Page 46 of The Perfect Heart

JONAS WANDERED INTO the bar at half past nine. He must have pulled an all-nighter for work and then slept late because his hair was sticking in almost every direction possible, his clothes rumpled, and a five o’clock shadow on his face that was about to become a scraggly beard.

“Did you fall into a hole and struggle to get out?” I chuckled, pulling the tap handle so the beer flowed into the glass.

He flipped me the middle finger as he slumped onto the barstool. “Just give me my Jack and Coke, asshole.”

“You sure you don’t want coffee instead?” I asked, looking him up and down as I passed off the two beer glasses.

Jonas’s deadpan look made me chuckle again. “All right, coming right up.”

The guy took a long drink as soon as I put the glass in front of him, enough that I felt my eyebrows creep up.

“You all right?”

The glass made a heavy clink as he replaced it on the bar. “This fucking client, man. I’ve been up until four three nights in a row trying to get things exactly the way they want, but it’s never good enough.”

His fist clenched around the bar nuts he’d taken, and they rained down in little pieces onto the polished wood.

“Sorry, man.” I grimaced in sympathy, pulling a beer for myself and settling with an arm braced on the counter.

Jonas shrugged. “At least the project is almost finished. Then I can get paid and never have to worry about these assholes ever again. They’re nuts if they think I’ll work for them again.”

I grinned. “You need a bouncer for your business. Someone to throw clients out who are getting too big for their breeches.”

“Are you volunteering for the job?” Jonas asked as he crunched on an ice cube from his drink.

“No way.” I shook my head. “I have enough trouble throwing out the people in this bar. You’re on your own for that one.”

That finally pulled a sour smile from Jonas. We both sipped at our respective drinks for a time, my gaze wandering the bar. It was a slow night, with only about half the tables and seats at the bar filled. I didn’t mind, though. Our busy days more than made up for it, and I was enjoying the quiet, the lack of rush, the moment to take a breather.

I loved that Halle was back in town, I truly did—I didn’t want it any other way. Life had been brighter with her here, and I’d felt alive in a way I hadn’t in a long time. But, also, it had been more complicated, full of feelings, questions, and confusion.

Halle and I were beginning to explore our new feelings for each other, seeing where they would take us and what they truly meant. Our date and night together had been incredible, and while it was the start of something, we still had a long way to go. We were still a long way from “the talk.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of my feelings for Halle. They were still at odds with my feelings about her as my best friend. At times, the two seemed irreconcilable. My feelings for Halle had exploded so quickly, seemingly from out of nowhere, and it still felt odd to have such overwhelming romantic and sexual feelings for a girl who had been my best friend for so long.

And we were getting to know each other as adults, the people shaped by the cares and realities of real life. It was clear that in many ways Halle wasn’t the girl I had grown up with. She was completely, entirely a woman, from the way any last visible traces of adolescence had disappeared from her face to the way she had responded in bed.

Never mind the weird stuff that was happening—the masked guy on the street, the damage to my car, and someone trying to burn my bar down. All since Halle had arrived. Never mind how she was still visibly nervous sometimes, looking over her shoulder and jumping at shadows.

It had been a whirlwind since she’d returned, that was for sure.

“Hey, you okay?”

Jonas’s voice pulled me back from my thoughts, and I blinked at him for a minute, trying to put his words together so they made sense.

“Yeah, fine,” I finally managed, taking a long sip of my beer.

Jonas didn’t look convinced, his mouth crumpled into a crooked line. “Yeah, sure you are.”

Huffing a laugh that was anything but amused, I rested an elbow on the bar top.

“How’d the other night go, by the way?” Jonas’s question was slick, with a flicker of mischief in his eyes as he asked.

“It was good.” With the fire, I’d barely taken the time to take Jonas his truck back, never mind tell him about my evening—my night—with Halle.

“Just good?” A dark eyebrow crooked up.

“Okay, more than good. It was great. Amazing.” I couldn’t help the smile that pulled at the corner of my mouth, muffled from the grin that wanted to break out.