“Of course you do,” I said, shooting Peyton a grin before I shifted toward the bar.
It was heartwarming yet taxing to live with the poster children for small-town romance.
I sauntered up to the counter and ambled around Leo and Kristina, still lip-locked and hardly registering anything or anyone around them. Jake’s sister had had a rough divorce and had sworn off men to me every time I’d seen her after. She’d ended up on a solo vacation and had a fling with a handsome part-time bartender, never expecting him to end up working in the same hospital as she did, months after she returned.
Leo and Kristina’s love story had everything, including fate bringing them back together.
If you believed in fate. I never had and had always been taught to make my own luck. But after the luck I’d worked so hard for had run out, I seemed to be depending on fate or some kind of greater power to tell me what to do since I couldn’t think of anything on my own.
“Oh sorry,” Kristina said to me when she finally came up for air and noticed me standing behind them.
“Donotbe sorry at all, Mrs. Reyes.” I shot them both a wry grin as I squeezed next to them at the crowded bar. “Make out all you want. I feel special I was here that first night.”
Kristina dropped her head against Leo’s chest, her shoulders shaking with a chuckle.
“That’s my favorite memory of this place,” Leo said, rubbing her back. “The night that my wife couldn’t let anyone else have me, so she claimed me in front of the whole damn town. I get a chill just thinking about it.”
Kristina lifted her head and locked eyes with her husband, the love between them so palpable it squeezed my cynical heart. Everyone had been fascinated by the new fireman/nurse who’d moved into town, but he’d already been taken when he’d arrived.
“Say ‘my wife’ again,” Kristina whispered before their lips fused back together.
Even I swooned in their presence. I needed to lay off Peyton’s romance novel bookcase for the remainder of my stay and stick with serial killer stories and murder mysteries. There was love everywhere I looked, and while I used to tease them all about it, not having any of my own bothered me now in a way it never had before.
Maybe because before I had something to focus on. Before I’d left Brooklyn, I’d had a goal and a purpose to work toward. Love was never necessary for me, and I was more than okay with occasional lust.
All this time on my hands was warping my brain, and I didn’t recognize myself anymore.
“Yeah, that kiss was big news in here for a while,” Larry, the soon-to-be ex-owner of Halman’s, said behind me. “I heard about it for weeks, and every time, the tale got taller. I was tempted to add to it and see how far I could make it go, but I would have hated if rumors about the two of you in the back room made it to one of Kristina’s kids.”
“I appreciate that,” Kristina said, beaming as Leo pulled her away toward the back room maybe sparked by Larry’s suggestion. I was thrilled for her despite the confusing jealousy swirling around in my gut, and I needed more alcohol to numb the sting and mute the weird voices in my head.
Larry’s mouth curved into a slow smile when he spotted me. “Hey, gorgeous. I didn’t see you come in. I heard you were staying in town.”
He was in his early sixties if I had to guess, with his full head of gray hair cropped short, and he was still in great shape. He always flirted with me whenever I came in, and although I could never tell if he was kidding or not, I went along with it and enjoyed our sparring back and forth.
Under all that teasing, he was a big teddy bear of a man who always had a wide smile and a hearty laugh for all his customers. He seemed to genuinely enjoy running the bar, and I would never have guessed he wanted to sell it.
“I’ve been in the crowd for a while. So, I heard this place is closing. Where are all those big claiming moments supposed to happen now?”
“Oh, they’ll happen, just maybe not with so many to witness it at once. But word gets around fast enough.” He threw down a napkin in front of me. “Glad you were able to visit and make it here one more time. What can I get you?”
“A refill, please.” I lifted my empty cider bottle and set it on the counter. “Seriously, you’re going to make the residents of Kelly Lakes travel to another town for a good bar? That’s a travesty, Larry.”
A laugh rumbled through his chest.
“My kids don’t want it, and I’m looking to retire. Unless you want to buy this place and keep it open.”
He set the new bottle down on the wood, and my gaze caught on the drop of condensation sliding over the label as I absorbed what he said in a way I didn’t expect. I reached into my purse and dropped a twenty down next to the bottle before I picked it up.
“I wouldn’t know the first thing about running a bar.”
“I bet you still could. I could see you doing a lot of things.”
Larry held up his hands when my brows jumped.
“I mean, if anyone could give new life to this old bar, it would be you. I didn’t mean it how it came out.” He slowly backed away after a bartender called his name. “Not exactly anyway.”
I glared back at his smirk and shook my head at his departure.
