Page 39 of When the Walls Come Down
Shane had already been gone when I finally called it a day. It was well past six by the time I walked into Two Ships. My chest warmed when I spotted him sitting at our stools. A beer in front of him and a vodka cranberry waiting for me.
While we had a lot to discuss, Casey had mentioned that Shane was moving on to bigger opportunities. Maybe we could both celebrate over dinner.
“Hey there, stranger,” I said when I got close.
“Hey there yourself,” he replied.
I sat down, hooking my purse over my knee. I had no idea how long he’d been waiting. His beer was full, sweat dripping down the bottle, and the ice in my drink had all but melted.
“Sorry I’m late. Work was crazy.” I swirled my drink, but Shane slid it away.
“Don’t drink that,” he mumbled, giving Chris a pointed chin jerk. “Hey, man. Can you get her a fresh one when you get a minute?”
“Sure thing,” Chris replied. “You want one too?”
“Nah. I’m good.”
“How’s it going, Maggie?” Chris asked.
I glanced at Shane out of the corner of my eye. Honestly, it had been better. I wasn’t sure why yet, but there were some bad vibes wafting my way.
“I’m good, thanks.”
The friendly bartender joked, “I see you survived that date.”
“Barely. It was touch and go for a while. But here I am.”
He chuckled walking away, taking my watered-down drink with him.
Shane, who usually couldn’t allow a silence to linger, sat there without saying a single word until Chris returned with a new vodka cranberry.
“Let me know if you need anything else,” Chris said before wandering away.
“Thanks,” Shane and I said in unison.
And then he went right back to staring at his beer. Oh-kay. So someone wasn’t chatty after work.
I smiled over at him. “So let’s get this straight. Almost half a dozen orgasms between us and we never thought to discuss where we worked.”
“You know, I think we almost did and then got distracted by my magnificent cooking abilities.” He took a deep breath and then a long pull off his beer. “What a day, huh?”
“Between us being neighbors and now working at the same office, it’s starting to feel a teensy bit like you might be stalking me.” I bumped his shoulder with mine.
He chuckled. “Or maybe you’re stalking me.” His words were simple, but there was a sharp edge to his tone I’d never heard before. “I was here first.”
My lips thinned as I stared at the side of his face. “So tell me about this new fancy job of yours.”
“There isn’t one. I’m not leaving Bay.” He grimaced. “That was all Casey and Blake’s plan to get me unstuck or out of a rut or force me to get a life. Whatever. I’m fairly sure that’s backfired on them now.”
I’d heard everything he said, but I could only focus on one thing. “I’m sorry, did you say you aren’t leaving Bay Brewing?”
“Well, there’s nothing I can do about it if they flat-out fire me, but I’m not leaving without a fight. I love my job there. Love what I’ve built. If they thought working there was holding me back, I’ll just have to prove that they were wrong.”
“Right. Um, okay. And where exactly do I land in that fight? Because the way Casey made it sound today, they’re preparing me for your role.”
His jaw got hard and the muscles at the hinges ticked. “I don’t know, Maggie.”
Maggie.
Not Peach.
Not sarcastic.
Not teasing.
Just…Maggie.
I turned on my stool to fully face him, my confusion slipping into anger. “Okay, what the hell is going on? When I saw you today, my first and only concern was that someone would find out I was sleeping with the boss’s brother, or brother-in-law, or whoever the hell Casey is to you. That’s not the first impression I wanted to make. Then I found out you were leaving and moving on to bigger and better opportunities. For fuck’s sake, I came all but skipping in here tonight ready to celebrate for both of us. But now you’re in a shit mood, refusing to even look at me, and telling me that you aren’t leaving Bay, which based on some really basic eeny-meeny-miny-moe leaves me unemployed. So could you please look me in the eye, speak in full sentences, and tell me what the hell I’m missing here?”
“I don’t know,” he snapped. “I’m not going to pretend to have it all figured out yet. Hell, they just sprang all of this on me Friday. Then I met you, and we had this weekend that sort of—” He turned in his seat to finally face me. “Well, it blew my mind, okay? And then this morning, finding out that not only was I meeting the person they are trying to push me out with, but it was the woman who has been on my mind since the second I laid eyes on her… I just. I just need to figure it out.”
