As he probably intended, his words only made me think about exactly what had sent me here in the first place.
I tipped my nearly empty glass toward myself and mumbled, “She’s leaving.”
“Who?” Lincoln asked, surprise clear in his voice. “Sutton?”
“Knew she was trouble from the second I saw her,” I said.
A weighted silence descended, and then Lincoln asked, “Did she actually tell you that?”
“The email with the job offer in Boston and her reply asking to get back to them said enough.”
“I’m not asking about a couple of emails. Did youtalkto Sutton?”
“I didn’t need to. I saw the evidence.”
“A couple emails aren’t evidence. Jesus, man, are you serious? I get, like, fifty emails a week telling me how to enlarge my dick. Doesn’t mean I’m going to do it. Or need to, for that matter.”
“This isn’t a fucking joke,” I growled.
“I’m not joking.” Lincoln leaned back against the counter across from me and raised a brow. “I’m illustrating what an idiot you’re being. If she’s moving to Boston—and that’s a big fuckingif—the correct response from you is to start looking for coaching jobs in Boston. Not drowning your sorrows in the family bar.”
“Why the hell would I leave?”
Lincoln and Dec shared a glance before Declan said, “Why the hell wouldn’t you?”
“You two don’t know what you’re talking about.” I drained the rest of my glass before reaching for the bottle to pour another.
Declan snatched it away before I could grab it. “I think you’ve had enough.”
“And I think you should mind your fucking business. What good is having a bar if I can’t drink all the alcohol I want?”
“What goodishaving a bar?” Declan shot back. “It’s the same thing I’ve been asking for ten fucking years.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you’re right,” I snapped. “Maybe we should just sell this fucking place so neither of you are tied down anymore. You can leave just like everybody else.”
“Dude, what the fuck?” Lincoln said.
“Don’t pretend to be confused now. You’ve been bitching about how you’re drowning here, and Dec can’t go a week without saying we should sell the damn thing. So, let’s do it.”
“You’re a fucking idiot,” Declan said, his face impassive even when I pinned him with a glare.
“Fuck you both. I don’t need this shit. I came here to drown out everything, not have more bullshit shoved down my throat.” I pushed to stand, but Declan shoved me back into my seat, illustrating just how off my game I was. I had two inches and fifty pounds on the guy, but I dropped back onto the stool like a sack of bricks.
“Dec’s right,” Lincoln said. “And you need to listen. Yeah, I’ve been complaining about drowning, but that means I want to open the circle of trust a little bit. You know, promote a couple people who’ve been with us for years to managers, so one of us doesn’t have to be here at all times? Not give up the whole place. And you know Dec only spouts off about selling the bar when the hot librarian has pissed him off that day. He’s not going anywhere.”
My shoulders slumped, the fight seeping out of me. “Well, Sutton is.”
“And if she is, you should be figuring out how to go with her, not sitting here talking to us.”
“I’m not looking for advice. I don’t need you two to fix this.”
“You sure about that?” Lincoln asked. “Because from where I’m standing, you could use a little fixing.”
“I’mthe one who fixes problems. I don’t bring them to others and make them deal with my shit.”
Lincoln snorted. “Yeah, and doesn’t that get fucking exhausting?”
I didn’t respond because I didn’t know what to say. It was complicated. Yes, it was exhausting—being the only one who held things together, the one everyone counted on, the constantrock for people to lean against. But it was also a privilege I took seriously, needing to prove my worth to the family I’d let down while only trying to protect them.
