“Don’t have time to read much. Club business keeps me busy.” I need to make time to set an example for Creed. Maybe I’ll find a new mystery. “I actually stopped by to bring you this.” Berzerker’s old lady didn’t get far, but there’s a start in the folder.
Bram takes it with a raised eyebrow.
“Your woman can start immediately. Pay her whatever you think is fair. The club won’t quibble about a few dollars. I might have a line on some help for her. Part-time. It’s a high school student, but she’s reliable and hard-working.” If Creed isn’t letting his hormones do the judging for him. “I’ll let you know in a day or two. I’m sure some of the old ladies would be happy to help out.”
“Thanks. This is really going to help her get comfortable, I think.”
Just what I’m not concerned with. But that’s my issue with women. Not everyone has an irritating hot neighbor that they’re trying to get rid of. “I can’t wait to meet her.”
“She’s not ready to come around the clubhouse yet.”
Maybe I’ll have to visit the Ivy Café sometime and get a peek at the woman who’s breaking down all of Bram’s walls.
***
It’s been a day. All I want is to relax, watch something explode on the television, and then go to bed.
If one more person calls me with a problem today, I’m going to lose it.
Creed rushes into the room. “Dad, you’ve got to fix it.”
“What’s wrong?”
Creed grabs the remote and flips over to the security feeds. “That’s what’s wrong. She’s sitting in the backyard crying.”
“Women cry.” Don’t look or her tears will break your heart. It’s a power all women have and use to their advantage.
“Greer said she had an appointment in Urbium today. And now she’s crying. You need to go fix her, Dad.”
Did her sugar daddy dump her? Why does that thought make me happy? “Creed, women cry. When they do that, they usually want privacy. She doesn’t want me to go barging over there.”
“She’s been crying out there for an hour. We can’t just leave her like that. You’ve got to do something.” Creed looks at me with expectant eyes. The same look he gave me when he was a kid and broke his toys.
I fixed them then. He really expects me to fix this woman who I can’t even stand. “Fine. I’ll go try, but I can’t promise she won’t kick me out.” This isn’t going to go well. I walk over to the bar, fill two glasses, and march out to her backyard and up onto her deck.
Greer looks up at me with her tear-streaked face. “Whatever nonsense you’ve decided to yell at me about this evening, can it wait until tomorrow? I don’t have the energy for it right now.”
Well, that didn’t just make me feel like a lowlife. “I came in peace, with some of the best whiskey known to mankind.” I hold out a glass to her.
And in the blink of an eye, her demeanor changes. She shrinks back from the glass like it’s poison.
Women. Like I would waste the good stuff. “This is a hundred-year-old whiskey. There’s no way I’m contaminating it. Pick one.”
“No, thank you. I have a cup of tea.”
Tea. Tea. I flop down into the chair across from her and set one of the glasses down on the edge of the chair. “Woman, what is wrong with you that you turned down the finest whiskey when you’re crying?”
“What’s wrong with you that you feel the need to treat every problem with booze? I didn’t invite you over here. I just wanted to cry in peace.”
Cry in peace. I can’t help but chuckle. “He isn’t worth your tears.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because no man that makes you cry is worth the tears you waste on him.”
“You’re a man.”
“Exactly my point.” I take a sip and let the smooth burn slide down my throat.
