The pixie girl turned to look at me, and her face fell. I hoped she wasn’t thinking I was some kind of competition for Joaquin’s heart. As far as I was concerned, she could have him. If she wanted the trouble.
“Can I get a Coke?”
“Don’t you ever get tired of being sober?” he asked me, tilting his head as he reached under the bar for a glass.
“It’s my only state of being, so…no. Is Tristan here?” I asked, fiddling nervously with the zipper on my jacket. Just the anticipation of seeing him was making me fidgety.
“Nope,” Joaquin replied.
I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. “But he told me to meet him here.”
Joaquin gave a short laugh and tossed a glass up end over end, catching it casually. “Sorry, but I’m not Tristan’s keeper.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Look, if Tristan said he’s gonna be here, he’ll be here. He’s our resident Boy Scout,” Joaquin assured me. “This is Jennifer, by the way,” he added, nodding at the pixie girl. “She just got here today. Jennifer, Rory; Rory, Jennifer.”
“Hi!” Jennifer’s smile was somehow both eager and wary at once. She had a cute little birthmark above her lip, and as she held her straw between her fingers, I noticed her bubblegum nail polish was chipped. “How do you and Joaquin know each other?”
“Oh, we’re old friends,” Joaquin said, sliding the soda glass across the counter toward me.
At the far end of the bar, Darcy laughed. She laid her hand on Fisher’s arm and he smiled down at her, clearly enjoying her attention. To my surprise, Joaquin’s smile died. He plucked another mug from under the bar, filled it, and slammed it down on the counter.
“Sister’s moving on, I see,” he said.
“What’s the matter?” I asked as a round of laughter rose up from a nearby table. “Jealous?”
He leaned both hands into the bar. “Not in the least.” But I could tell by the twitch at the corner of his right eye that he was lying. “What’s there to be jealous of?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”
We faced off, each waiting for the other to blink.
“Um, I’m gonna go check out the jukebox,” Jennifer said, sliding off her stool.
I took a seat and rested my elbows on the bar, my head in my hands.
“So. You’ve had an interesting couple of days,” Joaquin said, his voice going quiet and uncharacteristically gentle. “You okay?”
“Do I look okay?”
He chuckled. “You look like you’re gonna be fine. It takes a little while to adjust, but there is an upside to being stuck here forever.”
“You mean the sense of fulfillment you get from ushering souls to their ultimate destinations?” I said.
Joaquin’s smile froze. “God! You sound like a Tristan Parrish disciple. No, woman!” He filled another mug with beer and slid it down the bar. “I was going to say that you get to hang out with me.”
I barked a laugh. “You’re such a jerk.”
“I’ve been called worse,” Joaquin said lightly. “But honestly, there are definite perks to being a Lifer. Other than what Tristan the Serious tells you.”
I raised one eyebrow. “Like what?”
Joaquin leaned into the counter to get closer to my ear and lowered his voice. “We can’t get sick, we can’t die,” he said, his eyes sparkling. “And we also get to stay young and hot forever.” He stood up straight and threw his arms wide as I rolled my eyes. “In Juniper Landing, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“Yeah. Except the concept of eternity,” I muttered.
He waved a dismissive hand at me. “Eh. You get used to that.”