Chapter 14
It was well past midnight when Jesse quietly pushed open the front door of the Tap Room.
It’d taken longer than expected for Bea to get settled in a hospital room, and for the doctor to arrive to assure her that she was going to be fine.
And if she was being completely honest, she’d lingered beyond what was necessary, waiting until the older woman had fallen into a deep sleep before slipping out of the hospital room.
It wasn’t just that she felt guilty. Or that she was worried. It was a reluctance to return and confront Parker’s petulant resentment.
She didn’t understand what had happened between them. Just a few months ago she’d been bubbling with anticipation when Parker discussed opening a business. She was wildly in love with the man and there was nothing she wanted more than to create a future together.
But then he’d started pressing her to cash out her father’s life insurance policy and to sell the bar.
It made sense, of course. How else could they put a down payment on a new nightclub?
Unfortunately, she hadn’t anticipated how the need for money would alter their relationship.
Or how she would start to resent the pressure to cut the last ties to her past.
Obviously they needed a conversation to clear the air. Otherwise the tension would turn into a toxic brew, corroding their relationship.
But not tonight, she cowardly decided. She’d been through a meat grinder of a day that included being locked in her cellar and discovering her friend lying unconscious on the floor of her bar. She wasn’t prepared for yet another confrontation.
Lost in her thoughts, Jesse had closed and locked the door before she realized that she wasn’t alone. Abruptly freezing in place, she slowly glanced around the shadowed room.
“Hello?”
“I’m here.”
There was a loud click as one of the neon signs that promoted a local beer was switched on. She jerked around to discover Parker standing next to a table near the front window.
He was wearing the same clothes as when she’d left, and his jaw was darkened by his unshaved whiskers. He looked like he’d been standing there for hours, waiting for her to return.
Jesse blinked in confusion. She assumed he would be in bed. Or at least upstairs in the apartment.
“What are you doing down here?”
“Waiting for you.”
“Oh.” She glanced around. “Is Adam gone?”
“Finally.” Parker made a sound of disgust. “I started to think he was searching for the Holy Grail. He’s either the most meticulous cop I’ve ever encountered or he was searching for something specific.”
Jesse shuddered, hating the thought of Adam poking through her personal space.
“He probably assumed I had a horde of drugs stashed somewhere,” she muttered.
“Drugs? You?” Parker arched his brows.
Jesse worked at bars and nightclubs, but she rarely drank more than the occasional beer and never indulged in drugs. She had an obsessive need to stay in control.
“It’s the tats.” Jesse held out her arms. “Around here, only military vets and drug dealers have ink that isn’t rainbows and butterflies.”
Parker shrugged. “I finally told him to go get a warrant. I didn’t want him here when you came back.”
Jesse grimaced. “Me either.”
“How’s your friend?”
Jesse blinked at the abrupt shift in conversation. “No concussion, but they want to keep her overnight for observation. She wasn’t happy, but she agreed to stay. I’m sorry I left you all alone.”
“Are you?”
Cautiously moving forward, Jesse studied Parker’s grim expression. He looked different in the greenish glow of the neon sign. More like a stranger than the man who’d shared her bed for months.
“Parker, what’s wrong?”
He ignored her question. “What happened to your back door?”
“What happened …” It took a second to realize what he meant. “You mean the spray paint?”
“I mean the threat for you to get out of town,” he growled. “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”
“Because there wasn’t anything to tell. I’m sure it was just some local kids.”
“Why would they threaten you?”
“They weren’t. They were just being idiots. That’s what kids do.”
“And if it wasn’t kids?”
“It has to be,” she stubbornly insisted. She had enough to worry about without adding to the list. “What sort of pathetic loser would use spray paint to threaten me?”
“Possibly a dangerous one.” He shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe she was really that stupid. “You should have told me. Just like you should have told me about these.”
Jesse jerked back as Parker stretched out his arm to wave a manila folder in her face.
“What is it?”
“Offers to buy the Tap Room.”
Jesse grabbed the folder Reese had dropped by. She’d left them on the table because she wasn’t interested. Now she wished she’d tossed them in the trash. “Honestly, I forgot all about them.”
Parker studied her with an expression that was impossible to read. “You came back here to sell this place, but you forgot about the offers you’ve already gotten?”
“They weren’t official offers. I told my real estate agent that I want to fix the place up before I put it on the market. She’s … an overachiever.”
“Why would you waste money?” He pointed to the folder. “More than one of those offers would make a significant down payment on the nightclub. We could be ready to open the doors within a couple of months.”
Jesse felt her muscles clenching. This was the conversation she didn’t want to have tonight. Hell, she didn’t ever want to have it. But maybe Parker was right. It was better to clear the air.
How else could they have a fresh start?
“I don’t feel like it’s wasting money,” she said in a reasonable tone. “Not when it gives us the best chance for selling the Tap Room for top dollar. That way we can put down an even larger deposit and still have money to make it the place of our dreams.”
“Our dreams? Are you sure about that?”
“What are you asking?”
“I’m not convinced that we still share the same dream.”
“Of course we do,” she insisted, more out of habit than conviction.
Parker shook his head, stepping toward her. “You were giddy with excitement when we first started talking about opening a club together. But then I found the perfect place and you started acting like you were too good to be stuck in that sort of dump.”
“That’s not true—”
“And it’s only gotten worse since you came back here. Over the past few days, you’ve found a dozen excuses to drag your feet so you could stay,” he overrode her protest.
Jesse swallowed the urge to apologize. Honestly, the nightclub he wanted to buy was a dump. And she wasn’t dragging her feet. She had real responsibilities that she could no longer ignore.
“They’re not excuses.”
His dark eyes smoldered with frustration.
“We both know you could go back to Chicago with me tomorrow.” He grabbed the folder out of her hand, once again waving it in her face.
“Everything you need to do could be finished up in a few hours and we could be on the road. If you decide to remain, it’s because you want to be here. ”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Yeah, it is.”
She glared at him, suddenly deciding his face was too pretty. Like a sweet treat that became sickly when she overindulged.
“You were the one who wanted me to come in the first place,” she reminded him in sharp tones. “Now you’re complaining because I …”
Her words trailed away as Parker dropped the folder on the floor, sending the papers skidding over the worn planks. Then, spinning on his heel, he returned to the table where he’d been standing and reached beneath it to grab his backpack.
“Wait. Are you leaving?” she asked in shock.
He slung the backpack over his shoulder, strolling toward the door with an expression she’d never seen on his face before.
Indifference.
“Unlike you, I have a life and a future outside this backwater dump of dreariness,” he drawled. “You can come if you want or stay here. I’m not going to beg.”
“Parker—”
Without glancing back, he unlocked the door and pulled it open. A moment later, he’d disappeared into the darkness.
Jesse wasn’t surprised that she managed to fall asleep after Parker’s dramatic exit. It was more shocking she’d managed to make it all the way to her bed before she collapsed in exhaustion.
She was still tired when she woke with the midmorning sunlight streaming into her room, but she managed to zombie walk into the shower before pulling on a pair of shorts and a scoop-necked tee.
She was going to have to do laundry, she wryly concluded.
Parker was right when he said that she’d stayed longer than either of them had intended.
But first she had more important things on her mind.
Two hours later, she had Bea safely returned to her small apartment.
Like Mac and Jesse, she’d chosen to live above her business to save on a separate mortgage.
Although the older woman refused to be tucked into bed.
She even threatened Jesse with a wooden spoon when she promised to return in a couple of hours to check on her.
Bea claimed that Jesse was making her feel like a decrepit old lady.
Forced to leave her neighbor to rest in peace, Jesse returned to her own apartment and threw in a load of laundry before she headed into the kitchen.
She wasn’t going to waste her day brooding on her argument with Parker.
Eventually, she would return to Chicago and patch things up. Or at least try to patch things up.
For now, she had a dozen other things to occupy her attention. Starting with her father’s personal belongings that she wanted to donate to the local charity shop. It was the sort of task she could complete without having to concentrate. Plus, she could check it off her to-do list.
Grabbing a garbage bag from under the sink, Jesse made her way to her father’s bedroom and crossed the floor to pull open the curtains. She needed sunlight to banish the ghosts that lingered in the room. Especially after yesterday, when the haunting had been terrifyingly real.