That wasn’t what she had done.
“Hello.Welcome to The Barn,” a cheery hostess said.She wasdressed in jeans and a Western shirt, a pink cowboy hat on her head.She mightbe twenty.Maybe.“Would you like a seat in the bar or the dining hall?We havea short wait on the dining hall, but the bar has some spots since karaokealready started, and the special tonight is the best brisket you’ve ever had.Also, the beer of the week is a lager.”
“That actually sounds pretty good,” Garrett began.“Ichecked the fridge and it feels like no one’s been to the store.”
He was always hungry.Keane ignored him.They were on amission.“Have you seen Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood?”
The petite hostess’s eyes widened.“Of course.She’s aregular around here.You know her father is the reason The Barn opened in thefirst place.”She gestured to a large portrait that hung behind the hostessstation.It was four people, three men and a woman.Two of them were veryfamiliar.Jack and Sam.They stood in front of a building that was somewhatsimilar to the one they were in now, only much smaller and without all the luxuries.
“Her dad owns the place?”Garrett asked.
Keane was pretty sure Jack Barnes owned most of this world,and anything he didn’t Julian Lodge did.It was something that should scare himmore than it did.
“A part of it.My parents own the other part,” the youngwoman explained and then cleared her throat and seemed to go into a rehearsedspeech.“The Barn was established over twenty years ago when two rancherssought a nice place to have a beer without the judgment of the community.Mr.Fleetwood had some trouble in town, and Mr.Barnes came up with a solution.Tobuild their own watering hole.They reached out to a couple with experiencerunning a bar and were surprised to discover that despite Willow Fork’sreputation for sobriety, there was a thirst for beer that had been unquenchedto that point.So The Barn opened on unincorporated land to get around thelocal alcohol laws.We like to think of it as our own speakeasy.”
“Speakeasys are private,” Garrett pointed out.“This placeis not.”
It definitely wasn’t.It was crowded and rowdy, and wherethe hell was his sub?Not that she was his sub.His temporary sub, if she saidyes.
She was making him crazy, and normally he would say that wasa bad thing, but he felt more alive than he had in…ever.
Keane was a careful person.He learned not to expect muchfrom the world, so he didn’t get excited about things.
He was excited about her.He spent the whole day trying totalk himself out of it since he knew it would end in heartache, but hecouldn’t.He wanted this time with her, even if it was only a week.
“Well, at the time it was private.Not technically, but ifJack Barnes didn’t want you around, you did not get into The Barn,” the youngwoman announced.“Still to this day, there are people in Willow Fork who do notget the privilege of enjoying my dad’s homemade brews.They’re delicious.Or atleast that’s what they tell me since I’m nineteen and not allowed to drink.Which is why I have to hostess.But one day I’ll manage this whole place.Longin the future.”
Keane stared at that photo.Jack and Sam.They lookedyounger in the photo but far more grim.
And then his gaze shifted to another photo.It was morerecent since it included Abby and younger versions of Olivia and Josh and Grim.In the picture Olivia smiled brightly, her arms linked with her brothers.Theother couple had two daughters smiling between them.The first picture was allabout determination, ambition.The second was about joy.
Family.
Jack and Sam had somehow built a family, and they lookedhappy and whole and good together.He always worried if he got what he wanted—afamily with Garrett—he would be putting their kids in a position where theworld might reject them.
But the world rejected people for any number of reasons theycouldn’t control.Was that a reason to not be here?Or a reason to buildanother world.
Wasn’t that what Olivia’s dads had done with The Barn?Whenthe town rejected them, they built their own space, and now everyone flockedhere.They built a home and a business and a place where they belonged.
Could he and Garrett do the same?Was Olivia the woman whocould complete them?
“Thanks for the history lesson,” Garrett was in charm mode.He leaned over so he didn’t have to yell.Someone was singing their heart outin another part of the building, and the speakers seemed to be turned up tofull blast.“So do you know where Olivia is?We know she’s here.We’re supposedto meet her but she didn’t tell us how big this place is.”
The young woman who was named Sarah, according to her nametag, gave them a bright smile.“I saw her earlier in the bar with some friendsfrom out of town.You might check in there.It’s pretty full, but Mike mightknow where she is.He’s the bartender.I’m not supposed to go in there becauseI break a lot of things.Also, my dad thinks most men are perverts, so I’msupposed to stay away.”
Yeah, he wasn’t going to get into the bar business.Men wereperverts.If he had a baby girl, he would make sure she was protected.
He had never once thought about having kids before.Maybe hecould use a beer.
He thanked Sarah as she gestured toward the big bar at theend of the hall.
“You went green.You okay?”Garrett asked.
He could hear more clearly now.“I don’t know.I think Ilike this woman.I don’t know that I like how much I like her.”
Garrett stopped him and smiled.“That’s progress, man.”
“It feels like anxiety.”
