Page 5 of The Moment He Couldn’t Walk Away

Finch nodded.

“Well, snap out of it because you owe me for luring Bart away, and Dee will blister my ears for lying.”

“Seems harsh, but okay,” Finch said.

“You’re working bar on girls’ night because, apparently, you’re good-looking, though I can’t see it myself. Be here by 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday the 15th, and if you want to wear a Christmas-themed getup, all good, but if not, we’ll sort you out when you arrive.”

Before he could speak the roar of motorcycles had Finch turning on his heel to watch three bikes roll into town. They then parked in front of The Do Si Do Diner. All three leather-clad riders dismounted and went inside.

“What the fuck are they doing here? I thought we hated Bandits after all that shit went down with Leah Reynolds,” Finch said.

“I don’t like it, but some locals say that since their leader, Grill, was put inside, they’re nice—more community friendly. I call BS, and they’re still not entering my bar with their leathers on. That one in the lead is Walker Luke, and he rolled Clover, who stepped up when Grill left. Deputy Dan and his uncle don’t like him, but they can’t do shit until he messes up.”

“Sounds like trouble to me,” Finch said.

“Amen,” Red said. “There’s a whole lot of shit that I don’t get in this town at the moment that we’ve never had before.”

“Like what?” Finch didn’t really care but thought he’d better ask. After all, this was where the people he called family lived, so he should make the effort.

“Someone broke into Nina’s house and went through it, making one hell of a mess. They took cash and left,” Red said, looking pissed.

“Did anyone else get hit?”

“Nah, just her, so maybe they were disturbed or something?”

“Then some cars got broken into outside the Rollaway too, and Nina’s was one of them, so she had a double load of crap happen, which considering she’s dealing with enough shit in her life, is not cool.”

“Has to be hard,” Finch said instead of “What other shit?”

“Has to be. Anyway, gotta go. Don’t forget girls’ night, and wear something tight. They like that.”

“Isn’t that objectifying men? I mean, women hate it when we do that to them.”

“Oh please, men deserve it because some of us are shitheads to women constantly,” Red said.

“I really don’t think I can do girls’ night, Red.”

“Sure you can. Now I have to go.”

“Red….” Finch’s words fell away as the man left. There was no way in hell he was working behind a bar on girls’ night—no way, even if he did owe Red for the interference.

Finch thought about walking down the middle of the street then, so no one else approached him, but as there was plenty of traffic, that wouldn’t work. He kept close to the road so he could make a run for it to the other side if someone wanted a conversation.

“Hello, dear.”

Damn, he hadn’t noticed Bart’s sister, June, standing outside the thrift store, washing windows. Didn’t she know it was freezing?

“Hi, June.”

“Can you help me with something, Finch?”

He thought about saying no—everyone knew he wasn’t the same Finch—but before he had a chance to open his mouth, she’d gone inside.

“Fuck.” He followed.

The heat hit him first, and he saw a heater with all bars blazing red. An old Christmas carol about letting it snow was playing. Shelves were filled with household goods and racks of clothes and shoes. Ordered chaos, he thought.

“Can you open this jar for me?” June said, holding out a large glass jar with a metal lid that had nothing inside.