I’d moved to Lark Cove about nine years ago from New York City. The moment I’d driven through the small, lakeside town, a calm had settled over my soul. Moving here had been the best decision I’d ever made.
There were no blaring horns from taxis and angry drivers. We didn’t have bums sleeping on our street corners. There were no smelly subway tunnels or towering skyscrapers. The only things on the horizon here were mountaintops.
It had only taken a week for me to adjust to the still nights, no traffic to lull me to sleep.
Lark Cove suited me. There were a couple of churches and a motel. A single school for all grades. The town only had one diner, but I didn’t need a slew of restaurants to choose from. Most meals I ate at home or at the bar. If I had the extra cash, I drove the thirty minutes up to Kalispell for something different.
Though I preferred to leave Lark Cove only when absolutely necessary. With a small grocery store and a gas station, I could keep my fridge stocked with the essentials and fishing supplies.
I didn’t need stores or shopping malls when I had the lake. When I was on my fishing boat, floating on the open water with a cup of worms in the cooler and my rod in a pole holder, I didn’t need much else.
Just the lake and my bar.
Lark Cove was one of many small towns located along the highway that ran around Flathead Lake. The bar’s neon sign lured a lot of tourists off the highway as they passed through. Though, we served a loyal local crowd too.
Other than the diner, we were the only establishment in Lark Cove that served food. Thea had come up with the idea to do brick-oven pizzas a while back and they’d been a huge hit. Add to that our cold beer and stiff drinks, and the bar was rarely empty these days.
Especially during the busy summer season.
We’d become a popular hangout spot for all of the nonlocals pretending to be local. This was a beautiful slice of Montana and it attracted rich people from across the country like flies. They’d come in and buy up a chunk of land along the lake, then build a massive vacation home. Those houses sat empty except for a week or two each summer. Some people would stay into the fall, but as soon as the snow flew, they’d be gone.
Most of the local townsfolk didn’t like the influx of out-of-staters each summer, but I didn’t mind.
Paying customers were all the same in my book.
And there were usually a couple of hot women who’d come to town every summer looking for some no-strings-attached sex. They were more than willing to fuck the rugged Montanan for a few weeks before going back home, never to admit they’d slummed it with a bartender on their summer vacation.
That worked for me too. I got sex without having to worry about some girl becoming a stage-four clinger.
I didn’t need drama in my life. I didn’t want drama in my life. So I kept my inner circle small.
I had Hazel, the woman who was more of a mother than the real one had ever been. I had Thea, who was practically my sister. And Charlie, my niece, whether we were related by blood or not.
It was a short list by design, and if Logan took Thea and Charlie away from me, I’d never forgive the rich bastard.
I made it to the bar and opened the back door, walking down the short hall past Thea’s office and the kitchen.
“Hey,” I said, getting Thea’s attention as I stepped up to the bar.
She looked up from the journal she’d been drawing in. “Hi. What are you doing here?”
I shrugged. “I was bored at home. Thought I’d come in and keep you company.”
It was Thea’s night to work, but I’d been too restless to stay at home. The unanswered questions were spinning in my head. Would she move back to New York with Logan or would she stay in Montana? What would happen with Charlie? Before I knew it, I was off the couch, out the door and on my way to the bar.
“Want a beer?” Thea set down her pencil and sketch pad, then picked up a pint glass.
“Nah. I’ll just have a Coke.”
She gave me a sideways glance, probably because I rarely turned down beer on Saturday nights. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m good. Just don’t feel like drinking.”
I’d been drinking a lot lately and needed to slow it down. The last thing I wanted to do was become a drunk. Besides, the last couple of times I’d gotten drunk, I’d fucked up royally. First by smoking that joint two weeks ago. Then by drinking too many beers before Charlie’s sixth birthday party and acting like an idiot.
“Been busy?” I asked after she set down my soda.
“Not bad. There was a good dinner rush tonight. Those guys in the corner booth have been here for a few hours. Wayne and Ronny were in earlier, but they both called it a night and left.”
That was about normal for midnight on a Saturday. We were usually busy all afternoon and evening, but the crowd would thin to just a few diehards wanting to stick it out until we shut down at two.
“Where’s Daddy Dearest tonight?” I muttered.
“Hey.” She frowned. “Don’t be like that.”
I winced. “Sorry.”
No matter how many times I told myself to give Logan a chance for Charlie’s sake, I couldn’t get past the fact that because of him, everything here was changing. Because of him, I could lose two of the three members of my family.
“It’s okay,” Thea said. “And he’s at my house with Charlie.”
I nodded and took a drink of my soda, swallowing a grumble.
“Are you sure you’re okay with covering the bar all next week?”
“Like I told you yesterday when you asked me that same question ten times, yes. I can handle the bar all week.”
“I know you can handle it. I just feel bad dumping it all on you short notice.”
She’d come down last night and asked me to cover for her. Logan wanted to take her and Charlie to New York for a week. I’d told her she was moving too fast but promised to manage the bar.
And even though she knew I was more than capable, she would fret. Thea ran most of the business side of things at the bar. She’d taken them on after Hazel had decided to retire.
Thea kept the books, ordered from the distributors and made the schedule. At times, she treated me more like an employee than a partner. She’d forgotten that I’d spent years at this bar before she even moved to town.
“It’s fine, Thea,” I reassured her again. “Consider it my penance for the whole kissing thing.”
Her face soured. “Don’t ever do that again. That was disgusting.”
“Disgusting? My kisses aren’t disgusting.”
“Don’t pout.” She scolded with a smile. “I’m sure all the women who throw themselves at you think you’re a great kisser. But since I’m the closest thing you have to a sister, I can say it was disgusting.”
“Yeah.” I grimaced. “It was kind of gross.”
Another bad decision made while drunk.
Our kiss had lasted all of two seconds before she’d pushed me away. I’d done it to see what Logan would do if he thought maybe he had some competition with Thea. No more pre-partying for children’s birthday parties.
“Why don’t you sit down?” She nodded to a stool. “I’m going to go check on that table and then we can talk.”
As she left to check on the customers, I took my Coke and a tray of peanuts around the other side of the bar. When Thea was done refilling drinks, she pulled up a seat next to me and stole a couple of my peanuts, cracking the shells and then dropping them on the floor.
I loved that about this place. We weren’t some fancy bar in the city where people were required to use coasters. We were all about the neon signs on the walls, peanut shells on the floor and classic country music on the jukebox. I didn’t even care that I had to spend twenty minutes sweeping up shells after every shift.
“Do you want to tell me what’s been bothering you?” Thea asked.
I grinned as I crunched a peanut. For as long as I’d known her, she never let me stew.