Chapter 31
BECK
It wasn’t even dinner rush, and it felt as if today had lasted forever.
Between the bank, the lawyer, back and forth calls with Mr. O’Malley, and our cook coming down with the flu (in May?) it had been a full day.
I had to promise my back-up cook two weekends in a row off if I wanted to avoid the kitchen myself, which I did.
Not that I minded all that much, though I preferred front of the house more, but with everything else happening I couldn’t be stuck back there.
“Round of shots, on me,” Mason called.
I’d told the staff already, and the guys. Since I hadn’t heard from Mae, I could only assume she hadn’t talked to her parents yet.
It had taken some creative timing, an emergency wire transfer, and a hell of a lot of signatures, but by four o’clock, O’Malley’s was officially mine.
“Four,” he corrected when I poured three shots for us before looking around the bar to be sure no one needed a drink first.
“You drinking two?” I asked, grabbing another shot glass.
“I’ll have his extra.”
As if on cue, a buttoned-up Cole walked up between Mason and Parker and reached his hand over the bar.
I shook it, surprised, even though I shouldn’t have been. So many people didn’t get our friendship with Cole. He was very different than the three of us, especially Parker and me. But Cole Ford was one hell of a friend. And fun too, when he loosened up.
“Congratulations, buddy.”
“How the hell did you assholes pull this together?”
Cole sat next to Parker. I thought he’d left a stool open for Delaney since the girls had to be back by now. They were stopping for lunch on the way home but Mae had confirmed she’d be here tonight.
I smiled, thinking of her brief text. Just a single line, classic Mae:
Behave till I get there.
“Only had one class this morning,” Cole said, taking the shot I gave him. “Mason said it looked like everything was going through so, here I am.”
He said that like it wasn’t more than a five-hour drive, if Manhattan traffic cooperated.
“I appreciate it,” I said, raising my shot glass, as did the others.
“To Beck,” Mason said. “Welcome to the big boys’ club.”
Fuckers.
I downed it, the smooth golden liquid running through me. I almost got sentimental, having the three of them here like this to help me celebrate. Thankfully, the sight of Mae stopped me. It was hard to miss her. She was quite literally running through the bar toward me.
The guys turned to watch.
I barely made it to the bar opening when Mae was there, launching herself into my arms. If she hadn’t been smiling from ear to ear, I’d have thought something was wrong.
“I can’t believe you,” she said.
She smelled as good as she looked. I could have stayed like that all day, even with the whistles and hollers we were causing from my regulars. Unfortunately, Mae pulled back.
“Talked to your parents?” I guessed.
“Yes,” she said. “I was home getting ready when they called on the way home from the realtor’s office where they left a deposit on their dream vacation place. Thanks to you.”
“I’d say thanks to the hard work they put into this place.”
She tilted her head to the side. “I don’t know how you pulled it off—bartenders must make a hell of a lot more money than I thought to have that kind of cash at your disposal.”
A story for another time. Natives were getting restless.
“Come celebrate with us? Look who just got into town to celebrate.”
She leaned around me to where my buddies sat.
“Cole? Holy shit, how did he get here so quick? My dad said it only came together this afternoon.”
“Good question. He just surprised me too, about five minutes ago. Go say hello. I’ve got the bar.”
I grabbed a few drinks and rejoined the others, slinging my arm around Mae’s shoulders. I did it without thinking. But it was too late now to take back. Would just have to lean into it.
“Well, boys, you’re looking at the new owner of O’Malley’s and the woman who made it happen.”
Mae all but snorted. “How did I make it happen?”
“He’s a better man when you’re around, Mae,” Parker said. “You know that.”
“Uh huh.” She didn’t sound convinced. Unfortunately, Lou the mechanic was empty. I reluctantly let her go and refilled him, grudgingly admitting it was my job. One I usually loved but, at the moment, was taking a backseat to a particular beautiful blonde standing a few feet away from me.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
She came up from behind me, reached past me, snagged a bottle from the speed rail, and poured a perfect whiskey neat like she’d been behind this bar a hundred times.
“Not bad,” I said, watching her work.
She gave me a look over her shoulder. “You forgetting who taught you to pour without spilling?”
Fair point. And also… way hotter than it should’ve been.
“I’ll give you one guess,” I said, when she finished serving it.
“Your new bar?”
“Nope.”
“The three amigos?” She nodded to the laughter coming from my friends. They were looking over Cole’s shoulder at something on his phone.
“Try again.”
She slid the glass across the bar, wiped her hands on a bar towel, then tossed it in the bin like she owned the place.
“I’m going to check the walk-in. Someone around here has to make sure the limes aren’t molding. Besides, I think I already know the answer.”
With that, Mae walked away, leaving me staring after her.
“Better pick your jaw off the floor, son,” Lou said. “Before she comes back.”
I shot him a look, ignored his chuckle, and rejoined the others.
“Ladies joining us?”
Mason shook his head. “Pia’s at the inn.”
“Delaney said she was going home to pass out. Sounds like they had a good time at Grado.”
“So much for the pact,” Cole mumbled, looking into his drink.
Mason put his arm around him. “Chin up, buddy. Think of what you can do with the extra cash.”
“Wait a minute,” Parker said. “Did you pony up?”
All three of them looked at me.
“Why would I?”
The look he gave me was classic Parker. Everyone called him “the nice one” but he could freeze a forest fire with his eyes.
“We’re not dating,” I pointed out. “Hang on a sec.”
I flipped a shaker in one hand, poured tequila with the other, and slid a lime wedge onto the rim of a fresh glass, putting it, along with two beers, on Jenn’s pass.
“Not yet, maybe.” Mason lifted his empty mug, which I refilled.
“I told you, she put the brakes on us.” Last night being one glaring exception.
“That didn’t look like brakes,” Cole said, swirling his drink around in his glass.
“It didn’t,” Mason agreed.
“Awww, fuck,” I said, seeing three women walk in. One of them could easily cause me trouble.
Parker snorted. “Avoiding your past isn’t possible,” he said. “Just have to keep showing Mae it’s not your present.”
“Spoken like a man who left me stranded in a sea of plus-ones, quoting Nietzsche to the jukebox,” Cole said wryly.
“They don’t know who Nietzsche is,” I pointed out.
“Sure we do.”
I left Mason to argue that point to serve the newcomers.
“Looking good back there, Beck.”
True to form, Laurie Lagan Hoban was dressed to the nines. A beautiful brunette, she was bubbly and fun, but not for me. Especially now.
“Pit stop for a girls’ night out?” I asked them, avoiding her compliment.
“You know it,” her friend, one I didn’t recognize, said.
“What can I get you ladies?”
“Drink-wise or…” Laurie trailed off suggestively.
Despite the fact that our brief fling ended more than two years ago, Laurie never stopped trying to rekindle. She was tenacious, I’d give her that.
“Drinks,” I said firmly, taking their orders.
And of course, because I couldn’t catch a break where Mae was concerned, she strode toward the bar at that moment. Ignoring Mason’s low whistle, I shot him the middle finger behind my back and greeted her.
“Hey, sexy,” I whispered, since Mae was walking right past me. Couldn’t waste the opportunity.
“You’re a nut.” She headed over to the guys.
I shook, poured and served the women.
“We’re off to The Grapevine Bistro for dinner,” Laurie said. “Have you been recently?”
She was as subtle as a Mack truck driving through my living room. It was where we went on our first date. As with all of my exes, it was only one of a few. Unfortunately I seemed to have left an impression on Laurie.
“Not in a while,” I said, immediately turning away. Courting the line between appearing flirtatious and rude was never a strong suit of mine. I had a lot more practice with the former, but flirting with pretty women was firmly off the “to do” list.
Unfortunately, Mae didn’t know that. She was trying to be subtle, but she’d noticed.
“How’s the inventory going?” I asked.
“About as fresh as the guy who tried to sell us strawberries with mold on ’em.”
“Ouch. The festival kicked my ass,” I admitted. “But I didn’t think it was that bad.”
“No one to blame but yourself, boss,” Parker teased. A reminder of why the gang was all here. It felt good. Really good. Sharing it with Mae? Even better.
“Fuck off,” I said, nodding to his glass. “Big talk from someone whose glass is empty.”
“I got you, Park.” Mae grabbed it for him.
“Traitor,” I muttered to her as she slid behind me. Hissing in a breath, certain that slight ass swipe was intentional, I caught Mason’s gaze. He’d noticed and was grinning like a man who’d been there. Because he had.
We continued to chat for a bit until a voice I’d once thought was sweet but now grated through me called out, “Hey, Beck. Cosmos are running low over here.”
Mae and I exchanged a look. I held my breath, wanting my good luck to continue until we could finally be alone. I couldn’t wait to talk about last night, and what it might mean for us, but Laurie was a glaring stop sign for Mae, a reminder of why she’d put the brakes on us in the first place.
With a smile that could only be described as devious, she laid a hand on my arm, as if to excuse herself past me. But it would be hard not to notice how long she left it there.
“I got her,” she said sweetly.
Mason barked out a laugh.
Parker grinned.
Even Cole smiled.
But as much as I loved these guys, and was grateful Cole had come up for the weekend to help me celebrate, the only thing I wanted at the moment was to kick them, and every other customer, out of the place and get Mae alone.