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“Hmph.” Things were slowing down a little now that the live band had stopped playing. Max looked over and saw that Lori had stepped up to the bar, so she could handle any other patrons. He tossed some jalapeño slices into the shaker and muddled them with the tequila. “I guess I have a minute.”
“I imagine you have more than a minute if you’re actually working a full shift here. You’ve hardly left the packhouse at all since Sarah’s been back.” Dawn tipped her head to the side, watching him carefully.
After he’d added the remaining ingredients and poured the drink into a salted glass, Max firmly slid it across the bar. “Very observant,” he replied carefully.
“So what’s changed?” She picked up the glass by the stem and took a slow sip. “There isn’t enough lime juice.”
“Would you prefer to come back here and make it yourself,Karen? Or would you like to speak to my boss? I’m sure Rex would be more than happy to dump that free drink of yours down the drain.” He shook his head. “I figured it was about time I came back to work. Rex has been understanding about all the time I’ve been taking off, but I’m still an employee here.” He rinsed out the shaker and ran it through a sink of soapy water. Max sure as shit wasn’t getting behind on the dishes tonight.
“He’s your brother. He’s not going to fire you,” Dawn pointed out.
“Yeah, well. Maybe I needed a little time to get out of there. A man can’t stay inside the same four walls—or even on the same acreage, before you correct me—for days at a time without getting a little stir crazy.” Granted, the distraction of Selene’s wasn’t as much of a help as he’d anticipated. At least he didn’t feel like he had to avoid Sarah every time he walked down the hallway. It even felt awkward to talk to Ava or Hunter, since they were caught in the middle.
“You could always go home. I mean, it makes sense for Sarah and Ava to stay at the packhouse, but it doesn’t mean you have to.” She took another sip. “No, it really does need more lime.”
Max grabbed a lime slice from the bin and dropped it in her glass. “There. Good enough?”
Another customer stepped up to the bar, slipping between Dawn and the next barstool. “Hey, man. I need another beer, like pronto.” Even though he was leaning on the bar, he managed to stumble into Dawn.
“Watch it,” Max snapped. “You don’t just walk up between people like that, you know. There’s an open spot right down there.”
“I’m so wasted, I can’t see shit!” the punk said with a laugh, slapping the bar as though he’d just made the best joke ever. “Can you just get me my beer, man?”
“Hang on.” Not even bothering to ask him what he wanted, Max pulled the cheapest draught they had and handed it over. “There.”
“Thanks, man. You’re the best.”
“Right.” Max watched him stagger off. Most people who came to Selene’s behaved themselves. They were a rough crowd in a lot of ways, but there was a certain line that didn’t get crossed. Max thought he might need to watch this one, or maybe he was just too pissy to be working behind a bar tonight.
“Anyway,” Dawn said when they were relatively alone again. “I know there are problems between you and Sarah. I’m just worried about you.”
“There’s nothing to worry about.” Max grabbed a rag and wiped down the bar, not liking the way her hazel eyes were on him.
“I beg to differ. It doesn’t take a genius to see the tension between the two of you, Max. It might help to talk about it.” She poked at her lime with a short, unpainted fingernail.
“Fine.” He didn’t really want to. Max had kept his guilt over Sarah to himself all these years, and he hated to just turn around and blab about his feelings, even to Dawn. He could handle it on his own. He didn’t need any help. “If it’ll make you happy.”
“It will.” Dawn whipped her head to the side as the same punk came up next to her, nudging her arm with his elbow as he did. “Geez, dude. I think you’ve had about enough to drink.”
“I’m barely even buzzed,” he replied, even though he’d just claimed a minute or so ago that he was drunk.
“What do you want?” Max growled. “I already gave you a beer.”
“It was the wrong one. I wanted a stout. That’s what real men drink.” He turned back toward Dawn and leered at her. “That’s what you’d like, right? A real man?”
“What I’d like is for you to get the fuck away from me.” Dawn’s mouth twisted up into a sneer.
“Just take this and go, okay?” Max handed him a stout, wondering just how much leeway Rex would give him if he got a little rough with one of the customers. He didn’t want to put up with any more bullshit.
“Fine. But you don’t know what you’re missing, baby.” The man gave Dawn a sloppy wink before heading back to his table.
“I can’t even imagine what he might think if he sobered up and realized I’m old enough to be his mother,” Dawn said with a shake of her head. “Anyway, talk to me, Max. Let’s get it all out before he comes back.”
He pressed his hands into the bar, wishing the solid reality of it would ground him and make him feel as though he could make rational decisions about this. “I was beyond happy to find out that she was alive. I had her back, and I had a daughter, and I thought everything was going to be just fine.”
“But it’s not,” Dawn concluded.
“No, not really. It was easy to forget the fights we used to have when we were younger, but they keep coming back up. There’s a lot we don’t agree on, especially when it comes to raising the kids.” He slapped his hand on the bar and straightened up. “She just refuses to see my point of view. And I don’t understand why she picks some things to be fine with and not others.”
