Figuring she had no choice but to show Red so that hopefully she would agree this did not fit correctly and she should wear her old one, Tessa pulled her shirt back on and emerged from the bedroom.
Red nodded, visibly pleased as she said, “Much better.”
“Really?” Tessa asked.
“Yes. And if you don’t throw out your old bra, I will.”
Tessa kept her mouth shut. Let Red assume her silence meant she agreed, even though there was no way she was throwing out her comfortable old bra. Especially not to wear this torturously uncomfortable one.
Ruby appeared less happy with the situation. “So you can’t drive stick, you can’t ride a motorcycle, can you play pool at least?”
The question caught Tessa off guard. Mainly from the shock that this was the one thing they’d asked she didn’t have to saynoto.
“Yes, actually, I can.” She was damn good at it too. The result of having an old pool table in the furnished basement-slash-game room of the house she’d grown up in. A remnant from her grandparents’ day, before her parents took over the house.
Playing pool alone was a good pastime for a young introvert who had more books than friends.
Finally, Ruby smiled wide. “Perfect. You’ll play pool tonight.”
“Agreed.” Red nodded. “Nothing like a hot girl leaning over a pool table to attract a guy. Doesn’t matter if he’s a butt or a boob man. Taking a shot in pool shows off both nicely.”
Great…
Not for the first time today Tessa wondered if she’d made a huge mistake.
Chapter Seven
Dean reached the top step and faced the old sign-plastered door of the Muddy River Inn.
It was comforting that this place never changed. It could just as easily have been ten years ago as now.
He stood to the side and pulled the door wide to allow his mother and then his father to enter before him.
Yes, he’d been raised right. Taught to open doors and say please and thank you. But being polite was only part of his motivation for letting his parents walk in first. Entering last allowed him to pause in the doorway and get acclimated to being back home after what had been too long of an absence.
That he needed to get his bearings again, even here in this quirky local bar that was one of his favorite places, felt odd.
It was just a local dive bar. One of the few watering holes in this town still in existence. The only place for literally miles where a man could sit on a torn, wobbly barstool sidled up to the scarred bar and have a beer and a shot and shoot the shit with both old friends and total strangers. All for pocket change.
There was something to be said for being able to have a good time for an entire afternoon for twenty-bucks. When so many places charged close to that for a single drink nowadays.
Even if there had been other places to go nearby, the MRI would still be where Dean wanted to be. The sight, sound and smell of the place combined to take him back in time.
The old carpet, which was possibly older than he was, was just as ratty looking, though the tear near the bar that over the years had tripped many a person, both sober and drunk, had grown a bit in spite of the duct-taped attempt at repair.
The juke box was just as loud as it usually was this time of night when the day bartender left and the night shift came on and turned up the volume.
The aroma of frying chicken wings wafting out of the kitchen had his mouth watering and a growl rumbling from his stomach.
Okay, his mother was right. Driving directly here from the airport was a good idea—as long as food was the only reason they were here.
Dean stepped farther inside and let the door close behind him as he did a visual sweep of the interior.
Carter, the owner’s son, was behind the bar for the night shift. They hadn’t been in classes together in school but still knew each other well. They should. Dean had spent enough time seated here drinking while Carter had been on the other side serving.
The dark-haired man lifted his chin in greeting when he noticed Dean before he moved on to pouring a beer for one of the usual line-up of patrons filling the stools.
It all looked perfectly normal. Nothing had changed. It was exactly as he’d expect for this place at this time of day.
