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I pulled two beers from the tap and closed out a tab, Steph’s eyes on me the whole time. She really was a horrible bartender.
“Fine. It’s true. But it’s not what you think. I had car trouble and he gave me a ride to work. That’s all.”
“Mm-hmm, sure. Kinda rude, if you ask me. You knew I was interested.”
I swiveled to face her, one hand on my hip. “You’ve gotta be kidding me right now. One, I didn’t initiate anything. My car wouldn’t start and he offered me a ride. That’s all. Two, I bail you out on the regs here. So excuse me if a guy you’re maybe, sorta, casually interested in helped me out. To be honest, it was a nice damn change.”
Steph stared at me, her mouth open, but no words came out. After a long pause, she finally said, “Wow. I had no idea you were so, so—hostile. In fact, this feels like a hostile work environment right now.”
I rolled my eyes at her; it was a freaking reflex by this point. If I owned the Rowdy, Steph wouldn’t have a job.
“I’m going to wait the tables in the back. Then I won’t be in your way.” Steph spun on her heel and hightailed it to the back of the bar.
Whatever. It’s not like she helped me out anyway.
“Hey, sis.”
I wheeled around, coming face-to-face with my younger sister, Everly. Tonight she’d styled her long, dark hair in soft waves, spilling over her shoulders. She’d gone heavier on her makeup then I ever would, her crystalline blue eyes framed by a thick fringe of lashes. Her white cami-style shirt glowed from the neon lights behind the bar, showcasing her perfect hourglass figure. Even though we were sisters—well, half-sisters technically—we looked nothing alike. Polar opposites, really. And those differences extended to our personalities as well. Where I was more withdrawn, Everly was bubbly and charming. The quintessential elementary school teacher, everyone loved Everly, from dogs, to babies, to the grumpy old mailman.
“Hi. What’s up? How was the end of your week?” I slid a glass of white wine across the bar to her. She snatched it up, taking a long, slow swallow.
“That good, huh?” I joked.
“Pretty much. I had the parent-teacher conference from hell at lunch—there’s a kid in my class who won’t stop teasing another kid—and the parents won’t do a thing about it. Oh, it makes me so mad!” She slammed her glass down hard, wine sloshing over the side. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine, I got it.” I sopped up the spill with a white paper napkin, then balled it up and chucked it into the trash. “What are you going to do?”
“I moved the teaser. We’ll see if that helps. The next step is getting the principal involved, but I really don’t wanna do that.”
The principal of the school happened to be a guy I went to school with back in the day. He was nice enough, but I understood the politics well enough to know it was a bad idea pissing anybody off in this town and he’d definitely do whatever it took to downplay the situation.
“I’m sure it’ll work out. You have big plans this weekend?” I asked.
“If watching Netflix on the couch counts, then yes,” she said, laughing. “I have papers to grade and it’s still so damn cold, I barely made it out tonight.”
“Maybe we can have a movie marathon together on Sunday. I’m going to have one full, glorious day off and I plan on doing absolutely nothing.” I rolled my shoulders, anticipating an entire day on the couch, watching TV and eating take-out. Sounded like bliss.
“Totally. Sounds great.”
“Refill?” I gestured at Everly’s almost-empty glass.
“You bet.”
I poured the last few drops of wine into her glass, tossing the empty. “Shit. We’re out of white down here. Be right back.” I held up a finger, then scooted out from the bar, making my way back to the office area. Big Ray had a supply closet next to his office where we stored the extra inventory. Unlocking the door, I hefted the nearest case of wine, juggling it on my hip as I re-locked the door one-handed. Then I hustled back, seeing as how I was the only bartender actually serving drinks tonight.
Sliding behind the bar, I glanced over at Everly and my heart seized in my chest, my throat going dry as dust. Her head was thrown back, a wide smile on her face, her tinkly laugh floating over the dull thud of bass from the music. She looked like sunshine on a damn stick, sitting there at the bar talking to Liam.
Of course he’d like her. Everyone liked her.
If I could have turned and slunk back to the office unseen, I would’ve, but I had a job to do and the box wasn’t getting any lighter. I trudged back to my station at the center of the bar, placing the heavy wine box on the ground, then set about restocking.
“Macy, have you met Liam?” Everly’s hand fluttered to Liam’s bicep and a sharp pain socked me right in the chest.
“Mm-hmm,” I said, nodding, barely making eye contact with either of them.
“Really? And you never even told me about the handsome visitor gracing our town? Shame on you!” Everly fluttered her lashes at Liam and I cringed, acid swirling in my stomach.
“It’s not like we’ve seen each other in two days. Not a huge surprise,” I muttered, arranging wine bottles from light to dark behind the counter. A touch OCD, but I couldn’t bring myself to watch the flirt show happening in front of me.
