffic just to buy a carton of milk on a Sunday morning, it gets a little old. And then there’s the subway, which is superconvenient but an absolute nightmare during rush hour. I mean, who wants to be forced to stare into a stranger’s armpit on a hot summer day?”
    He chuckled and picked up his glass. “Thanks for the visual. Would you ever move back to the Bay Area?”
    “I know I will.” She answered without hesitation, which surprised her. Would she?
    “Why do you say that?”
    “Because my parents are there, and my brother and his family. In the back of my head I know I’ll end up there, it’s just a matter of when.”She wondered what had triggered the conviction in her voice, but regardless, they’d been talking about her long enough. “OK, that’s more than too much about me, so I’m officially turning the tables. At the reunion you said you have two sons?”
    “Yes, twins. Jack and Henry. They’re five and a half.” His eyes brightened when he said their names.
    “Wow, twins. How do you get any sleep with twins? You must have been a zombie when they were babies.”
    “I’m still a bit of a zombie. You don’t want to know how much money I spend on coffee.”
    She briefly wondered if she should play dumb about his marital status, then realized that would be…dumb. Instead she opted