Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
M illie walked into Jacks with a huge grin on her face. It had been there the past three days. The past three glorious days where she stayed at Ace’s, nursing him back to health and doing…other things. The man was impossible when he was injured. He refused her help left and right until she had to put her foot down and insist he let her help. It had taken her threatening to call his mom over to get him to budge.
She knew as much as he hated relying on her for help, he would do everything in his power to not burden his mother. Silly man, didn’t he realize that taking care of the people you loved wasn’t a burden but a privilege?
She paused as the L word flitted through her brain. So strange that each time she thought it in context to Ace a little bit of her fear melted away. Never in a million years would she have imagined herself falling for someone like him. But she’d seen past his gruff exterior to the softie that lived inside and fallen hard. Not that she was going to tell him. Not yet anyway. Ace wasn’t as in tune with his feelings as she was. One mistimed confession and their entire relationship would go up in smoke.
She didn’t want that.
When it came to Ace, she was learning she wanted…everything.
“Hey, Millie,” Kelley said from her position behind the bar. “How’s Ace?”
She stumbled over her feet as she approached the bar. “Um, what? How would I know?”
Kelley gave her a dry stare, grabbing the bucket of lemons and a knife. “Oh please, he gets hurt and isn’t at work for the past three days. Three days in which you are also mysteriously “off” not to mention y’all aren’t as sneaky as you think.”
Uh oh. Did Kelley see them? They’d been so careful about not doing anything at work. The only time had been that first night after poker and no one had been here then.
“I saw you two having a picnic off Gulley trail a week ago. I was going to say hi, but then…let’s just say I decided to turn around and give you two your privacy.”
Flames burned her cheeks. She covered her face with her hands and let out an embarrassed groan. Crap! She thought they’d been far enough off the trail that no one would see them when they had their little picnic rendezvous. Guess she was wrong. At least it was Kelley who had seen and not a cop who might have arrested them for indecent exposure.
“Sorry,” she moaned, moving behind the bar to help Kelley set up for the night.
Kelley lifted her hands. “Hey, it’s not my business what consenting adults do behind closed doors. Or in this case, in open forests.”
“Do you think anyone else knows?” She grabbed a stack of coasters and started placing them along the bar in front of the stools.
Kelley shrugged, pausing in her lemon slicing. “Probably not. Most people here are too absorbed in their own lives to notice the little details about everyone else’s.”
“But not you?” she asked moving out into the room to set the coasters on the tables in the bar.
“I’m the bartender. It’s my job to notice stuff. And don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone.”
She hadn’t been worried at all. Kelley was a very trustworthy person. Millie knew the other woman wasn’t as big a gossip as Trisha and Brad. Thank goodness neither of them saw her and Ace or it would be all over Jacks by now.
“I appreciate it. This thing with Ace is…”
Kelley raised the knife and pointed it in Millie’s direction. “I swear to fuck if you say ‘complicated’ I am going to throw these lemon slices at you. Every relationship is complicated. That’s what makes them relationships. If they were easy, they’d be called…I don’t know, I can’t think of anything clever right now. But don’t diminish what you two have because things are messy. Anything can be worked out if you just have an open and honest dialogue.”
Millie paused, setting down the dwindling stack of coaster on the table nearest her and moving to stand on the other side of the bar across from Kelley.
“Everything okay with you and Jessa?” because it sounded like the bartender was speaking from recent experience.
Kelley smiled. “It is now, but Jessa got this silly notion in her head that since her food truck was failing, she wasn’t worthy of me or some nonsense. She tried breaking up with me ‘for my own good’ she claimed.”
“Oh Kelley, no!” she gasped, reaching out to squeeze Kelley’s arm.
“It’s fine,” Kelley said. “She did it once before too. Girl has self-esteem issues. She’s working on them. I asked her if she stopped loving me and she said no, so I explained that with a foundation of love we could get through anything. She ended up calling her uncle who runs his own restaurant in New Mexico. He not only gave her some great tips, but he also agreed to give her a small loan to fix up all the broken shit in her truck.”
“That’s wonderful!”
“Yup, and all because we communicated effectively.”
She snorted. “You have met Ace right? Man who grunts more than he talks?”
They shared a chuckle.
“Besides, we’re…just having fun.”
Kelley arched one dark eyebrow, remaining silent. As the silence grew, Millie felt her insides squirm.
“Okay so it started as fun and now it’s…I don’t know, but we’re taking it one day at a time and keeping it secret because you know, he’s the boss and stuff.”
And she was trying to catch a thief so sleeping with the boss would not endear her to whoever was stealing from him. Speaking of, she could now take Kelley off that list. Not that the bartender was high on the suspect list, but it was nice to cross a name off.
“Like I’ve said, before he married Cassie, Del dated one of the servers. I promise you no one would care if you two are dating.”
She wished that were true, but until they sussed out the thief, she and Ace would have to keep sneaking around. After…did that mean they were over? She hoped not. They hadn’t really discussed what happened after. Doubt started to wriggle in her gut. An annoying worm boring holes in her happiness.
“Hey you two!”
Trisha’s voice interrupted her inner turmoil. She waved at the other woman, sharing a look with Kelley as they both silently agreed to drop the current topic. The three of them set about getting Jacks ready. When they opened half an hour later the customers started pouring in. It was unusually busy for a Thursday night. Millie found herself running back and forth, serving customers and helping Kelley with the bar. By the time 2am rolled around she was toast.
“Time to go, Bill,” she said, gently helping the older man who was celebrating his retirement out of his chair. “Donna is here.”
His coworkers had all left half an hour ago, but the sweet old guy had wanted to close the bar down like he did in his youth. Normally behavior like that would worry her, but Bill was just celebrating the end of an era.
“Thank you, Millie. You are one of a kind. Have you got a guy?”
“Now, Bill,” she chided, helping him to the door. “Donna would have my head if I made eyes at you, you old flirt.”
He laughed, swaying as he tried to walk a straight line.
“No, no, you’re far too young and sweet for me. My Donna’s got kick! Just the thing for an old cuss like me.”
His words were slurring slightly, but she could hear the love this man had for his wife infused in every syllable. As they made their way out the front door, Millie saw a car waiting. Bill’s wife, Donna, sat in the front, a tired, but indulgent expression on her face.
“He didn’t give you any trouble, did he?” Donna asked as Millie helped Bill into the front seat, closing the door as he buckled himself in.
“He was an angel,” she replied with a smile.
Donna let out a sharp laugh. “I don’t believe that for a second but thank you for looking out for him. Come on, Bill, let’s go home and sleep it off.”
“I can think of something better to do.”
She laughed as Bill attempted to kiss Donna who playfully smacked him away complaining about beer breath as the car pulled away. The laughter from the couple in the car rang out into the still dark night. Millie let out a soft sigh of longing. She wanted that. Years together with the person she loved. Support and encouragement like what Donna and Bill had. What Kelley and Jessa had. What the Jackson siblings had with their significant others. Could she and Ace have that?
Pondering how she might bring up moving their arrangement into real relationship territory, she made her way back inside.
“Bill get off okay?” Trisha asked.
“Yup. Donna’s gonna have her hands full tonight.” She looked around the bar. “Where’s Kelley?”
“She took off. You can too. All that’s left is tossing the trash and I can get that on my way out.”
“You sure?” Normally the barback took the trash out, but they’d been short-staffed tonight since Brad called in sick.
Trisha waved her off. “I’ll be two minutes behind you, go.”
Fatigue crashing over her, Millie nodded and headed out the back. She was so tired from the events of the week she made it all the way to her car before she realized she forgot her purse inside.
"Wow, I am exhausted.”
A small laugh escaped her as she made her way back into Jacks. When she opened the back door, she saw something that made her stop in her tracks. Trisha was crouching down by the office door, something in her hand. It looked like she was trying to slip something under BJ and Ace’s office door.
“Trisha?”
At her call, the woman snapped up, guilt marring her expression. Her hands flew behind her back, hiding whatever was in them.
“What are you doing?”
“Um, nothing I was just…just…” Trisha’s eyes nervously darted around the back room. Her voice shook.
A sinking realization hit Millie right in the gut. Dread filled her as she asked the question she wasn’t sure she wanted an answer to.
“Oh no. Trisha, please tell me you’re not the one stealing from Jacks?”
Trisha’s face went pale white. “You know about that? Wait, do the Jackson’s know?”
Shit! The confession rang in her ears. Not Trisha. There wasn’t a single employee she’d wanted it to be. Everyone who worked at Jacks was awesome, but Trisha…she couldn’t believe it.
“Ace and BJ do.”
Tears started to stream down the other woman’s face.
“Why, Trisha?”
“It wasn’t me. I swear.” Through hiccupping sobs, Trisha confessed. “It was my ex, Griffin.”
Ex? Right, Trisha had come into work upset a week ago and said she broke up with her boyfriend but refused to talk about it.
“I found him taking cash from the register,” she admitted. “That’s why we broke up. He said he was only taking a little. No one would notice. We fought and he admitted he’s been doing it for months. I was wondering how he managed to pay for all that new shit in his apartment.”
“Why was he even behind the bar in the first place?”
Trisha lowered her eyes, shame pouring off her body. “He said it would be hot to come in after hours and fool around. I used to let him in on nights I was closing and sent Brad home early. I swear I didn’t realize he was stealing, or I never would have…” A mournful sob ripped through the air. “Please don’t tell Ace and BJ.”
“Oh, Trisha,” she sighed, moving to pull her into a hug. “I have to. He took a lot of money.”
“I know, I know.” Trisha pulled out of her embrace and held up a manilla envelope with a bulge in it. “But I have the money right here.”
“Griffin gave it back?” She highly doubted that.
Trisha shook her head. “No. I pulled it from my house fund.”
“Trisha, no! We can tell the Jackson’s what happened. Griffin should be the one to pay it back, not you.”
“But I let him in! I gave him the opportunity!”
She watched as Trisha’s body shook with fear.
“If we tell them what happened, I’ll get fired and no one in this town will hire me knowing that I let a thief steal from my employer for months.”
“I’m sure the Jacksons won’t fire you.”
Trisha let out a disbelieving laugh. “Oh really? You’ve met Ace right? Hard-ass with the morality of a saint? He would definitely fire me for negligence or something like that.”
Trisha had a point. Ace did play by the rules to a fault. Then again, he was the one who didn’t want to involve the police in the first place so maybe he would go easy on Trisha. Shit! She didn’t know what to do. If the money was returned then what was the harm, right? Griffin wouldn’t be hanging around anymore since Trisha broke up with him. It sucked she was using her own money to pay it all back, but if that’s what she wanted to do, who was Millie to tell her otherwise. Technically, if the thief was gone and the money was back, she’d done her job, right?
“Please, Millie. Please, don’t say anything,” Trisha pleaded. “Just give me a little time to get my thoughts straight.”
Her feelings warring with each other, Millie stared at the woman she considered a friend and caved. “Fine. I won’t say anything tonight, but only if you promise to tell them soon. Ace can be a lot more forgiving than people give him credit for.”
“Oh, thank you, Millie.”
Trisha threw her arms around her and squeezed tightly. Millie hugged her back, wondering if she was doing the right thing or dooming the best thing she’d ever had.