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I take a drink. “So do I.”

Conlin glances at me. “You play guitar.”

“And people pay me for it. That’s usually how jobs work.”

He laughs and lets it go.

For a while, we talk about normal stuff. Fires he’s been called to. Dad complaining about a boat engine somebody tried to fix and screwed it up so badly that it’s going to take even longer to fix. Mom deciding that feeding Lachlin and Briar requires producing enough food for a family of twelve.

Eventually Conlin asks how the album is coming.

“Better. Ruby’s working on the cover.”

His eyebrows lift slightly. “She is?”

“Yeah. I asked her a couple of weeks ago.”

“How’s that going?”

I pull out my phone without thinking and open the latest concept she sent me. Conlin studies it as I turn the phone toward him.

“That’s good.”

“She’s not done. She keeps changing things.”

“Looks great so far.”

I smile because I’ve had basically the same reaction every time she sends me something. “Yeah.”

When I look up, Conlin is watching me instead of the phone.

“What?”

He takes a drink before answering. “You’ve always talked about women you were seeing, but you’ve never talked about anyone the way you talk about Ruby.”

I’m tempted to make a joke and move on, which is probably exactly why he gives me another second before continuing.

“You know what I mean.”

I do.

I take another drink and look toward the bar. The place isn’t crowded tonight, mostly locals coming in after work, a couple at the far end sharing fries, somebody feeding money into the jukebox.

“She’s not casual,” I say finally.

Conlin nods like I’ve confirmed something he already knew. “Yeah. We figured that out.”

I look back at him. “Who’s we?”

“The family.”

“Great.”

He smiles into his beer. “You weren’t exactly subtle.”

I shake my head, but I’m not irritated. Mostly I’m wondering when it became obvious to everyone except me.

Conlin doesn’t push it. That’s one of the things I appreciate about him. He’ll call me out when he thinks I’m full of shit, but he doesn’t turn every observation into a conversation I didn’t ask for.