“You don’t have to—” Her words cut off as she pressed her hand to her mouth, holding back a sob. After a moment, she gathered herself and sucked in a deep breath. “Thank you, but I’ve got this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. I just—shit!”
The glass sliced through her skin, leaving a thin line of blood dribbling down her palm.
Gritting my teeth, I knew I couldn’t walk away, no matter how much I wanted to. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her to her feet and guided her into the kitchen. To my surprise, it was completely empty. “I thought you were open?”
“Um…I was…” She shook her head, her eyes glazed as they traveled over the empty space. “Um…”
“Where’s your first aid kit?”
But she didn’t answer. She stared at the floor as her hand continued to drip blood.
I rummaged around until I found the kit attached to the wall on the other side of the room. Taking it over to the sink, I dipped her hand under the cool water, but she barely seemed to notice. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to clean her up, and by the time I finished, she seemed to come out of the stupor she was in.
“Sorry about that. Just a bad start to the day.”
There was definitely more going on than she was saying, but I wasn’t about to pry into her life. I never got attached to anyone, and that had been my rule for going on ten years now.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t help her out. She clearly wasn’t in a state to do much of anything right now.
“Just sit down here,” I said, practically shoving her into a chair, “and I’ll clean up the glass.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, pressing her fingers to her lips.
It didn’t take me long to pile up the broken glasses and take them out to the trash. The glass, on the other hand, had scattered to all corners of the space behind the bar. I was just finishing up when the front door opened and Archer walked in, surprised to see me holding a broom.
“Well, this wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.”
“Me neither,” I muttered.
“Did you get a job and forget to tell me?”
I glanced over my shoulder, but the kitchen door was shut and I could still see Lizzy plopped down in the chair where I left her.
“Just helping out. Did you figure anything out?”
The hard angles on Archer’s face only grew sharper at my question. “Sorry, man.” He shook his head, sliding onto the barstool. “Apparently, my name is mud. Didn’t mean to screw you over on that.”
Sighing, I shoved the pan of glass into the trash and latched it back on the broomstick. “So, that’s it?”
“I can keep working my contacts, but for now, I’ve got nothing for you.”
“And what about you?”
Shrugging, he slid onto the barstool. “I might stick around for a while.”
“Here?”
“Why not? I spent some of my youth here.”
“But there’s nothing here.”
“I’ve got a buddy here. I was doing a job for him.”
“Yeah, but it’s over.”
