The rest of the early evening went by quickly. It was Friday night so I expected it would be crowded. Since I'd been gone, Al had added a small platform area that worked as a stage and a dance floor. Tonight he had a local Kentucky band performing live. By nine o'clock the bar was filled with people, drinking, dancing, and laughing boisterously. Marlo was working, too, and Sam had come by to listen to the band. When he walked in, I gave him a big hug and showed him to Marlo's section.
"You look great, Tenleigh," he shouted over the noise.
"Thanks, Sam." I grinned at him. "You treating my sister good?"
He got a shy, lovesick look on his face. Oh boy. "Always," he said.
I laughed, winked, and walked him to a table. I leaned on the back of the chair facing him on the other side of where he was now sitting. "Hey, Sam, before I grab you a beer, I wanted to thank you for what you're doing for our mama. Marlo says she's doing really great, and that's all because of you."
He flinched slightly and glanced away for a minute. Had I embarrassed him? "I'd do anything for your family, for Marlo," he said.
I grinned. "I've always liked you, Sam."
He laughed and pushed his glasses up on his nose. I stood up and went to get him a beer. The guy wasn't giving up on my hardheaded sister, and he was doing something wonderful for our mama. I couldn't help but like him—he was one of the few good ones. As happy as I was for Marlo, and as much as she deserved a good man who was willing to fight for her, I couldn't help the melancholy I felt as I stood at the bar waiting for Sam's beer. Would I ever have that? Would someone ever love me that way? Would I ever love someone like I'd loved Kyland? Did I want to ever love someone that intensely again? I'd sworn off love forever after Kyland broke my heart, but that vow hadn't been sustainable. I still longed for love. I ached for someone to hold me tight and tell me everything was going to be okay, to kiss my forehead tenderly, and reach for me in the darkness.
"Looks like you could use this," Al said, sliding a shot down the bar to me.
I was jolted out of my reverie. "What is it?"
"Don't ask stupid questions, just bottoms up."
I laughed. Al was not opposed to his waitresses doing a shot or two during a shift. Sometimes you needed a little something to get you through a night of being jostled and groped by drunks. Ah, hell, why not? I did need a drink. I needed to quiet my own brain. I threw the shot back and grimaced as the fiery liquid burned down my throat. I leaned over the bar and grabbed a lime and stuck it in my mouth, turning away from the bar as I sucked out the sour liquid.
For the second time that week, my eyes met with stony gray ones. Kyland. My whole body froze and I just stared at him, my heart pounding in my ears.
He was standing stock-still right at the doorway, glaring across the space at me, a look of shock on his face. And suddenly all the air in the place seemed to be sucked right out the door.
The raucous noise of the bar faded away as we held eye contact. And then, from behind him, Shelly appeared. I took a step backward, the bar hitting my back. Her appearance felt like a punch to the gut. Shelly looked at Kyland and then followed his eyes to me. Something that looked like sympathy came into her expression and I looked away, turning back around to the bar. I took several deep breaths, trying to calm myself. I grabbed Sam's beer and put it on my tray and walked it toward his table, not glancing toward the door again. Hopefully when Kyland had seen me, he'd left. I straightened my spine.
I went back to the bar and Marlo pulled me aside. "Kyland's here. You okay?" Her expressive eyes were wide with concern.
"I'm fine," I insisted, even though I wasn't exactly sure. "I thought I was the one who was angry, but he seems to hate me." Hurt and confusion assaulted my chest.
"Why would he hate you? For getting out of here when he screwed his life up?"
I chewed on my lip. "I don't know. Do Kyland and Shelly come in here often?"
She shook her head. "I've never seen them in here."
I frowned. "Huh. Well, we both have to live in this town. Or rather, I've decided to live in this town—for now. And so he can deal with it—whatever his problem is."
Marlo nodded, but looked unsure. "Okay. If you need me to pour a beer on him or something, I will. That'll get him out of here."
I laughed, but she didn't. "I'm serious."
"I know you are, Mar." I hugged her quickly.
As I served a few more drinks, I noticed that Kyland and Shelly hadn't left. In fact, they'd gotten a table up by the dance floor. I watched them from the corner of my eye and noticed that he was sitting stiff and rigid and she looked uncomfortable, too. I vowed not to look in their direction again.
I went back to the bar and asked Al for another shot and slung it down. I hadn't eaten dinner and so the two shots already had a buzzed energy spreading through my veins.
You're okay. You're okay.
A big trucker sitting at the bar who had consumed one too many beers pulled me onto his lap. I laughed, and struggled to get up, but he pulled me back down. "Hey, come on, now," I said, trying to diffuse the situation, "how can I get your beer if you don't let me up?"
"I'd rather take a long drink of you." He laughed loudly and moved his hands up my body.
"Let her go before I rearrange your fucking face." I recognized Kyland's voice immediately. I stopped struggling and the big guy whipped his head around, releasing his hold on me. I clamored to my feet, smoothing my shirt down.
Kyland was standing behind the guy, his jaw hard and set, his hands fisted at his sides.
"Whoa, man," the guy slurred, turning his hefty body in his seat, "no harm meant. I was just saying hi to the lady." His eyes ran down my body again.
"Say hi to ladies with your mouth, not your hands."
My head whipped from Kyland to the drunken guy. Now I was a lady? Earlier today he was telling me he couldn't live in the same town as me.
"I'd like to do that, too." He wiggled his tongue and let out a sharp bark of laughter.
Kyland's fist was a blur as it flew past me, straight into the guy's face. He let out a grunt, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he toppled over, out cold on the bar floor. A loud whoop went up among the bar patrons. This was not an unusual occurrence at Al's. Still, my mouth fell open. I stared at the guy on the floor for a second and then looked back up at Kyland.
And suddenly I was angry. Maybe it was the liquor flowing through my veins, maybe it was the fact that Kyland thought he could mess with my emotions, or that anything that happened to me was any of his damn business. Maybe it was the fact that he'd shown up on my territory twice this week and it'd hurt me deeply both times. Suddenly, I was furious.
"How dare you?" I seethed.
He narrowed his eyes. "How dare I pull a lecherous pig off you?" he asked. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were enjoying being manhandled. Then again, you are back here in this goddamned town working at the same goddamned bar." His nostrils flared and I almost wondered if he might paw the ground like an angry bull.
My eyes widened. "Maybe I was enjoying it. And either way, it's none of your business what I like or don't like." I was so angry I was shaking. I grabbed a guy walking by and pulled on his sweater roughly. He stumbled toward me, looking surprised. I planted my lips on his. He tasted like beer and smelled like cheap aftershave. I pushed him away and the guy went stumbling off, muttering, "Wow. I really like this bar."
I looked back at Kyland's face, his expression frozen in something I wasn't sure I could read.