Made For Us by Samantha Chase Page B

going with? What’s so weird about a man cave?”
    He held up a finger to stop her. “Ah, I haven’t finished yet.” Zoe nodded, and he leaned his elbows on the table and got comfortable. “So we go inside and his wife goes back to the house. We’re talking about what he wants in the space and it all seems pretty straightforward—a bar, big-screen TV, bookcases, new bathroom, yadda, yadda, yadda. So I’m taking measurements and writing my notes, and he asks me if I do any excavation work.”
    “For a man cave? On the second story?” Zoe leaned forward, clearly intrigued.
    Nodding, Aidan said, “Weird, right? So I tell him it depends on the project and if we have plumbing issues and whatnot, and he interrupts me and says, ‘No, I’m thinking like a tunnel.’ I still wasn’t sure what he was getting at, so I turned to him and was like ‘Dude, what do you need a tunnel for?’ And he’s like ‘I want to be able to sneak my girlfriend in and out of here without my wife seeing her.’”
    “No!”
    Aidan smiled and continued to nod. “Yes! And he was totally serious!”
    “So he wanted you to build like a walking tunnel from the back of the garage to where?”
    “The property was heavily wooded behind the garage. They owned about an acre back there, and he only wanted a crawl-space tunnel from the back of the garage out to the property where she could park her car without being seen.”
    “And he expected her to crawl for an acre?”
    “Apparently so.”
    Zoe leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. “Well, that’s just all kinds of wrong. What did you do?”
    “Honestly? I wanted no part of it. I told him I could do the renovations on the garage and do the man cave thing, but he’d have to find somebody else for the tunnel.”
    “So you did it? You did the man cave for him?”
    He shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
    “Because he was a freak!” she said with a laugh. “And you were just helping him stay freaky!”
    “The way I see it, he was a freak no matter what I did or didn’t do. I just knew where to draw the line.”
    Zoe reached for her drink and finished the last of it. “When did people get this way?”
    “What way?”
    “Freaky. What happened to normal people?”
    He chuckled. “They’re still out there. They’re just harder to find.”
    They sat in companionable silence for a moment until Tammy came over. “Well, you two, I hate to say it, but we’re getting ready to close.”
    They both looked at her like she was crazy. “You close early on Mondays?” Aidan asked.
    Tammy laughed. “Um…no. We close at eleven, just like we do every night.”
    Aidan looked down at his watch, his eyes going wide. “Well, damn.” From the looks of it, Zoe hadn’t realized the time either. “Sorry, Tammy. We didn’t mean to hold you up.” Fumbling for his wallet, he promptly paid the check.
    “No worries,” she said with a wink and walked away.
    They each quickly scrambled from the booth. “Okay…wow. I had no idea it was so late,” Zoe said as she straightened her skirt and fidgeted with her hair. “Um…do you think we can check on my car? Maybe it’s ready and we can just pick it up while we’re here in town and then you won’t have to drive me home.”
    For a moment he was stumped. They were having a good time—or at least he thought they were having a good time—and now she was looking to get rid of him. “Yeah, sure. I’ll call over and see what’s up.” Taking his phone from his pocket, he walked ahead of Zoe out of the restaurant.
    She joined him and looked at him expectantly. “I couldn’t get anyone on the line,” he apologized. “I’m sure it’s no big deal, and for all we know, your car could be waiting for you at home.”
    Zoe climbed back into Aidan’s truck and directed him to her house. When they pulled into her driveway, she noticed the look on Aidan’s face. “What? What’s the matter?”
    “You live on the beach.”
    “Uh…yeah. Why? What’s