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Her heart ached for the rejection this woman must have been through. Elisa didn’t know where this was going but she wanted to go a few steps further down the road, and that meant starting to be the person she wanted to be. She let go of her father’s hand and reached out for Cassidy’s. “We’re just having a nice talk. Come here and tell me about my stepbrothers.”
Cassidy’s face lit up, and she began to talk.
Elisa listened, hope filling her in a way it hadn’t in a long time.
Her family had just gotten weirder, and that suddenly seemed perfect.
* * * *
Hale glanced over and Elisa was laughing at something Cassidy was saying.
“Hey, she’s doing okay now.” Max Harper slid onto the barstool next to him. “I think it was touch and go at first, but Mel had a talk with her and she seems much more at ease now.”
“She does look happier.” Van had hopped behind the bar when it became evident that Elisa wasn’t going to be done any time soon. The bar back had needed to leave early, so Van was helping out.
It had given Hale a whole bunch of time to sit and nurse his second beer and think about exactly what he was doing.
She was here to spend time with her father, and she would leave at some point. Was it worth getting his heart ripped out of his chest? Because he was pretty sure if anyone could do it, it was Elisa Leal.
“I’m glad to hear it.”
Max frowned. “No, you’re not. We need to work on that. See, when you want to lie and make it sound like you’re not, your expression has to match your words.”
“I wasn’t even looking at you.” He’d been staring at his beer.
“Didn’t have to. I can see half your face, and it was obvious that you are not glad to hear it.”
He was bad with lying, and it wasn’t really true. “I am. I’m happy she’s getting along with her dad. It’s why she’s here.”
“Yeah, but she seemed to be getting along with you pretty well, too.”
He simply nodded because he was fairly sure he wasn’t supposed to say all the things he kind of wanted to say. He had some thoughts on how the evening had gone now that the rush of actually being with her was over. He knew exactly what Van would say if he expressed those doubts. Van would tell him he was being a morose Eeyore and he should look at the positive side of life. Even if Elisa thought he was a weirdo and wouldn’t ever introduce him to any of her friends or consider having an actual relationship with him, she was obviously down for sex, and that should be all that mattered.
He wanted her to like him.
“What is that look for?” Rye was sitting on the other side of his brother. He pointed Hale’s way. “I don’t think he agrees with you, Max.”
Rye looked like he’d found some clue in a mystery.
Max frowned his brother’s way. “Well, of course he doesn’t believe it. He’s not confident like me. Yet. I told you he’s a puppy who got kicked a whole bunch, and he’ll never be a whole and happy dog if we don’t fix him.”
“Wait,” Hale began.
Max ignored him. “What makes you think she didn’t like you?”
“He doesn’t think that.” Van was suddenly in front of him, a frown on his face.
Damn it. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to. I can read your expressions,” Max replied.
“I don’t have expressions.” He was pretty sure he didn’t.
“You have two,” Van countered. “You have your working expression and then there’s the one that lets everyone know you’ve mentally checked out. It’s those two. Except tonight the fucker actually smiled. Three times. I didn’t know his face worked that way.”
“Ah, see, now we’re getting somewhere.” Max looked pleased with himself. “So you really like this woman.”
“I think everyone knows I like her.” That might be part of the problem. He’d realized how many sets of eyes he had on him this evening.
“So?” Max asked.
“He’s not used to having a lot of friends,” Van offered.
That made him sound like a loser. “I’m not used to staying in one place for long, so I often don’t make friends. It’s only been tonight that I realized how nosy people are here. I’ve had three people ask me where I’m taking Elisa for a date. I took her here. This was the date.”
Now he was thinking it might be their only date.
“I think they were wondering if we were going to ask her out again,” Van pointed out.
Max held out a hand as though he was about to impart great wisdom. “Who asked?”
“Stella, Polly, and the lady who keeps all the bees,” he replied. “And the pastor asked if she believed in Jesus. I did not get into her religious beliefs. I just met her.”
