Chapter 21
This was a mistake.
Of course, it was Amelia. You can’t follow FBI agents.
They don’t like it and get cranky. All I got was one measly slow dance, from the most annoying agent on the planet.
My heart thumps in protest. He’s not annoying. He’s dedicated to his job and protective. He has a tender heart under all his armor, and I like him despite his reservations about me. I always fall too fast. My fatal flaw.
Okay, one of them anyway.
But I could have sworn he felt it too. I shake my head as I let myself out of the swanky bar. I shouldn’t be too hard on him. He has a rough job, and I have a feeling there’s a reason he won’t let himself chase something with me. But his constant rejections still sting.
I pass the door for the bar I should have gone to. The one with the greasy cheese curds and more down-to-earth atmosphere. I stop, turn, then walk inside.
The aesthetic can be summed up with two words: Old West. Or is it one word? It feels like I stepped into a cave. Smells like it too. The scents of damp dirt and rotting wood add to the experience, complimenting the old-fashioned lanterns that dot the brownish-gray walls. The actual bar counter is made from old mining cars and there’s a display of liquor bottles that look like they’ve been around for a century. Did they redo this place from the last time I was here? If they did, it wasn’t an upgrade.
It’s not packed like next door. But it’s got a nice mix of baby boomers and…older baby boomers.
I approach the bar, studying the menu.
“What can I get you?” an older man asks.
“I’ll take an order of…” I look at the sign again. “Golden nuggets and a Miner’s Classic, with no lettuce, onions or tomatoes.”
“No veggies on the burger. Got it.” He nods and takes my order back to the kitchen as I collapse onto a stool.
“Millie?”
I startle at the voice, goosebumps breaking out over my skin. I hadn’t realized I’d sat next to anyone, but I did far worse.
I sat by my ex.
“Justin?” I swallow, sitting up straighter. “What are you doing here?”
He hooks his thumb over his shoulder. “I live down the block, remember?”
Seems I forgot a few more pertinent details about this place. My memory is really failing me these days.
“Right.” I turn and face the bar. I haven’t paid, I could stand up and leave but that would be rude. I’m reaching for my wallet to leave money when Justin speaks up.
“How have you been?”
“Oh, you know.” I wave my hand between us, creating a very flimsy barrier. “Busy busy.”
“I tried to come by your house again.”
Again? Maybe I do need to file a restraining order on him.
“When did you move?” he asks. There’s the smallest hint of hurt in his eyes, but I don’t allow myself to dwell on it. I see he’s nursing a beer. He was always more emotional and kind when he was inebriated.
“Recently.” I opt for the vague answer.
“I’m glad I didn’t try something romantic and climb through your bedroom window.” His lips lift into a half-smile.
“Oh,” I exhale an awkward laugh. “I mean you could have tried. But I don’t think the Gong’s would have liked that.”
A steaming plate of food is set down in front of me and I snag a greasy cheese curd and pop it into my mouth.
“I miss you.”
The heat of the cheese hits me at the same time his words do. “Agh.” I cough the burning cheese into my napkin and spin on him, my mouth still on fire.
“No.” I take a long gulp of water but it does nothing to reverse the burn. When I can finally talk, I’m even more annoyed with him. “You don’t get to say that. You cheated on me. You’re not going to make me feel bad about respecting myself when you don’t.”
Anger flashes in his eyes before it completely disappears, his face becoming a blank slate. “You’re right.” He blows out a breath, shoving a hand through his long, dirty-blond hair. I used to love playing with his hair, but I used to love lots of things. Like naps and dino nuggets.
Okay, I still love those things.
“You know we wouldn’t have worked out, right?” I say.
“Yeah,” he scoffs. “I know.”
I bristle. That’s not exactly the answer I wanted to hear. A bit too casual for my liking.
“But I did care for you, Millie.” He aims his tender blue eyes at me. The same ones that also lied to me for months.
“I cared for you too,” I admit reluctantly.
“It wasn’t all fake,” he says, his voice almost sad.
I sit up straighter, my spine turning to ice. I never thought it was. He proposed to me. I almost…well, I almost started planning a wedding with him. We were in love once, I know that.
“Maybe we could be friends?” he asks, his expression so hopeful it hurts. I’ve always had a soft spot for the underdog. But this is Justin, the man who cheated on me.
“Maybe. In time,” I add quickly before he can read too much into it. But the small widening of his eyes tells me he already has.
“Hey, do you still have the ring I gave you?”
This question takes me by complete surprise. “Why?”
He swivels on his stool and takes another swig of beer. “If we aren’t going to work out, maybe it will with someone else.”
And there goes the camaraderie between us. He wouldn’t dare use the same ring to propose to another girl. Would he? Then again, he works as a lifeguard at a nursing home. He probably used his entire salary to purchase that crappy ring.
“I might have it somewhere.” I know exactly where it is. In the bottom of my jewelry box stinking up the place.
That’s a metaphor for my relationship with him if I ever heard one. That thing turned my finger green two months after I put it on so, I wore my mother’s engagement ring instead. I forget I have his ring until I open the bottom drawer and am hit by the putrid, rusty metallic scent. I could give it back to him, but it belongs in the trash. Not on another woman’s finger.
“Let me know if you find it, please,” he says, an edge to his voice I don’t appreciate.
I turn away muttering an okay of sorts around a mouthful of burger. I take two more bites in complete silence. But suddenly it’s too silent.
I glance to the left in time to see him disappearing out the front door. Looks like he finally got the hint.
But he’s not the only suspicious character out tonight. There’s a lone figure in the shadows, just beyond the front window.
For a moment, Caleb’s warning catches up to me that I could be in danger. But then the figure shifts and light from the streetlamp lines his impressive physique and a smile finds me.