Chapter 7
Vero and I paused inside the door of the bar as our eyes adjusted to the aura of the place.
Hooligans was a far cry from the elegant cherrywoods and rich amber lighting of The Lush.
The air in the upscale bar where I used to meet Julian after his bartending shifts had always hinted at designer perfumes and imported hops.
This one felt more like the kind of bars Steven used to drag me to when we were in college, low-ceilinged rooms that smelled like hamburger grease and the cigarette smoke that trailed in from outside.
Cues snapped against balls and darts thumped into bull’s-eyes mounted on the wall. The soft clatter of empty bottles being loaded into bins peppered low conversations, and a country song crooned from a jukebox near the back.
The bartender—a balding man with a bulbous nose and a ruddy complexion—glanced up as Vero and I eased into an empty booth.
A server appeared, a woman with dyed auburn hair and deep smoker’s creases around her mouth and her eyes.
I offered her a polite smile, surprised by the wave of melancholy that washed over me as I ordered a vodka tonic with lime.
“Stop,” Vero said after the server had gone.
“What?”
“Depressing yourself. You aren’t missing anything you can’t get with the right personal massager and an economy pack of double-As. Julian wasn’t ready for you.”
It wasn’t me Julian hadn’t been ready for, but everything that came with me—two young kids, a meddlesome ex, a history of questionable criminal behavior…
I wasn’t exactly the ideal partner for a twenty-four-year-old law student who worked nights at a bar.
And if I was being honest with myself, I knew he wasn’t the ideal partner for me.
I loved my kids and Vero and my complicated, sticky life, and I wanted to be with someone who loved them too.
It was one thing to have a separate identity to stamp on the cover of my books, but I was done compartmentalizing myself to fit in other people’s neat and tidy boxes.
“I’m not depressing myself,” I lied, busying myself with my phone.
“Sure you’re not. What’s the plan?” She cracked open a peanut from a bowl on the table, scattering dust and crumbs as she popped it in her mouth.
“We wait for Georgia to show up and pretend to be surprised. Then we ask her to introduce us to all of her friends.” My sister had already told everyone she knew that I was an author.
If anyone struck me as suspicious, I’d strike up a conversation and ask them if they’d let me interview them for research for a book.
I scrolled through a few local news sites on my phone, skimming the headlines.
“Any signs of Ike?” Vero asked.
“Nothing yet. Let’s figure out who EasyClean is, get Feliks a name, and be done with it.
” My thoughts died as the door to the bar opened and Nick’s partner, Detective Joey Balafonte, stepped inside.
He nodded to the bartender, scanning the room as he slipped off his coat.
His cool blue eyes made a brief pass over our table, then quickly doubled back.
He froze, staring at me as if a breaker had tripped in his brain.
I offered him a small wave, doing my best to mirror his surprise, though I wasn’t at all surprised Joey was here.
Not just because he was Nick’s partner. But because ever since that night when Nick had been shot and Joey was nowhere to be found, I’d had my doubts about him.
If Mrs. Haggerty hadn’t confirmed his alibi, stating that she had indeed spoken with a police officer who vaguely matched Joey’s description in her driveway that night, I would have been certain that Joey Balafonte was the stranger on that dark country road who’d fired shots at me and Steven as we’d fled in the Aston.
The server handed him a beer. He accepted it with a congenial thanks, never once taking his eyes off me.
Vero looked up from her menu. “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t look now, but Joey’s here and he’s heading straight for our booth.”
“First one to show up,” she murmured as he approached our table.
“Ladies,” Joey greeted us. “How was your Christmas?”
“Good, thanks,” I said through what I hoped was a convincing smile. “How was yours?”
Joey shrugged. “A little lean this year, but you know how it is, right?” His eyes locked on mine, the same way they had over Nick’s hospital bed the last time we’d seen each other, when every question had felt like a bullet fired at close range.
“Still moonlighting?” I asked.
He took a long pull of his beer as if he was rolling the question around.
“It was seasonal work, the occasional odd job. Those kinds of gigs are harder to grab once the holidays are over.” Vero kicked me under the table.
“What about you?” he asked me. “How’s the new book coming?
Georgia mentioned it’ll be out in a few months. I’ve been dying to read it.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t have guessed you were a fan of romantic suspense.”
“Don’t suppose I am. But I do love a good mystery.” He slid a toothpick in his mouth, his lip curling around it. Joey was the last to break our staring contest as a parade of off-duty cops strolled in.
My sister pulled off her hat and waved at Joey, then did a double take when she spotted me.
Her smile was wide, her cheeks flushed from the cold as she headed for our booth.
“Hey look, everybody!” she called over her shoulder.
“This is my sister, Finlay, the one who writes the books I was telling you about.” Her friends waved to us on their way to the bar.
Joey drifted away from our table and melted into their group.
“Hey, Vero.” Georgia nudged me deeper into the booth and sat down beside me, shucking her coat. “What the heck are you two doing here?”
“We heard the cheesy fries were good,” Vero said, a little too enthusiastically.
“Hooligans has cheesy fries?” Georgia frowned as she reached for a plastic menu. “Huh. That must be new.”
The server set an open beer in front of my sister.
When she was gone, Georgia set down the menu and slid the bowl of peanuts toward herself.
“Let me take a stab at what you two are really doing here.” I opened my mouth to argue, but she held up a hand.
“Look around you, Finn. No one comes here for the food.” I shut my mouth, having no reasonable argument for that.
“I think you’re here because you finally came to your senses about Nick,” she said, cracking a nut.
“But you were too chicken to call him and agree to a date, so you decided to play coy and show up here with your friend so you wouldn’t be tempted to leave with him.
” She silenced my protest with a raised finger.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t know we all hang out here every Thursday night. ”
“Damn, she’s good,” Vero whispered.
My face burned. “I didn’t come to see Nick. He’s not even here.”
My sister smirked around her beer as she looked past me toward the door. Nick limped into the bar, leaning on a metal cane. Sleet dotted the shoulders of his coat, and he shook it from his hair as the door closed behind him.
“Whoa,” Vero said, “Finlay’s doing it again.”
“Doing what?” Georgia asked.
“Manifesting dessert.”
Georgia’s face screwed up. “I don’t even want to know what that means.
” She scooted sideways out of the booth, catching Nick’s attention as he lifted his head.
His cane rattled to a sharp halt when he spotted me.
“You two lovebirds have fun,” Georgia said, patting me on the shoulder.
“Come on, Vero. I’ll introduce you around.
I could use a partner for doubles.” I hardly noticed as Vero slid out of the booth.
Nick’s smile was tentative, and my stomach did a little flip as he shuffled toward me. He inclined his head toward Vero’s empty seat. “Mind if I take a load off?”
“Not at all.” I stole glances at him as he maneuvered onto the bench. He looked just as good as he had when I’d last seen him. The fitted Henley under his coat hugged his muscular frame, and the dark waves of his hair had grown out a little, framing his face, doing dangerous things to my libido.
He leaned his cane against the side of the bench and waved to the server across the bar. “Can I get you anything?” he asked me as she made her way toward us.
I’d hardly touched my drink, but given where Nick and I had left things after Christmas dinner, I’d definitely need some liquid courage for this conversation. I tipped my glass to our server, and with a nod, she was gone.
“I called you a few times,” he said casually. “Wasn’t sure you got my messages. Vero said you’ve been busy.”
I picked at the edge of my napkin. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. After everything that happened with Steven, I just needed some time. I didn’t mean to—”
“Hey,” he said gently, calling a time-out with his hands as he ducked his head low, capturing my gaze across the table.
“You’ve been through a lot these last few weeks, and if that’s the reason you didn’t call, I totally get it.
No explanations or apologies necessary. I just figured you were upset with me. ”
I shook my head, confused. “Why would I be upset with you?”
“About all that stuff I said after dinner at your mom’s house. I didn’t mean to suggest that I was suspicious of you, or that you had anything to answer for. I should have kept my mouth shut. It wasn’t the time to bring that stuff up.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. The answers to the questions he’d asked me under the mistletoe—about why my missing cell phone had turned up in Carl Westover’s house, or what I’d been doing there with a fugitive witness the night Feliks decided to gun us all down—would have ruined more than just the moment between us.
That night, Nick had said he didn’t want to know the answers, but where did that leave us now?
As if he was reading my thoughts, he said, “I’m still hoping for that sympathy kiss.”
A surprised laugh burst out of me. “Still?”