Since the band was doing their thing, there didn’t seem to be much of a line at the bar. Still, Brek was at the other end, so she pulled herself up on one of the bar stools and waited.
“You are Sammich, huh?” Brek, bartender and owner of Brek’s Bar, asked, heading her way and tossing a napkin down in front of her.
“I see you’ve been talking to Tanx,” she said with what she hoped was a welcoming grin and not a maniacal smile.
Brek grinned back. So she probably did okay. “Yeah.”
Brek had a whole Thor, God of Thunder thing going on. He probably lifted weights almost as much as Hans, but he had blond hair. Hans kept his hair cut super close, and Brek probably couldn’t remember the last time he got a haircut.
“What can I get for you?” he asked.
“Another Jack and Coke for my friend. Chardonnay for me?” she asked. “With a little club soda?”
Her order earned her a lopsided grin from Brek.
Was that a weird order? It’s what she wanted, and this was a bar. He didn’t say they didn’t have it. Ugh. Maybe she should’ve just ordered two Cokes. But she didn’t want one, so there ya go…
“On it,” he said, pulling a bottle from a mini-fridge under the counter and making her wine spritzer magic happen right in front of her.
“Not many people order Chard at a dive bar.”
“It looks like they’re missing out then.” Because the brand he snagged wasn’t a bad one.
“My wife doesn’t like much else. But she digs a good Chard spritzer.”
“I think I like your wife,” Sam said.
“She’d like you, too.”
“You used to manage Dimefront?” Sam asked. Her small talk skills weren’t sharp, but they weren’t nonexistent. Perhaps it was time to sharpen them up.
“I did.” Brek slid the glass to her and said nothing else.
She was way out of practice with small talk for anyone under the age of sixty-five, so she didn’t push any harder when he didn’t keep going.
No need to make it weird. She started to get off the stool, head back to Ashley.
“Tanner’s into you,” Brek said, and his face was a void. How did he not move any muscles at all?
“I’m into him,” Sam admitted. She ran her fingertip along the rim of the glass. “He’s amazing.”
“Tanner is a great guy,” Brek said. “He deserves the best, you know?”
She wanted to crack a joke about how he needed to go find someone who wasn’t her, but her heart wasn’t in it.
“Are you the best, Sam?” he asked, and the way he asked it made her want to fight for Tanner. Fight for what they could have if they both allowed it.
“I want to be.” She did.
Brek nodded like that was enough of an answer for him.
“Is there anything I should know?” she asked. “Any crazy exes I need to watch out for?”
“Nah.” Brek shook his head. “Tanner is an open book when he trusts a person. I’m gettin’ that he trusts you.”
“That’s a really nice compliment,” she said. “Thank you.”
“I suppose the question is, do you trust him?” Brek asked, continuing on.
