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“She’s a bit raw, but I think the crowd are starting to warm to her.”
“Ha ha, she’s bloody brilliant.”
He knew that, and a lot about the woman they discussed, but Maggie didn’t know that.
“So you and she stayed friends after she left Ryker?”
Maggie’s pink lips lifted. “We started out friends in school, then when she left we exchanged letters. We never moved to emails, just kept writing, although not so much in the last few years on her part.”
Joe already knew they were friends.
“When I saw her in the grocery store, I didn’t recognize her, but then it’s been years, like you said. Still... she looked like a gust of wind would knock her down.” Joe didn’t feel guilty pumping Maggie for information on Bailey, because he didn’t think he had a shot at the woman herself sharing anything with him. “Pale and drawn, was what I thought.”
“That’s what I think too, but I don’t like to talk about her behind her back. She was always sensitive about that kind of thing.”
“She may have changed some in the last, what is it? Fifteen or so years.”
“Sure, but I think if anything she’s more private.”
Joe had been a barman for a while now, and he was good at getting people to talk. He knew the art of silence. It didn’t take long. Maggie was a nurturer, it was in her DNA. If she was worried about Bailey she’d want to discuss it with someone, and he was showing interest.
“It’s just... well, the thing is, Joe, I’m worried about her.”
Why had that made his stomach clench? All those years, it seemed, hadn’t eradicated his protective streak where Bailey Jones was concerned.
“Not sure why you would be, considering the life she’s led and money she must have.” He got the glasses out of the washer and started drying them. “Plus, like you said, you’ve not seen each other in years.”
Maggie looked at Bailey again, which meant Joe could. Her hands flew over the keys and her entire body seemed to move with the music. She’d come alive seated at his piano playing honky-tonk.
“Seems happy to me.”
“Because she’s doing what she loves. She’s brilliant, isn’t she?” The words weren’t loud, but Joe heard them. “You see where Buzz is. That dog is a great judge of character.”
His dog was leaning on the seat Bailey sat on, which was kind of odd, because he didn’t usually take to people he didn’t know well. He was polite, but didn’t stray far from Joe.
“Yes, she’s brilliant.”
“Why are you worried about her, Maggs?”
“I don’t know, just a hunch.”
Which frustratingly told Joe nothing.
“Well, you go on back to your table, and annoy my brothers who’ve just arrived, and I’ll take Bailey a drink.”
“How could I resist that offer?” Maggie laughed, and took the drink he’d just poured her and headed back to her seat.
Joe got down a tall glass, added ice, then poured in soda. He then walked to the piano as Bailey finished another song.
“Thanks for saving my hide and filling in, Bailey.” He placed the soda he knew she’d liked as a twelve-year-old on the small table beside her.
She turned her body on the seat to look up at him “A.S., Joe?”
“Apple Sours.”
“You named your bar after those sweets?”
“I did, it seemed to fit.” He’d also named it Apple Sours because he felt he owed Bailey something for the support she’d given him all those years ago.
