A Dead Market by CeeCee James

Author:CeeCee James [James, CeeCee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-10T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

We did get that coffee together, which turned into a lovely chat at a cafe table outside Darcy’s Doughnuts. Uncle Chris filled me in with some more news about his plans to eventually run for city mayor.

“If you really want to run, you’re going to have to endear Flamingo Realty to the community,” I said, before taking a sip of my chai tea.

“Endear? What’s more endearing than a flamingo?”

“Well, they feel like we’re just here for a money grab. Maybe you could do something to show you want to give back to the town.”

His brow rumpled as he thought about it, and he shoved a big bite of glazed doughnut into his mouth.

“Maybe like a picnic, you know with a bouncy house,” Kari suggested.

“A bouncy house?” Uncle Chris shot her a surprised look. “Isn’t that something you’d find in Vegas?”

I snorted, nearly shooting tea out my nose. Kari rolled her eyes.

“What?” He turned to me.

“I don’t even want to know the places you go to that you’d think that’s an adult activity,” I said, shaking my head.

“Honestly, a bouncy house. It’s inflatable. Kids go in and jump….” Kari spoke in dragged out words like she was explaining to a toddler.

“Oh, yes,” he said. “Quite a different thing than what I was thinking. Yeah, we can get that on the calendar.”

Kari stared across the road and sipped her coffee, clearly disgusted.

“You think you’re ever going to settle down, Uncle Chris?” I asked.

He gave me a side-eye and quickly looked away. A silence grew, and internal alarms sounded as I realized I may have hit a sore subject. I scrambled to think of something to say to let him off the hook, but he replied before I came up with anything.

He shook his head. “Naw. One time long ago, I had my chance. Us O’Neil’s are one woman kind of men. Just look at your dad. Or Oscar.”

His answer had me gobsmacked in a couple of different ways. I worked my mouth, trying to respond but my brain was trucking a million miles a second. He’d once been in love? What had happened? And he brought up Oscar! Was I making progress?

“What happened?” was the question I finally settled on. I peeped at him over my cup.

His jaw worked, and I could see he was trying to control his emotions. But his voice was lighthearted, even dismissive. “Same experience as a million others. Wrong person, wrong time.” I swear, as he said that, he flushed and looked guilty.

The question clearly rattled him, because he stood up, ready to make his get-away. “Anyway, that’s a story for another day. Right now, I’ve got some phone calls to make.” He brushed his hands on his pants after shoving in the last bite of doughnut.

Kari got ready as well. Ever the mom, she gathered up all the spare napkins and garbage and carried them to the can.

Uncle Chris headed out before us. As I followed, I couldn’t help but wonder, who was this mystery woman he’d once loved? These O’Neil men were full of secrets.

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