The eternal flirt.
???
Alexis
Dex’s eyes haven’t left me all evening. It’s midnight, and the bar is emptying out since most people have work tomorrow. Penny and Summer are still on stage, belting out a Miranda Lambert song while their husbands watch them with proud smiles.
The way these men love their women… yeah, I never believed in love like that, but they changed my mind.
The door to the bar opens, but I don’t look up. I just spilled ice all over the floor, so I’m busy cleaning it up when a voice I know all too well makes my blood run cold.
“I’m looking for Alexis.”
Oh no…
“You mean Lexy?” I hear Dex say.
I freeze, then slowly straighten and turn.
“Mama?” My voice wavers as everything hits at once, anger, fear, hurt.
My mother looks worse than the last time I saw her. Her clothes hang off her body, dark circles hollow out her eyes, her blonde hair is tangled and dull, and her blue eyes are empty. She scratches at her arm, and this time I notice the bruises.
I swallow hard.
Behind me, Dex steps closer, and the other Hawthornes move in too, like they’re forming a wall to protect me from my own mother, and shame burns through me so fast I can barely breathe.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“I miss my daughter. Can’t a mother visit her daughter?” She glances around like she expects someone to agree.
“Let’s talk outside.”
I walk around the bar and reach for her hand, but she jerks away.
“Why don’t you offer me a drink?”
Her eyes drag over me, taking in my clothes, the bar, everything, and I know that look because I’ve seen it too many times, the way she calculates what she can get from me before she even asks.
“All I can offer you is water,” I say.
“Oh, come on, you little brat. Don’t be like that. One glass of whiskey is all I want.”
I look her over. “How many did you have today?”
She laughs. “A child shouldn’t question her mother.”
I shake my head, my throat tight. “No. In a normal world, she shouldn’t.”
I blink hard, fighting the tears, because every time I see her like this, it feels like I lose her all over again, the woman she used to be before alcohol and pills took her away.
“We only serve water, ma’am,” Dex says behind me.
“Who’s he?”
My mother steps toward him, looking him over like she’s sizing him up. I try to apologize with my eyes, but Dex just gives me a small nod.
Trust me.
