CURMUDGEON (2018 Watty Wildcard Winner)

Chapter Four - Finn

The bar was empty and Joe asked no questions. It was perfect.

Sara waited for him in a shadowy booth in the corner of the restaurant furthest away from the front door. He set two frothy mugs of beer down and slid into the ugly vinyl booth across from her.

"Thank you, Finn."

He drained half his mug and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "How do you know me?"

She sipped her drink. "Everyone knows you, Finn. You're famous."

"Not very," he said and finished his drink. "Joe, can I get another?" he called out. A moment later, Joe appeared with a full glass. He set it down, glanced at Sara's full mug, took the dirty cup, and walked away. He was Finn's favorite bartender in the whole world. When the man was gone, he leaned forward with both arms resting on the table. "I would very much like for you to tell me who you are and why you're here."

"I'm Sara. I'm here because we're having drinks."

He laughed and leaned back. "So it's like that, is it?"

"Yup. Just like that. You overcomplicate things. It's one of your greatest stumbling blocks."

"Good to know." Did she know that her breasts jiggled fetchingly when she rested her arm on the back of the bench like that? He suspected she did so he made no attempt to hide his glances in that direction.

"You know what else?" She asked, leaning her elbows on the table.

"I bet you're going to tell me."

"You need to remember how to have fun."

He smiled his most charming smile at her. He knew it was charming. It was a fact proven by his 95% success rate with women. "Oh, I'm fun."

She wagged a finger at him. "You used to be fun. You have always been powerfully full of life force. A wave of vitality washing through the world. You're just a little lost these days."

Her words were too close to the truth. He took a long drink to cover his discomfort. "And you know this, how?"

"Drink your beer, Finn." She pushed her glass across the table. "You can have mine, too."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "And you accuse me of not being fun?"

"I guess my tummy just isn't ready this early in the day."

It was no trouble to drain both mugs. Not until the bottom of the second one did he even start to feel the familiar warm fuzziness that he'd come to think of as the best part of the day.

"Let's take a walk," Sara suggested.

"It's cold."

"It's sixty degrees and you're wearing long sleeves. Geez. Man up a little for goodness sake."

The comment stung more than he wanted to show. "I'm plenty manly."

She laughed. "No doubt. Come on, then, Rambo."

He thought he must surely be mad to be following this strange woman around town. He thought of the email from his publisher, saying how excited they were to hear when his next book would be out. He thought about her enormous blue eyes. He reached for the mug, remembered it was already empty and sighed. Unable to come up with any reason why they shouldn't walk he dropped ten dollars on the table and stood. On the way out, he called, "See ya, Joe."

"Yup. See ya, Finn. Have a good one."

Sara preceded him out the door and he noticed how her jeans fit across her tiny little backside. Who could say? Maybe for once he actually would have a good day.