38. Chapter 38
thirty-eight
“What’s your poison tonight, handsome?” the pretty bartender asked Richard when he stopped at the bar. “You look like you could use a liquid boost.”
“You’re not the earlier bartender.” Richard eyed her as he put his empty glass on the counter.
“Gwen has to take off—an emergency.” She took the glass, sniffed it, and put it away in the dirty rack. “Manhattan?”
Richard just nodded.
The woman handed out a couple of drinks she’d finished making to the other gentleman waiting. When he left, a couple ordered drinks. The bartender handed Richard his glass. He drank at the bar, watching the party from the side like a wallflower.
It was a mistake coming here.
He couldn’t believe Rowan was engaged. They’d broken up only seven months ago. Who the hell was that man? That was some ring he gave her. The emerald itself must be at least three carats. With the surrounding diamonds, the ring must’ve cost the man quite a bundle. Though the design looked vintage.
“You seem troubled,” the bartender said as she mixed another drink. “You know it’s a wedding, right? It’s a merry occasion.”
Richard asked, “You work here full time?”
“I’m freelancing,” she replied.
“So you know Rowan, the owner of Bright Head?”
“Of course. It’s a small island.” Her smile flattened. “She’s made quite a splash since she moved out here.”
His brow furrowed. “How? ”
“She riles up the community’s upper echelon by getting the young—mostly women—business owners to challenge them for changes. Reopening Bright Head Inn is making the older generation nervous.” She freely talked as she kept working. “I’m personally for what she’s challenging.”
“I sense a but,” Richard probed as he drank.
“Well, I’m not for her strutting around town batting those big blue eyes of hers at all of our men when she already bagged a big prize herself,” she said.
“Who is that guy?” Richard asked.
“What’s it to you?” She eyed him with a sly smile.
Richard took a ten out of his wallet and slid it onto the counter to her. She took it and slipped it into her pocket.
“That’s her fiancé.” The woman went to take an order from a couple of guys before returning to Richard.
“I know that much. Why is he such a big prize?” Richard asked.
“Because he’s Chris Sullens, as in The Sullens Hotels.”
Richard almost choked on his drink. “The Sullens?”
“Uh-huh.” She measured ingredients into her mixing glass by eye. “Why are you so interested?”
Richard drained the rest of his drink in one slug. “He just took something from me.” His eyes shot laser at the man dancing with his Rowan.
The bartender leaned over the counter and patted his hand. “Let me make you another drink. What’s your name, handsome?”
Richard looked at the pretty woman with the elaborate, mysterious eye makeup. “Richard,” he answered.
She smiled at him sweetly. “I know exactly how you feel, Richard.”