Not him.
It’s a couple I don’t recognize.
I feel something loosen and tighten in my chest at the same time. I don’t know what it is but it’s annoying the hell out of me.
Cal steps closer, leaning his hip against the counter. “Okay, you’re definitely waiting.”
My hands fumble with the glass I’m drying. “I amnotwaiting.”I set it down before I drop it. “I’m checking for…potential problems.”
“Uh huh. You’re checking for tall, handsome, emotionally stable problems.”
“Emotionally stable is not attractive,” I snap, but something in my chest twists uncomfortably at the words.
“That is a lie,” he says immediately.
I pause, fingers tracing the rim of a clean glass. Part of me wants to argue, but another part—the part I hate—wonders what it would be like to not constantly brace for impact.
I get that the man is busy and that’s why he hasn’t come back. What I don’t know is why I care that he hasn’t.
I shouldn’t.
I don’t.
People come into bars. People leave. That’s how this works. That’s how I prefer it to work.
“He’s probably busy being famous,” I mutter, hating how disappointed I sound. “Or whatever it is professional athletes do when they’re not getting tackled or signing autographs for people who actually care.”
Traveling.
Practicing.
Existing in a world that has nothing to do with me.
Good.
That’s good.
That’s safer.
A customer waves me over and I smile. It’s even a real smile, not a fake one but only because it’s Mrs. Delaney and she tips in homemade cookies.
“How’s my favorite bartender?” she asks.
“Still standing,” I say.
“That’s overrated.”
“Agreed.”
She orders her usual and I pour it without looking. The routine settles me. Eventually traffic in the bar picks up and I get so busy I don’t think about the way Shepherd Haynes sat at the bar yesterday like he belonged there but didn’t take up more space than necessary.
I don’t think about the way he listened instead of arguing.
And I definitely don’t think about how he laughed like nothing embarrassed him.
Nope.
Another highlight flashes on the TV and this time I catch it before I can stop myself.
