Kory frowned. “Have I ever struck you as the kind of person who is normal, who cares to be normal?”
Tina nodded. “That’s true. We’re lucky we’re her friends.” Lacey rolled her eyes.
Kory inhaled. “Yeah. That is true.” And, she knew that when Lacey gave some thought to what she knew about Kory’s background, she would have to agree. Kory was surprised she wasn’t in need of permanent therapy either, but her therapist had once called her resilient. Yeah, if nothing else, she was that.
The waitress brought their food—cheeseburgers and fries—and took their glasses to fill their drinks. Kory squirted mustard on the underside of the top bun and decided not to say anymore about it. She didn’t need more grief from Lacey.
Except Lacey had other ideas. “Okay…so tell me what’s so special about this guy.”
Kory couldn’t help the smile that spread over her face. All she had to do was think about Stone and she felt better. She mashed the bun onto her sandwich and then grabbed the ketchup, squirting a blob of it on the side of her plate. “I don’t know that you’d understand.”
“Try me.”
Tina said, “He’s hot—I’ll give you that.”
“That’s not it, though. There’s something about the guy. I’m drawn to him. I don’t know why. I sometimes wonder if maybe there was something that made me feel connected to him the first time I met him.”
She could tell that Lacey was trying to be respectful, even though her friend’s skepticism was at war with herself. “Like what?”
Kory took a deep breath and dipped a fry in ketchup. She let her mind wander while she chewed on it, thinking back to the first time she had ever been under the needle with Stone Bowman. “I don’t know. It’s like he’s a kindred spirit…like there’s something we have in common, but I don’t know what it is. I’ve asked myself over and over and over—what could it possibly be? Was there a message hidden in one of his tattoos that my subconscious mind latched onto or was it something he said? Did he have something hanging on his wall at The Iron Maiden that spoke to me? The times I’ve gone in there, it’s not like we’ve had huge, long, drawn-out conversations. It’s not like I’ve asked him about his past or his hopes and dreams. I really don’t know much about him, but it feels like I should. It feels like there’s something between us…and I want to know what it is.”
Lacey shrugged. “Okay, so I guess I can kind of understand that.”
“Thanks.” Kory ate another fry and then said, “On top of that, though? There’s also something super mysterious about him.”
Tina said, “Well, you kind of already said that—you know, you want to know what your connection is.” She wiped her fingers on her napkin. “Makes you wonder about past lives.”
Lacey cut her burger in half with the table knife that had been rolled in her napkin with the other silverware. “Okay, now if we’re going to start talking about reincarnation bullshit, I’m out.”
“I was just sayin’.”
The waitress brought their filled drinks back and asked how the food was. They all dismissed her, letting her know their meals were fine.
Kory set her burger back on her plate, unwilling to drop it just because there had been a halt to what they’d been discussing. “No, that’s not what I mean at all. It just feels like there’s some weird connection.”
Tina giggled. “Or maybe he’s just hot.”
“Yeah, maybe. Oh, no, he definitely is. Holy shit. Lacey, you need to see him sometime.”
“Why haven’t you ever snuck a pic with your phone?”
She frowned. “Good question. Um, maybe because I’m afraid I’ll get caught, and then he’ll think I’m some perv, and I’ll never have a chance with him.”
“Oh, my God. You really do like him.”
“Yeah. Duh.” Kory dragged a fry through the ketchup but her mind’s eye had latched onto the visage of Stone in her mind. “He’s tattooed—all fucking over. Both arms are fully sleeved. And he’s tattooed on his chest and they go up his neck almost to his face. I don’t know about the rest of him, but I imagine him tattooed all over his damn body. Oh, his hands and fingers too. And then he has longish dark hair and his eyes are almost black. Beautiful white teeth. And he usually has a few days’ growth on his face—never a full beard, but a dark shadow. His arms seem so strong, so firm, and…well, you’re just gonna have to see him.”