Chapter 5
Jace kept half an eye on the door while he chatted with customers, made drinks, placed food orders and kept his bar clean.
One day after Labor Day, and the island pace had already shifted from the frantic level of summer to the slower off-season groove.
He liked that groove, even if he’d make less money than he had in the summer.
Libby, the Beachcomber general manager, had warned him to be careful with his money if he planned to stay for the off-season.
The summer, she’d said, paid for the rest of the year.
With those words of wisdom in mind, Jace had banked most of what he’d made in the summer, which he hoped would keep him afloat during the long winter.
She’d also told him that he’d make an insane amount during the summer, which was exactly what’d happened. “People tend to go crazy when they’re making big money,” Libby had said. “They’re not thinking about what happens in September when the tourists quit coming.”
Thinking about surviving the off-season kept him from obsessing about whether Cindy would show.
When was the last time he’d wanted anything as much as he wanted to see her smiling face?
If she didn’t come, then he had his answer about the room—and their friendship, such as it was.
While he waited, he unboxed the games he’d bought on the discount rack at the department store, thinking they’d be fun for the regulars during the winter months.
He’d gotten two checkerboards, a chess set and Yahtzee for ten bucks. As he set them out, musician Niall Fitzgerald took a seat at the bar, as he did every night that he worked. The Irishman had short dark hair and vivid blue eyes. “That’s a fun idea,” he said of the games.
“I thought it might be something to help pass the time in the off-season.”
“The customers will love it, and it’ll keep them coming in.”
“Along with your music and my charming personality,” Jace said with a grin for the man who’d become a friend.
“That goes without saying.”
“Ready for the usual?” Jace asked.
“Yep.”
“No point in telling you the specials, I suppose,” he said, as he did every night.
“Nope. I’m in a burger-and-fries rut and staying there for now.”
“Coming right up.” Jace punched the food order into the computer and drew the single Guinness Niall allowed himself on a work night.
He’d made an artform out of nursing that one beer for hours while he strummed his guitar and sang for the patrons.
Listening to Niall was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the job for Jace.
Cindy was the most enjoyable aspect, though. She was like a ray of sunshine sitting at his bar, making everyone she encountered feel like they were the most important person in her world. Or maybe it was just him who felt that way around her.
She was late.
It was seven fifteen, and she was always there by seven.
He was crushed.
As soon as he’d seen that she would be his potential roommate, he should’ve taken a pass on the room, so she’d never have needed to know about his shady past. What woman in her right mind would take an ex-con, recovering drug addict into her home?
If she were his daughter, he’d tell her to stay away from guys like him.
Her answer would be no, and he’d been a fool to hope otherwise.
After their AA meeting that morning, Mason had told him about a place for rent on his street. It was a full house, so probably more than he could afford, but Jace would check it out tomorrow.
He went to the kitchen to retrieve Niall’s food and was returning to the bar when Cindy walked through the door. The relief he experienced at seeing her was similar to how he’d felt when he’d learned he was being paroled early for good behavior.
Somehow, he managed to complete the delivery of Niall’s dinner and settle himself to greet her with his usual casual smile, even if nothing about this was casual.
Not for him, anyway. He put a glass of ice water with a lemon on the bar for her.
She’d told him she suffered from migraines.
He had questions about that but hadn’t gotten around to asking her. “How’s it going?” he asked.
“Good. You?”
“Better now.” He smiled at the way she blushed. God, she was adorable. “I thought you were ghosting me.”
“What? Why?”
“You’re late.”
She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Oh, I was at the Surf listening to my sister and ran into my grandmother. We got to talking, and I lost track of the time.”
“I’m teasing. How’s your grandmother?”
“She’s amazing, as always. The coolest woman I’ve ever known.”
“You’re lucky to still have her.”
“I know! And my grandfather, too. They’re the best.”
“You want to hear the specials?”
“Sure.”
He never took his gaze off her sweet face as he recited the details of the baked cod and brisket specials. “I recommend the cod. Had some earlier. It’s good.”
“That does sound good. I’ll have that and chowder, please.”
“Coming right up.”
“What’s with the games?” she asked as he put her order into the computer.
“I hear it’s a long winter around here. Thought it might be fun.”
“That’s a great idea. I used to play checkers with my pop. I’m really good.”
“Is that right?” He glanced at her. “Set up a game and show me how good you are.”
She flashed a determined smile. “You’re on, my friend.”
Had two little words ever meant more to him? My friend. She knew the worst about him and was still there, still smiling at him and referring to him as her friend. He felt as if he’d been given a priceless gift in those two words.
As he waited on other customers, drew beer from the taps, rang up checks and mixed cocktails, he kept half an eye on Cindy as she chatted with Niall and then Kevin and Chelsea McCarthy when they arrived with their baby daughter, Summer.
Chelsea used to have his job at the bar but was now a full-time mom and seeming to love every second with her sweet little girl.
He poured a beer for Kevin and a Sprite for Chelsea and put them on the bar in front of them. “What’s Miss Summer drinking these days?”
“Still on the boob,” Chelsea said.
“We don’t have that spirit here,” Jace replied, grinning.
“Only Mommy has that, right, my love?” Chelsea asked her daughter, who flashed a gummy grin.
“Oh, she’s smiling,” Jace said as a pang of memory hit him involving his own boys and their first smiles. That was one of the last milestones he got to experience with them before he was ripped from their lives. He was gone before Kyle, the younger one, had walked.
“That’s a new development. Kev says it’s gas, but we don’t listen to Daddy when he says silly things, do we?”
“It is gas,” Kevin, the doctor, said.
“Hush,” Chelsea responded. “My beauty doesn’t have gas. She’s happy.”
Kevin rolled his eyes. “She’s happy, and she has gas.”
“Do you know a good divorce attorney?” Chelsea asked Jace, her face glowing with delight.
“I’m not touching that one,” Jace said over his shoulder as he headed for the kitchen to grab chowder for Cindy, Kevin and Chelsea. He carried the tray back and doled out the bowls, spoons and oyster crackers.
Then he leaned in, moved one of the black checkers Cindy had put on his side of the board and left her with a wink.
Her face flushed. She was so sweet and kind, and if he were a better man, he’d leave her the hell alone. The last thing a lovely young woman like her needed in her life was him and all his baggage. He should find a different living situation and stop flirting with her every chance he got.
However, despite all the work he’d done on himself over the last few years, he still wasn’t a good enough man to walk away from someone who made him feel as good as she did.
Being in her presence reminded him of what happened when the sun emerged from behind a cloud.
Suddenly, everything was brighter, warmer, happier.
Everything about her appealed to him, but nothing more than her heart, which was always on display in the way she interacted with others.
Case in point, while her own chowder grew cold, Cindy held Summer so Chelsea and Kevin could eat.
Jace retrieved her bowl of soup. “I’ll warm it up when you’re ready for it.”
Her smile was a thing of pure beauty. “Oh, thank you.”
The bar filled up with a lot of the regulars and a few lingering tourists.
They kept Jace busy all night, but he made a move on the checkerboard every time he went near Cindy’s seat.
Judging by the stack of black checkers piled up next to her, she was about to beat him handily, but he didn’t mind.
He’d challenge her to best two out of three to keep her there until they could talk privately.
It was nearly eleven before things died down to just a few patrons other than Cindy. When they were tended to, he returned to her, frowning as he examined the board she was once again dominating in their second game. “Are you some sort of secret checkers champion or something?”
“Nope. You’re just not very good at it.”
“I am, too!”
“No, you’re not,” she said, snorting. “You make dumb moves. Like this. See how you moved this guy here?”
“Yep.”
“That gives me an opening to do this.” She triple-jumped him. “King me.”
“Jeez. You’re merciless.”
She added his checkers to her stack. “You have to anticipate what the other player is going to do.”
“Who taught you that?”
“My father. It was one of the few things he taught me that’s done me any good in life.”
“He wasn’t a good guy, your dad?”
She shook her head.
Jace thought of the dimmer on his laptop and how it kicked in sometimes to save energy. That’s what happened to Cindy when she talked about her father. All her brightness faded.
“I’ve been thinking about the roommate situation,” she said.
“It’s okay if it doesn’t work for you. No pressure.”
“I want you to know that I appreciate how you were upfront with me about everything when you certainly didn’t have to be.”
“You deserved the truth if you were going to let me into your home.”
“A lot of people wouldn’t have been thinking about me. They’d only be thinking about themselves. You didn’t do that, and it matters to me. How would you feel about trying it for a month and seeing how it goes?”
“I can see why you’d want to do it that way, but the thing is, I need a sure thing. I want to spend the winter here so I can see my boys, and with everyone snapping up off-season housing this month, there won’t be anything left if you give me the boot after a month.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
“Listen, no hard feelings if you say no. I promise.”
“I’m not saying no.”
“Oh.”
She bit her bottom lip as she gazed at him with more affection than he deserved. “I guess I’ll have to just take you at your word that you’ll be a good roommate.”
“I will be. I’ll do all the cleaning.”
“Sold. I hate to clean.”
“See? I’m already the best roommate you’ve ever had.”
As he breathed a sigh of relief to know he’d found a place to live, he vowed to do everything he could to be the best roommate she’d ever have.