AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m just confused, that’s all. And it’s none of your business.” She stepped away from him, and headed toward the bar. A moment later, she realized he was following her. “You don’t need to come.”
“I do if I want a drink, which I most definitely do. You could probably use one too.”
“Fine. You can have a drink.” She flattened her body to pass between two of The Fang’s mismatched chairs, whose occupants sat back to back, ignoring each other. Everything in The Fang looked as if it had been acquired from a sidewalk sale, except Firelight Ridge didn’t even have sidewalks, per se, at least not the kind she was used to in New York.
Focus. Find out what the hell is going on so you can get back to those lovely, crowded New York sidewalks.
As she caught the curious glances of the other customers, she found herself relieved to have Sam right behind her. There were some seriously unusual characters in the place. Everyone looked like they lived hard and worked hard and needed a long hot shower and a day at the spa.
“Molly!” Lila climbed halfway across the bar so she could throw her arms around Molly. As she did so, she whispered, “I’m Bessie here.”
“B…Bessie?” Molly said blankly as they pulled apart. Not just because it was odd that Lila was using another name, but…Bessie? Wasn’t that more of a cow’s name?
“Say hi to your old friend Bessie,” Sam murmured wickedly. Obviously he could tell that Molly was caught off guard by the name.
“Bessie, what are you…” Molly cleared her throat and lowered her voice. “What is….” She had so many questions. What was going on? Why Bessie? Why any name besides her own? Why the secrecy? Why the mystery? But it didn’t seem smart to ask any of those questions now, with so many curious eyes on them.
Maybe people generally minded their own business in Firelight Ridge, but she guessed that didn’t apply to places like the local watering holes.
“What’s good here?” she finished weakly.
“The Guinness on tap is especially excellent today. But if you really want to know what’s good, it’s Bear’s special brew.”
“Bear?” Molly asked suspiciously.
“He’s the owner. We always have a keg of his home brew available but only for special guests, mostly the well-behaved ones. It’s an incentive to keep people on their best behavior.”
Bear’s special home brew didn’t sound like the right move for her at this point in her trip to Firelight Ridge. Or maybe ever. “Guinness sounds good.”
As Lila pulled down the tap, she shot a curious look at Sam. “You two already seem to know each other.”
“Quite well,” said Sam at the same moment that Molly said, “Not really.”
She narrowed her eyes at Sam, who pulled an innocent face. “When you watch someone who’s afraid of flying reach ten thousand feet, you get to know them pretty well,” he explained to Lila.
“Then do tell, what do you know about her?”
Molly didn’t like the direction of this conversation one bit, but she kept that to herself.
“That she’s got guts, and a strong stomach. She’s a trooper.”
“She is! What a great way to put it.” Lila set down the tankard of Guinness and clapped her hands together. “I think that just earned you a Bear Hug. That’s his current brew.”
“I got a Bear Hug,” said Sam under his breath as Lila ducked under the counter to grab his drink. “Aren’t you jealous?”
“What are you still doing here? There’s a whole bar for you to socialize with.” She gestured at the lineup of customers occupying the stools along the bar. They ranged from eighty-plus to barely twenty, but they all had something in common—a toughness, a devil-may-care grit, and possibly a lack of a recent shower.
“Them?” He turned his stool so his back was to them, and rested his elbow on the bar top. “It’s been a long winter, we’re all sick of each other. You’re much more interesting.”
Lila’s head popped back above the bar. “Molly is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever known,” she assured Sam. “Did you know she once argued a case before the Supreme Court?”
“New York Supreme Court,” Molly corrected, “which is technically called the Court of Appeals. It’s not at all the same thing as the U.S. Supreme Court.”
“I’m sure you’ll get there too,” said Lila loyally. “It’s just a matter of time.”
Molly didn’t want to mention that first she’d have to find another job in the legal field for that to happen. Lila was going to flip out when she learned the Molly had actually quit her job to come find her, while she’d been happily serving Bear Hugs to retired miners this entire time.
“You sound very sure of that, considering Bentley and Hodges wouldn’t even give me time off to come look for you.”
