Chapter Eighteen
They were in a race against the clock to get everything finished in time for the Christmas party. The bar was almost done,
and the biggest thing happening at the moment was training employees. Sheena had done a little bit of that in bartending,
but it was another thing entirely to be training people for what, at this point, was a theoretical business. She knew what
she wanted to accomplish. She knew what she wanted the business to look like, but she had never run it practically. A sign
hung up in town produced results, and she had five people apply almost immediately. She hired them all. They were varying
degrees of competent, but she needed all hands on deck, and needed to get them trained as quickly as possible.
So while there was still construction and rearranging happening around her, barstools being installed and tables going in,
she was going over the finer points of how the business ran.
Two of the people who applied had some great axe throwing skills, while the others needed to be trained so that they could
help give instruction. But after about a week everything was dialed in, and the furniture was in place.
After everyone left, Sheena looked around inside.
The floor was polished. The stools around the bar were rustic but new looking. They had the capacity to serve beer on tap, which they would do with the Four Corners beer.
The door opened, and her heart lifted when she saw that it was Denver.
“The place looks amazing,” he said.
“It does,” she said.
It still had the look of an old saloon, while also managing to look like something new and exciting. A place where people
would want to hang out.
It was different than Smokey’s. So hopefully nobody would get bent out of shape about any potential competition.
In her mind, they weren’t competing.
She was just offering something new.
In some ways, making herself part of the community. It was such a small place that any new business could really change the
landscape of Pyrite Falls. She swallowed, her throat suddenly feeling achy.
“We need to talk about food. I was thinking maybe we could put together really simple weekly menus. With like three items
on it. Make picnic boxes, almost. Ribs, brisket sandwich, a chicken breast and drumstick. Then we can have some macaroni salad
and potato salad.”
“Sounds good,” he said.”
“Since we don’t have a big on-site kitchen here.”
“No. This way they can all be refrigerated here and reheated here.”
“I don’t want to be too big of a burden.”
“With the amount of traffic you expect, I should be able to devote a day a week to it. It’s not a big deal.”
Except it felt like a big deal.
“It is a very big deal, though,” she said. “Because it helps me a whole lot.”
“I am also making money from this venture. Having food here is only going to be beneficial for me too.”
“I guess,” she said.
Except she wanted it to be because she was special. Because that was the sort of insidious little thing that built inside
of her over these past few weeks.
During this . . . this relationship thing.
“My sisters get in tomorrow,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said.
“I think Abigail and Alejandro are staying in a vacation rental thing above the bar? But Whitney and Sarah are staying with
me. So . . . I’m going to have to be home.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I get that.”
“What?” She looked at him. Because he had said it was fine, but there was something else that she could see there.
“It’s just that you could all stay with me. I have plenty of room. Whitney and Sarah wouldn’t even have to bunk up.”
No. That felt . . . that felt way too far.
“No. The girls are expecting to stay home. And . . .”
“And are you planning on pretending that we aren’t together?”
She frowned. “You want me to introduce you as my boyfriend?”
The word was just so bland in context with Denver.
Even though she supposed he was her boyfriend. More or less. That made her want to hide.
Boyfriend. Talk about sounding middle school.
“I don’t think you have to call me that for them to get it,” he said.
Except there was nothing to get. They were a thing.
It was established at King’s Crest. His siblings knew.
But no, she hadn’t talked to her sisters about it.
She had avoided having them on any video calls so that they couldn’t see she wasn’t staying at home.
So that they wouldn’t know she was slowly pack-ratting all of her things to Denver’s place.
Getting deeper and deeper enmeshed in this thing. Which was scary if she really paused to think about it, but wonderful if
she didn’t.
“I don’t have to be around if you don’t want,” he said.
And he really did mean that. She could see it. He wasn’t being passive-aggressive or anything like that.
He was . . . he was being honest. Because he actually cared about whether or not she was comfortable. Damn him for being so
perfect.
“Why don’t we go together?” she said. “To pick them up from the airport. And we won’t label it or say anything, but I’ll sleep
at my place.”
“Okay,” he said.
“Are you laughing at me?”
“I am a little bit.”
“They’re going to ask me about you. It isn’t like I’m going to deny you three times before the rooster crows.”
“That’s a little sacrilegious.”
“Well. It’s me we’re talking about here. That shouldn’t shock you.”
He sighed. “Okay. I guess we’ll do this thing, then.”
Family Christmas. He didn’t have to say it. That was what they were doing. A family Christmas thing. Because her sisters were
going to come to the Four Corners event, and he was going to help pick him up from the airport. And it felt very real all
of a sudden.
She didn’t stay that night. They had dinner together, and she made the case that she needed to go home and get things set
up. Which was true. She did need to do that.
She sighed when she arrived at her dark, empty house. Her stomach felt tight.
There had been a time when this place had felt like her sanctuary. A place away from the bar, from all of the rowdy, demanding men who thought that she owed them a debt just because her body was shaped in a way they liked.
Yeah. There had been a time when it felt like a sanctuary. And right now it felt lonely.
She flicked the lights on, trying to make herself feel like it was more full than it was.
It didn’t really matter, because tomorrow her sisters would be here.
They would be driving a few hours to pick them up, and bringing them back here.
And the house wouldn’t be empty. It would be full in a familiar way again, and she wouldn’t feel quite so out of sorts.
She slept fitfully too. Like the empty bed was unusual, when for almost her entire life an empty bed had been normal. And
it was only these past weeks, so there was really no reason . . .
There was just no reason.
The next morning when she woke up, she had two texts from Denver, and that made her smile.
She called him rather than texting back.
“Hello.”
His voice was still rough with sleep.
She imagined him lying in bed, naked, looking all disheveled. Though, he better look a little less disheveled than normal.
Since she hadn’t been there to ravish him.
“Hi,” she said. “To answer your question, I think we should leave in about two hours.”
“Sounds good. I’ll get up and take a shower.”
“Now I really do wish I was there.”
She knew that he would think she meant because she wanted to get in the shower with him. And that was . . . true. For sure. But there was more to it than that. And increasingly, there was a lot more to it.
She just felt a little bit less of everything when he wasn’t with her.
The thought was both destabilizing and unwelcome.
Because Sheena Patrick had worked hard to never feel like less just because somebody wasn’t around. Because that was the inevitability
of life. People left.
It was just how things worked.
Her mother had left. Her father had died.
Her sisters had grown up and gone away.
It was the way things were. And there was no use getting maudlin about it.
There was no use being wistful.
And there was definitely no use tying herself and her feelings of well-being to another person.
“I’ll meet you down there,” she said.
They were going to take his truck because it had a big back seat, and enough room in the bed to throw all of their bags in.
Alejandro and Abigail had insisted on renting a car, so that she could show him around a little bit. Which was good. Because
it would’ve required them to bring two vehicles to fit everybody in that case. Well. Unless Denver didn’t come. And honestly.
That just didn’t seem like what she wanted. Not anymore.
He came and picked her up not long after, and they fought over the radio the whole way to Medford.
There was no real waiting at the airport. There was only one baggage carousel, and one terminal.
When her sisters came out of the glass revolving door, she ran to them and hugged them.
They had all managed to get flights that connected in Portland, and had taken the same one to Medford.
“Flying north just to get south,” Abigail grumbled, but smiled all the same.
And right then, her sisters realized. That there was somebody else there.
“Abigail, Whitney, Sarah. Alejandro. We haven’t met. I’m Sheena. This is Denver.” She did the world’s most awkward combined
introduction of all time.
“Denver King,” Abigail said.
“Guilty,” said Denver.
And she knew he meant that in the literal sense.
Abigail looked from Sheena to Denver. “Nice to meet you,” she said.
Sarah and Whitney nodded in agreement.
“I think you have to go over there to get your rental car,” she said, gesturing to the counter that was just a few paces from
where they were. “I got it,” Alejandro said, walking over to the counter while they continued to stand by the baggage carousel.
“I’m glad you guys came,” she said. “Really. Christmas wouldn’t have been the same without you.”
“You should see the bar that your sister just got put together,” Denver said.
If she wasn’t mistaken, there was pride in his voice. She just stood there and stared at him.