Yolks on You Box Set

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

Kiko drove past the weedy yard littered with scraps of metal and pulled into the parking lot of the Dill Pickle, relieved the day was over. He wanted a drink, somewhere the tourists weren’t going. They didn’t need to see the owner of the kid-friendly egg-themed store having a few; he’d learned years ago that people didn’t like that much. And since most tourists didn’t like the look of the run-down Pickle, it was the best place for locals to stop.

He entered, sat at the end of the bar, and had received his usual before noticing a familiar face a little farther down. The guy who had bought the eggnog earlier, right after Buddy Angus had exploded. Kiko pushed the image from his mind; hours of speaking with the cops later, even he wasn’t so sure what had happened.

“Hey,” he said, moving to sit next to the man. He looked like he’d had a long day, too, scruffy unshaven face and uncombed hair. Or perhaps he knew how attractive that made him look. “You’re out of place.”

The man glanced over at Kiko and he definitely saw a look of irritation pass over his face before he hid it. The man recognized him and wasn’t too pleased to see him.

“Just getting away for a while,” he said. Kiko motioned to the bartender to buy the man’s next beer. He took note but said nothing more to Kiko.

“Well, good spot then. You managed to pick the local’s place.” The man still said nothing. “I’m Enrique—you were at my store, Yolks on You, earlier. You can call me Kiko.”

The man sighed. He was drinking the Golden Goose Egg; he took a large swallow of it.

“Dominic. Dom.”

Kiko grinned.

“Are you now? Don’t you wait ‘til at least the second date to mention something like that?”

Dom looked at him now.

“This isn’t a date.”

“Why not? You let me buy you a drink.” Kiko paused. “Don’t tell me you’re seeing that asshole I saw you with earlier.”

Dom almost smiled, but at some point the expression became a grimace and he took another drink.

“No. Not now, anyway. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Oh,” said Kiko, wondering at the story behind that but thinking it best not to ask. “The kids yours?”

“Of course not.”

“You seemed to take care of them like a natural.”

“Well,” said Dom, “like you said, their father’s an asshole.”

He was looking angry now. Kiko decided to back off a little. He focused on his beer, got another. Dom was beginning to relax some, he noticed, but before he could speak again Dom took initiative.

“So what did happen with that cow earlier?” he asked. He gave a little half-chuckle. “This was not the light, ridiculous festival I was anticipating.”

“You know, I spent a good part of the day talking to the cops and I’m still not sure,” said Kiko, noticing Dill, the owner of the Dill Pickle, slide behind the bar, and approach Dom’s empty glass.

“Cow? Shame about that. Buddy loved that cow,” said Dill as Dom nodded at another. “What’re you having?”

“Whatever that goose egg is. Someone shoot the thing?”

“No,” said Kiko, just as Dill responded with a solid, “Nah.”

“You not from around here?” asked Dill.

“Across the border,” said Dom. “Illinois. Suburbs. No one shoots anything.”

“Well, if it was shot, it’d be clean. Nah, that cow was exploded.”

Dom glanced over at Kiko as though wanting a better explanation. Kiko shrugged.

“Seems that way to me, too,” he said. “It’s possible to build an explosive that would do that—”

“Explosives? Hell,” said Dom. “Mount Angus is supposed to be this quaint tourist town. Alec made such a big deal of having bought a paper here two years ago and the top article being a pesky squirrel that the police department had to remove.”

Kiko smiled, trying to be assuring.

“That’s Mount Angus. Where the squirrels terrorize the elderly and children alike in the local park.”

“Kids,” said Dill, shaking his head and wiping at the bar. “They teach them too many fun things in school, not proper lessons. Then they go around exploding people’s property. It’s some kid with too much unsupervised internet time. Don’t worry, they’ll be caught. Probably get a slap on the wrist, though.” He moved off down the bar counter, grumbling. Kiko noticed Dom staring after him.

“Don’t mind Dill,” he said. “He’s just been having it rough lately. Wife left him, his only kid’s going off to college in a few months, and he wanted him to stay behind and work the Pickle with him.”

“I suppose his dog died, too.”

Kiko laughed. A flicker of a smile crossed Dom’s face. That he was joking with Kiko was a good sign. Still, Kiko knew he shouldn’t get his hopes up just because an available, visibly gay man—good looking and about his age, too—was in town. It was difficult, though; he otherwise would be trying to make it work with someone in Madison he’d met online, and to date, those attempts had never lasted long.

“So why the laughable store?” Dom was asking.

Kiko blinked. “Sorry?”

Dom gestured toward him with his near-empty glass; Dill moved to get him another already. Kiko tossed the coaster on top of his, finished at two.

“Yolks on You. That awful pun. That awful store. Why? Who wakes up one day and decides they want to open a store of egg paraphernalia?”

“I’m a bit of a nerd, I guess,” said Kiko, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. No one he was interested in ever appreciated his business. Dill rolled his eyes and backed quickly away from the conversation. “Mount Angus has had an Eggstravaganza for years. It inspired me.”

“But how do you not go out of business? Who the f**k buys all that egg crap?”

Kiko felt prickly. He recalled a boyfriend that had referred to his business as the “Huevos Hut” at every opportunity for seven long months; Kiko wondered time and again why he hadn’t dumped the guy immediately. He told himself Dom was both curious and drunk, and again had likely had an awful day.

“Tourists, this time of year,” he said. “I run an online store, too. And only about a third of it is crap; I sell a lot of books, educational kits and DVDs, clothing—”

“Huh. Maybe I’ll have a better look if we stop by again.”

“I hope you do,” said Kiko. “If only to let those kids hunt for more eggs. The stores hide new ones every day, you know.” He paused. “Or you could drop by when I close up again tomorrow, if you wanted to get a drink with me…” He was not being confident enough; defending his business always left him a little drained.

“s**t. Tomorrow’s only Friday?”

“Yes…”

“And this isn’t going to be through until Sunday?” Dom ran a hand through his hair. “This is going to be the worst, longest weekend in a while. Y’know what I found out today before breakfast? He’s cheating on me. With his ex. Ex-wife. Then a cow blows up. Can you imagine the nightmares those kids are having tonight?”

“I might have a few myself,” said Kiko lightly.

“s**t,” said Dom again. “How’m I going to make those kids feel better when their f*****g father’s up all night afraid? I’m not drunk enough for this.” He stared at his empty glass but made no move to have another, perhaps knowing, as Kiko thought, that being further influenced really wouldn’t help him much in handling the situation.

“You want a ride to your hotel?” asked Kiko, though he really wanted to offer Dom a night at his place. He was certain Dom would decline, though, and he didn’t particularly want the man to think he was taking advantage of him. Dom shook his head.

“No,” he said. “I walked here. I can walk back. Need the air anyway.”

* * * *

Hissing accompanied the shoving, and eventually Dom gave up and rolled over to glare at Alec.

“What?” he hissed back, half-satisfied that Alec looked as though he had barely slept all night. The other half of him wanted to get back to sleep, even if the couch was hard and uncomfortable. Maybe he should have gone back home with the egg store guy the night before; Kiko would probably have let him sleep in, and cook him eggs for breakfast. Dom knew the man had been interested.

“Get up and have a shower,” said Alec. “Alyssa and Gabe were asking for you last night.”

Dom yawned, glanced at the clock next to Alec’s bed. Five-thirty. Too early. But if he wasn’t going to be allowed to sleep, a shower sounded good. Alec followed him into the bathroom.

“What?” asked Dom again, taking his shirt off. “They’re going to have to learn to live without me soon anyway. Not my fault.”

Alec gave him a disgusted look.

“You could at least not disappear to go off and get drunk—”

“Oh, go away, Alec.”

Alec muttered something profane but shut the door gently when he left, likely not wanting to wake the kids. They’d be up soon enough, anyway; Dom had never known Alyssa and Gabe to sleep much past six. He ran the hot water over himself until Alec returned and pounded on the door, then got out.

“Took your time, didn’t you?” muttered Alec as he ushered Gabe past. Dom ignored him and moved to sit on the bed where Alyssa was combing her hair and watching cartoons. Alec said nothing more to him through breakfast, though, which suited Dom fine. When the time came to pay Alec asked for separate checks.

“I see you’ve adjusted already,” said Dom, but Alec ignored the comment.

“We didn’t get much chance to hunt eggs yesterday, so how about we get a head start today?”

“We could try that egg place we were at yesterday,” said Dom as the kids grew excited, only partially to see Alec’s face pale. “I bet there’s better odds there right now.” He did not mention because of the incident with the cow.

“I don’t know about that,” said Alec. “The brewery—”

“I wanna see the goose!” said Alyssa.

“They put out new eggs every day, I heard,” said Dom. “Besides, wouldn’t you rather go to the brewery after lunch, Alec? You don’t have to feel guilty about having a drink then.”

Alec glared at him. The kids were now so excited to see the goose that there would be a fit or two to deny them; Dom gave Alec a smug smile back. Alec’s phone pinged and Dom turned away, his amusement suddenly gone. Only Friday.