Page 93 of When Ben Loved Jace

“All right,” I murmur with burning cheeks, “but don’t call me that in public.”

Bernie laughs, seeming comfortable with our banter. “How long are you in town for?”

“Just a few days,” Jace says. “It’s my dad’s birthday tomorrow.”

“Grab him a bottle of something before you go,” Bernie says. “From me.”

“I will, thanks.”

“I barely recognized you when you walked through the door. Not without the hair.” Bernie smiles at me as I rejoin them. “Have you seen Jace when he was younger? I have some photos in the back. People used to think that him and his sister were twins. I’ve got one where you honestly can’t tell who is who.”

“I’d love to see that!”

We follow him into the employees-only area but don’t make it far before the front door chimes.

“I’ll take care of them,” Jace says. “Is the register code the same?”

“Sure is.”

My boyfriend grabs a red vest hanging on a nearby hook. Another uniform! Although this one isn’t nearly as sexy.

“Looks like I’ll be Cameron today,” he says after checking the nametag. “Good luck trying to embarrass me when I’m not around.”

“I think we’ll manage,” Bernie says with a conspiring wink.

I’m led to an office so small that Bernie has to shuffle sideways to get behind the desk. He opens a drawer while muttering to himself. I’m distracted by a bulletin board on the wall, where notices, bills, and—most interesting to me—photos are pinned up. One is of Bernie and a beautiful woman who might be of Pacific Islander descent, judging from the ring of flowers in her hair. Then again, the outfits don’t speak to Bernie’s origins, and he’s wearing nothing but a hula skirt, his big round belly on full display.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii,” I say enviously.

He glances up and grins. “That’s where I met my wife. Did you see the photo of Jace?”

I scan the bulletin board and see my boyfriend, gangly and long-haired, wearing one of the red vests while standing behind the counter. He’s holding a carton of cigarettes in each hand, his expression thrilled.

“Did he used to smoke?”

“Hm? No. I don’t believe so. We took the photo that waybecause he was too young to sell cigarettes or booze to the customers. Which would make a lot of them grumpy, so he would do it anyway. That was a hard habit to break him of. Jace has always been a nice guy, but sometimes you’ve gotta disappoint people, even if it makes them unhappy. The rules are the rules. I had to dial him up at home and pretend he sold to an undercover cop. Told him that they had hauled me away in cuffs and I was using my one call from jail to let him know he needed to man the store while I was behind bars. You should have seen his face when he showed up here.”

I laugh. “I bet he got the message then!”

“That did the trick,” Bernie confirms with a nod.

I’m distracted by a worn and yellowed photo of a handsome black man in an army uniform. I assume it’s of Bernie when he was younger, considering the “proud veteran” ballcap he’s wearing now.

“Aha!” he says suddenly. “This isn’t the photo I was thinking of, but I bet you’ve never seen Jace look this way before.”

He hands it to me and I’m momentarily shocked, because one half of Jace’s face is bloody and gored, like he tried shaving with a lawnmower.

“That was for Halloween,” Bernie explains. “I always make a big deal of it here at the store. His sister did the make-up, if I remember right. He was supposed to have been in a car wreck. He brought a cut of meat with him that he tucked inside his sleeve, like his hand had gotten mangled. I made him put it in one of the freezers when it started to smell. Here we go!”

The next photo I’m shown is of Jace and Michelle when they were younger, and they’re clearly playing up their similarities, because they’re wearing the exact same outfit.

“He was trying to pull a fast one on me,” Bernie explains. “I’d made some comment about how much they look alike, so Jace had his sister show up in the middle of his shift to take his place. I pretended not to notice, even when they kept switching in and out. Eventually, one of them would be at the counter while the other was restocking shelves. Still didn’t get a reaction out of me. Why turn down free labor?”

“I didn’t realize he was such a prankster!”

“He was trouble all right,” Bernie says warmly. “Here’s one I took of Victor. Have you heard about him?”

“A lot, but not everything,” I answer honestly, despite myinterest being piqued. Jace hasn’t talked much about Victor since we got back together. I assume he doesn’t want to dwell on the subject of ex-boyfriends.