Chapter 42
42
Damn.
Music is so much better when love has kicked the shit out of you. I’m rocking my set tonight at the Lucky Spot.
This Midtown watering hole is owned by my cousin Nick’s good buddy Spencer, and Spencer’s wife, Charlotte. They expanded and added a lounge to their bar, and now and then I sing here.
I finish out my set with Harry Connick Jr., then make my way to the table where my crew is waiting. Nick’s wife, Harper, touches my arm and makes a sizzling sound. “You are on fire, A Good Man,” she says.
I smile faintly. “Thank you very much,” I say in my best Elvis impression.
Spencer and Charlotte are at the table too, and so are Jason and Truly, along with Herb and Olivia. The bartender brings us drinks, and we thank her, then I take a swallow of my whiskey.
Spencer claps me on the shoulder. “Such a shame you have no talent.”
Charlotte glances at her husband, then at Truly and Harper. “Can you imagine if he could croon for real? A hot singing vet? He’d win hearts everywhere. It’s a good thing you can’t sing for shit,” she says.
“He’d win all the ladies if he could croon halfway decently,” Jason remarks.
Truly jumps in. “We’ll just leave the lady-winning to you, Jason.”
Jason leans across the table, giving my sister a flirty stare. “But you know you’re the one I truly want.”
My sister rolls her eyes. “As if I’d give you the time of day.”
Charlotte laughs, pointing from Truly to Jason. “Are you two doing this again? That thing where you flirt but pretend you’re not flirting?”
Truly crosses her arms indignantly. “I do not flirt with him.”
Jason informs the whole group, “She definitely flirts with me.”
Harper pats his arm. “Just ask the woman out. Put us out of our misery.”
Jason laughs. “It’s much more fun this way.”
I sit back and drink my whiskey, observing the theater of my friends, especially since I don’t think a damn thing will ever happen with Jason and Truly, despite the rampant flirting. There are plenty of reasons why it won’t happen, or, really one reason, but that’s a story for another time. For now, I do my best to enjoy their antics while I wish a certain someone could be here.
“So,” Olivia says, tapping the table with her nails and staring at me like she just read my mind, “how’s everything going with your lovely lady?”
I shake my head adamantly. “It’s not going.”
Herb frowns like that’s confusing. “Hold on. Is this the sweatshirt woman? You guys looked like you were together when we last saw you.”
Truly jumps in, squeezing my arm, trying to deflect. “How about them Yankees?”
Subtle. But I choke out a mirthless laugh and answer my buddy. “We had a short fling. Her dad is my business partner. We work together in close quarters. End of story. It’s not going to work.”
Harper leans across the table and puts a hand on my forehead. “Yes, you do have a temperature.”
Charlotte studies me quizzically. “But you love her, so why aren’t you going after her?”
I cock my head to give her a sideways stare. “Did I say I loved her?”
She rolls her eyes. “It’s obvious.”
Olivia nods. “It was certainly obvious when we saw you. You absolutely do need to go after her.”
“Didn’t you guys hear what I just said? There are a ton of issues in the way. We work together every day. I have employees to supervise. Her dad is my business partner,” I emphasize once again. “Hell, the man told me she was off-limits more than once.”
Jason leans forward, giving me a hard stare. “Let’s be honest—you’ve never been this sullen before over a woman. You’ve broken up with others and been more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Maybe it’s worth taking a good look at all those issues .” He sketches air quotes. “Are they truly still relative? Is she really still off-limits, seven years later, after all you’ve proven to Doug?”
Nick coughs and points his thumb at Harper. “I fell for my best friend’s sister. We figured it out.”
Spencer drapes his arm around his lovely wife. “We own a bar together. And we were best friends. Yet we still made it work.”
Charlotte leans her head against his cheek. “You forgot to mention that you were a total playboy too.”
He drops a kiss to her forehead. “I forgot to mention it because I’ve completely forgotten any part of my life that existed before you.”
Herb laughs. “Good answer, man.” He turns to me. “Our story is simpler. We dug each other from the start, and we didn’t let anything stand in the way.”
Olivia points at me. “Maybe that’s what you should be doing.”
But that’s easy for them to say when they’re here on the other side of their love stories. Whereas I bet there’s a bar somewhere in this city, full of guys and gals who could tell tales just like mine.
The ones that don’t have such happy endings.