“Don’t talk down to her,” Price said, staring Robby down.
Frustrated, I held up my hands. “I have to get to work, Robby. Tell my dad I need closure. Or I will. And thanks for looking out for me, Price. I need to make money, so you two can both go your own ways, and I’ll talk to everyone later. ’Kay?”
I snatched Robby’s now empty glass and tossed it in the sink before moving down the bar. Yeah, I ran, but this was too much to deal with on a regular old Monday.
The bar’s door hadn’t even slapped shut behind me after my shift was over before Price was next to me. “You okay?” he asked, his palm on my shoulder stilling me.
“I’m fine,” I told him. “Seriously.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, thanks for letting me do my thing. Some of us have to work for a living.” When he pulled his hand away, I felt its loss more than I would have liked. “I’m sorry. That was a low blow.”
“S’okay. You’ve had a rough night. Want me to take you home?”
“You mean, Johnny?” I asked as the two of us strolled down the sidewalk, going nowhere in particular.
Price’s hand found my waist and stopped me in my tracks. His touch wasn’t rough or painful like when Robby had grabbed my wrist. It was gentle, if that’s a thing. What the heck did I know?
“No. I sent Johnny home and waited here for you. Myself.”
“Oh.”
“Oh? Who the hell is that guy, Emerson? Is he the one you’re holding out for? He doesn’t deserve to be in the same room as you, let alone in your bed. Is that who you’re running back to or from?”
“He’s confused or nervous or something, but he cares for me,” I said, stupidly defending Robby.
Price frowned and shook his head. “He’s not.”
As if drawn like magnets, our bodies met, our feet taking small steps on their own until our chests barely touched, right in the middle of a busy sidewalk in New York.
“Price ...”
“Em, listen to me. When it comes to you, there’s no reason to be confused. To know you, to see you, watch you smile the way I saw you smile on the way to the market ... the way you’re easygoing, but serious when it matters, the passion you feel when it comes to others ... I promise you, there’s no confusion. Not one moment’s confusion.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, because he didn’t give me a chance to ask him to explain.
Before I could take another breath, his lips met mine in a bruising kiss. Closed mouth, urgent, hurried but great. I didn’t think he cared we were in public, and I knew I didn’t. Having Price’s mouth on mine was a luxury I didn’t even know I yearned for, yet here I was savoring it.
“I’m not confused,” he said when he broke away from me. “I want you, all of you. Thelooking for your momversion, theupset with yourself for abandoning your dadside, and everything in between.”
“Price, I’m a waitress. And you ... you’re together.” That was the only argument I could come up with.
“Come on, Em. Let’s get an Uber and get you home.”
My right hand tucked in his left, he used his free hand to order a car, some unfamiliar but welcome energy swirling around us.
The next morning, I sat in bed and dialed Robby.
“Emerson, what the fuck?” was how he picked up my call.
“What?” I decided to play dumb. It was early, and I wasn’t fully awake. And I was in denial. My personal life was like a storybook run through the paper shredder. All of my early chapters blown to bits, with nothing to show for where I’d been and what I’d done.
With empty pages behind me, it was time for me to write my own future.
“What? You acted like I was a stranger, basically tossed me out of the bar after you sicced your new boy toy on me. What the hell? Have you been pining away for me, or dating half of New York? Which one is it?”
Slinking down on my pillows, I cleared my throat. “Can I talk?”
