As he felt his own eyes drifting closed, he realized two things.
First, he missed Zoe already. She hadn’t left, and he was already counting the days for her return. And second . . . they’d failed to use a condom.
Chapter Twenty
Luke stepped into R&B’s hours after he left Zoe at the airport. Saying good-bye was starting to become impossible. He’d stumbled out of bed that morning to Zoe cleaning the kitchen.
She’d slept better than she had the night before, but there were still dark circles under her eyes. Probably a byproduct of crying for an hour before they’d made love.
When he brought up their lack of latex the previous night, Zoe assured him she was on birth control pills. He seemed to remember her saying that before but didn’t want her feeling alone if something were to happen.
Zoe removed his concern by suggesting they conserve water and shower together. By the time they stepped out of the bathroom, he’d spent his desire inside her a second time and vowed to throw away all his condoms so long as she was the only one in his life.
R&B’s was crowded for a Wednesday night. The parking lot full of Harleys indicated a club riding through. Luke wasn’t surprised to find clean-cut middle-aged men drinking light beer and playing pool.
He found an empty stool at the bar and waved Josie over.
In her midforties, Josie ruled her bar in Daisy Duke shorts in the summer and skintight jeans in the winter. Today she showed a little midriff when she reached above her head to grab a bottle of Grey Goose from the top shelf. Luke had always thought she was an attractive woman, if not a little old for him. He often wondered why she wasn’t married, but not enough to ask.
“Well, look who showed up.” Josie reached across the bar and gave him a hug.
“Zoe flew out this morning.”
“Oh, God, no . . . no bar fights,” she teased.
He deserved that. Zoe leaving in the past had resulted in bad behavior on his part. “She’ll be back in three weeks for the wedding.”
Josie pulled her long brown hair behind her shoulder. “You look happy.”
It was hard not to smile. “I am.”
She used the rag in her hand to clean the space in front of him. “What’s your poison?”
He ordered his favorite on tap and looked around while he waited for her to come back.
She was back in less than two minutes. The beer felt cool in his throat.
“I heard about Ziggy. That really sucks.”
“Zoe is pretty torn up about it.”
“I can’t imagine. And what the hell is Sheryl thinking?”
“That’s the ten-thousand-dollar question everyone is asking.”
Someone from the other end of the bar called for her attention.
Josie waved a hand in acknowledgment.
“Ziggy isn’t welcome here, though I’d be half tempted to serve him and then have his ass thrown back.”
Luke lifted his glass. “Not a bad plan.”
Josie tapped the bar and moved away.
Luke swiveled around in his chair and searched the room for familiar faces.
Principal Mason and his adult son sat at a small table by the jukebox.
Matt, his partner in bar-fighting crime, sat sucking on a longneck and flirting with a woman who wasn’t his wife.
There were a couple of young faces he recognized that he couldn’t place names to, kids who were just twenty-one and drinking on a Wednesday night in a bar because they could.
Waterville was starting to reach closer to River Bend, putting faces into the mix Luke didn’t recognize. Growth was important, or small towns like River Bend would fold in a bad economy. Considering they’d managed to stay afloat in one of the worst economic decades since the twenties, River Bend wasn’t doing too bad.
Places like Josie’s bar were busy midweek as a result.
Luke picked up his drink and walked around the opposite side of the bar, toward the kitchen. He watched the window where the waitress or Josie would toss up a food order . . . food being a loose term for the fried menu items R&B’s had to offer. Still, he watched until he saw Buddy peek over from his side.
Luke raised his beer. “Hey, Buddy.”
“Busy night,” Buddy said, placing an order of fries up in the window and ringing a bell.
Considering the man had done his best to kick the shit out of Luke not long ago, they’d managed to be friendly.
“Can I take a minute of your time?”
Buddy looked around the kitchen and nodded toward the service entrance.
Luke set his beer down and met Buddy in a quieter part of the bar.
After the two shook hands, Luke got straight to the point. “Have you heard about Ziggy Brown?”
“Josie brought him up in a staff meeting. Haven’t met the man.”
Luke fished his phone out of his back pocket and found the picture he’d gotten off his record in Jo’s office.
“He’s a complete dirtbag. Beat up on his kids, his wife before he ended up in jail.”
Buddy wasn’t one to get involved unless kids were part of the equation.
“Everyone has a past.”
“Maybe. But he’s back, and his grandson is in his home. I’d hate to see something happen to the kid.”
Buddy was a big man. That, coupled with the heat of the kitchen, had him sweating and wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.
“Grown men shouldn’t hit kids.”
“Couldn’t agree more. I was hoping if you saw him . . . saw anything you thought didn’t look right, you’d give me a call.”
Buddy narrowed his eyes. “This kid yours?”
Luke shook his head. “No . . . nothing like that. My girlfriend’s nephew. She’s given her sister an out, but she hasn’t taken it yet.”
Buddy glanced back at the picture with a slow nod. “Doesn’t hurt keeping your eyes open.”
Luke shook his hand. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
With a quick nod, Buddy walked back into the kitchen.
Luke moved to retrieve his beer, found something floating on the top, and abandoned it.
He started to leave the bar and found the whites of Zane Brown’s eyes. Zane turned around and walked away.
Luke double-timed out the door, skirting around bikers and a few men who’d had one too many drinks before reaching the cold of the night. He scanned the parking lot to see Zane jumping into a car.
Luke managed to get to his side before he could turn the key.
“Zane! Hold up.”
A flash of disappointment floated over Zane’s face before he offered a half-assed smile. “Hey, Luke.”
Luke left a hand on the roof of the car. “How are you doing?”
Zane looked a lot like his dad . . . younger, without the gray hair, but there wasn’t any mistaking his DNA. “Good. I’m good. You?”
“It’s been a rough week.” There was no point in lying to him. “Zoe left for Texas today.”
Zane nodded like one of those bobblehead dolls. “Yeah, I heard she was in town. I’m in Waterville most days. Work . . . you know.”
It was obvious Zoe’s brother wasn’t going to come forward with anything about Ziggy, so Luke brought up the elephant in River Bend. “How do you feel about your dad being back in town?”