I knew better.
I forced myself to get back to work, convincing myself it was for the best. Slowly the bar cleared out, and at three a.m. Charlie clicked off the blinking “Open” sign in the front window while the rest of us quickly cleaned up.
Charlie tugged at a lock of my hair while I wiped down my last table. “I’m just about ready, Shea Bear. Let me drop tomorrow’s deposit in the safe and we can get out of here.”
“Sounds good. I’ll meet you out back as I’m going to walk Tamar out. She’s antsy to get out of here.” Tamar, Charlie, and I were always the last to leave, and Charlie gave me a ride home every night, dropped me safely at my front door, something he’d insisted on doing since I began working here.
“All right, sweetheart.”
I grabbed my bag from behind the counter and stuffed the huge wad of money inside. One of the perks of working at this place? The tips always paid my bills. No. It didn’t come close to touching the wealth I’d been promised, the goals and aspirations my parents had grilled into my brain from when I was just a little girl.
But I didn’t care.
Never would I forget the day I’d been back visiting, in the kitchen baking with my grandma, the woman I’d loved more than anyone else in the world. I could still smell the cinnamon rolls in the oven, the overwhelming comfort I’d felt standing beside her at the counter like it was exactly where I was supposed to be. From the side, she’d smiled at me, softly, almost like she felt sorry for me, and she’d voiced what most would believe to be one the worst clichés that had ever existed.
Money doesn’t bring happiness, sweet girl. You remember that, now.
It remained one of the most impactful statements anyone had ever said to me.
Because it’d been the truest.
The most important.
“You ready?” I asked Tamar who slung her purse over her shoulder.
“Absolutely. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Thought you said you loved it here?” I teased.
“Ha. After eight hours? Not so much. My feet are killing me.”
“That’s what you get for wearing five-inch heels.”
Dark blue eyes gleamed back at me as we made our way down the long hall toward the back door. “I wouldn’t be able to see over the top of the bar if I didn’t wear them.”
She pushed open the heavy metal door and stepped into the night, the small parking lot empty except for Tamar’s car and Charlie’s truck. Her super-high boots crunched against the loose gravel as we walked toward her car. She gave me a quick hug. “Night, Shea. See you Tuesday.”
I groaned in contentment. “Two days off. Can’t wait.” Charlie’s was closed on Sundays and Mondays, the only days I took off. “Have a good weekend.”
“You too.” She clicked the locks and slid into the driver’s seat, started her car, and backed out. I stepped away, arms over my chest, as I watched her drive off.
With a smile, I turned around, then froze when my sight registered the obscured figure leaning against the wall. A strangled gasp caught in my throat, and my heart took off at a sprint, blood pounding hard in my ears.
Pushing from the wall, he stepped from the shadows, his hands again stuffed deep in his pockets.
My heart rate only increased, the energy radiating from him almost as strong as the disappointment he’d left me with when he’d gone.
I pressed my hand to my chest to try to still the panic thundering against my ribs. “You scared me.”
“I’m sorry.” The words were soft. “That’s the last thing I want to do.”
But he did. I was scared of what he was capable of doing to me, the way I knew he held the power to trounce all over this hammering heart, to hold it in his hand and crush it into a million unrecognizable pieces.
“What are you doing here?” I asked on a shaky breath.