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Joe continued. “I’ll arm wrestle y’all if you’re game. Just say the word.”
This was fun, but…
“Uh, I think that’s a hard no, Elle,” Mike intervened. He had no idea where this would go if he let it continue, but for everyone’s safety, he decided to shut it down. “Why don’t you see what my companions would like to drink.”
“Okay, hon.” Joe fixed her shirt, bent, and rubbed her boobs deliberately on his shoulder before picking up her tray again to face Mel. “What can I get y’all?” she asked perkily.
“Miller on tap,” Melanie said acerbically.
“Same,” Cameron’s grunt was an actual word this time.
“Comin’ up,” Joe stated, and bounced away on her soft heels, her ass swaying provocatively.
“Oh, Mike. Really?” Melanie gave him a look that was half pity and half envy, only he knew he wasn’t supposed to see the second bit of attitude. “You must be damned lonely these days.”
Mike chuckled. “Not anymore. Elle keeps me pretty busy.”
“No. I mean lonely for adult-type stimulation,” Mel attempted to qualify.
Mike wasn’t letting up. “Oh. I get plenty of that,” he smirked. And he would make Joe pay later for the chest-thrust that had caused him to harden beneath the table.
Melanie grew angry. “Stop being sophomoric, Mike. I mean mentally, and you know it.”
“You may not believe this, Melanie, but Elle has an amazing brain,” he enlightened. He didn’t know why he was defending the pretend Joe, when clearly the sassy agent was going out of her way to camp things up, but he was damned proud of who she really was, and couldn’t hold himself back. “Servers aren’t lowlifes, Mel. For some, it’s a profession. For others, it’s a way to make money to care for aging parents, or to pursue higher education. None of that is worthy of your denigration.”
Melanie huffed. “Well, clearly your new friend is a waitress for the long term.” Mel went with the non-PC label again, and didn’t relent. “She’s obviously too old to be thinking about school, and too young to have elderly parents.” That was a purposeful dig.
“Oh?” Mike’s brows raised as he tried to tamp down his anger. “You are talking about age differences, now? You really want to go there?” He looked pointedly at Cameron, who was ten years Melanie’s junior.
“Fine,” Mel sniffed, giving up. She knew she wasn’t going to win. When Mike dug in his heels on something, he never budged an inch. It was one of those “annoying” things Melanie had always hated about him, but he had a feeling Joe would love going toe-to-toe with him; that any argument would lead to some stellar fighting, and…make-up sex.
“So, you two met at the gym?” Mel questioned.
Mike sighed. “Do you really want to talk about this, Mellie?”
She nodded.
“Fine. Yes. I met her at the gym. And if you’re looking for additional deets, why don’t you pump the kids for info next time you see them. That’s been your modus operandi ever since you walked out.”
Melanie reared back, looking offended.
Good. It was about time Mike called her out on extracting things from their offspring that were none of her business.
“I’m not touching that one,” she grimaced, looking offended.
“That’s probably for the best,” Mike answered. Then, because he was such a good guy, he turned to Mel’s boyfriend and changed the subject. “So. Cameron. How’s the new job treating you?”
The young man worked for a tree removal service where he’d been for a couple months.
“Okay,” he gave the one-word answer, then shrugged. “It’s a job.”
Yeah. Like the last two positions the guy had undertaken; that he’d either quit or been fired from. No wonder Melanie was thinking about Mike’s will and life insurance. The couple’s income, at least from Cameron’s side of things, was sporadic, and nobody lived on a teacher’s salary these days.
Well, tough for them.
Little did the pair know that Mike had taken the morning off to amend those two documents they coveted, with the help of a new attorney who didn’t know Mellie, and couldn’t be coerced, as he suspected their old lawyer might have been.
Fait accompli.