“The best man,” she whispered in his ear. Then she ran her tongue along the shell of his ear. “The best man I’ve ever known.”
Shepherd swore.
Ginny moved away at first, but only long enough to straddle his waist. Shepherd’s willpower snapped. He opened his eyes, resigned to his fate, as she rose above him with a knowing look. A look that said:I am going to be the death of you, and you are going to thank me for it.
That night, with Ginny’s head tucked under his chin and his arm around her bare shoulders, he sighed. “I want the full details from Charlie before we go in. And I want to make my own backup plans without him knowing.”
She nodded against his chest. “You like plans.”
“I’mgoodat plans. Plans are the things I’m best at. You know. You’ve seen my binder.”
Ginny patted his chest, her fingers toying with a bit of his hair. “I’m a lucky girl.”
THIRTY-FOUR
Shepherd knew men like Charlie. You didn’t stand behind a fully stocked bar for years without meeting a few. Men like Charlie had a chip on their shoulder. They had to be the Big Dog, even when they were down and out. Mentally, they were always one good move away from being on top, and if you even looked at them wrong, well. You risked getting chewed up and spat out so they could keep going.
But Charlie also liked pizza. And Shepherd had a lot of pizza and was no stranger to humble pie.
It was Sunday. He and Ginny had picked up Lex from her friend’s house mid-morning and brought her to the restaurant, because she had a little weekend job where she helped bus tables in exchange for tip money. That is to say, she wandered around doing close-up magic, badly, and then demanded cash from customers who had little choice but to empty their pockets. Ginny was working. Shepherd tried to get her back into her apartment upstairs to rest, but she said there was no such thing right now, and at least working kept her from focusing on her family and her mother constantly.
Fresh garlic and roasted tomato scented the air. A table of a family of four applauded Lex’s disappearing-quarter trick. The regulars arguing at the bar were loud enough that he couldn’t hear what Lex said when she bowed.
“What do you mean, you don’t like lasagna?” Regular One demanded, pointing at the TV above the bar. A commercial for an Italian chain restaurant played between Fantasy Hockey Team takes.
Regular Two shrugged. “I’m just not a pasta fan.”
“But lasagna? It’s so much more than just pasta! It’s … I don’t know, man.” Regular One shook his head, his entire universe changing around him. “I’ve never met anyone that didn’t like lasagna.”
Regular Three waved at Noah for another beer. “Gives me heartburn.”
“Well, yeah,” Regular One conceded. “Gives me heartburn, too. Gives everyone heartburn. But that don’t make lasagna less good.”
“I don’t like the layers,” Regular Two added. “I don’t like my food being all structured like that.”
Regular Three turned on Regular Two. Quickly and decisively. “That’s the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.”
Regular Two was on his feet—but Shepherd had seen this coming. “Hello, guys,” he greeted. He gave everyone a good pat on the shoulder. “How are you today? Need a refill? Round of Dortmunders on the house, Noah.”
They settled as soon as Noah refilled their beers, and Shepherd took his seat at the end of the bar with a view of the door.
The problem was, he should’ve been waiting. Preparing. Getting ready for talking to Charlie, because he needed Charlie to get money, and he needed money to get Ginny’s mom, and he needed to get Ginny’s mom because … because he was good at plans! And Ginny kissed him and called him a good man, and yeah, he got to see her naked, and so. Lots of men had done crazier things for a chance at sex before! He was just a normal, red-blooded man.
The collated list in his binder, color-coded and laminated where appropriate, said otherwise.
If he wasn’t going to work, he could at least prepare for Charlie. If he wasn’t going to prepare for Charlie, at least he could work. But instead, he sat at the bar with his—impressive—binder in his lap and stared at Ginny as she took an order from a couple with a giant smile on her face like her entire world wasn’t imploding around her.
If she could lie about that, what else could she lie about?
He rubbed at his chest. The sex didn’t have to mean anything to her to be worthwhile for him. Maybe the new physical part of their relationship wasn’t about her seeking comfort from him, but about her manipulating him into helping her mom. And OK, that didn’t feel great. But at least she wasn’t trying to takehismoney.
Feelings. Bleh.
“Dude.” Noah put a wash rag down on the bar with a wet smack. “Come on. You look like your middle school crush is slow dancing with the kid who gives you swirlies after lunch.”
Shepherd glanced away from Ginny, who stood at the POS station with her notebook in her hand, tapping in the order for the kitchen while her perfect mouth moved silently over the words.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
