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I SIT ON THE barstool, watching as Amelia and Tye put away the clean glasses. The bar isn't open yet, and it gives me the perfect opportunity to wallow in self-pity without judgment. After that kiss last night, I haven't been able to focus on anything else.
Half of me wanted to go back inside, pull him up to his room, and fall back into him the same way we used to. But before I could risk everything, I did exactly what he said I do and I put the baby first. Losing myself in him that way again is a risk I can’t afford.
“Why so glum, chum?” Tye asks.
Amelia snorts. “The old men that come into this place are getting to you.”
“Fuck off,” she sasses. “I'm just worried about our sad little buddy here.”
“Sad little...” Amelia shakes her head. “You're still drunk. Okay, great.”
Tye snickers. “Hair of the dog, Amelier.”
Amelia looks like she wants to argue it, tell her that the hair of the dog is simply having a beer to cure your hangover, not keep drinking, but before she can open her mouth, she stops herself. “Fuck it.”
I chuckle at their banter. “How is this place still running with the two of you in charge?”
“I wonder that every day,” the boss, Paul, says.
He rarely comes out of his office, but when he does, he's always fun to be around. He's kind and forgiving, though he has to be. When Amelia started, she broke almost every glass to the bar's name. And yet, he didn't fire her.
He walks over and puts a hand on my shoulder. “When is my best bartender coming back?”
“Hey!” Tye and Amelia say in unison, but he just laughs.
“You're the reason I have to order more glasses every month just to keep an adequate supply,” he says to Amelia and then turns to Tye. “And you've scared off more customers by threatening them than I can count.”
Tye shrugs. “Perverts should keep their comments to themselves.”
“Agreed, but that doesn't mean we threaten them.”
“No, that doesn't mean you threaten them,” she corrects.
He pinches the bridge of his nose and looks back at me. “So, best bartender. Coming back at some point, yes?”
When I told Paul I was taking a leave of absence, he looked devastated. I was prepared for him to try and fight to keep me, but he knows as well as I do that a pregnant bartender tends to look trashy and is bad for business. Thankfully, I’ve saved a lot of tips over the year I’ve worked here.
I smile warmly at him. “I can't make any promises, but after I have the baby, I'll try to work it out.”
Nodding, he grins. “Good enough for me.”
As he leaves, I drop my head on the bar and go back to dealing with my inner turmoil that is Easton Donovan. God, I want him, and not even just in a sexual way. I want his arms wrapped around me. I want to fall asleep with my head on his chest. I want the way he used to hold me as we watched a movie.
Plain and simple, I fucking miss him.
A glass is put down next to me and as I look up, Amelia smiles. “Ginger ale. Now talk to me. What's up?”
I almost tell her. I really do consider it. But I know what side she would be on, so I don't. “I'm okay. Just exhausted.”
She purses her lips. “So, it has nothing to do with the fact that E kissed you last night?”
“What?” Tye balks.
But my eyes stay focused on Amelia. “You know?”
“Of course, I know,” she says, like it's no big deal. “And not because he told me. He hasn't said a word, actually. I know because I saw you two.”
“And you didn't tell me?” Tye whines.
