Page 157 of The Other Side of Green

The front door slammed and Jack and I stared at one another. “You know you’ve got some fight in you, Lyra Lennox.”

I nodded, a lump rising in my throat.

He watched me carefully. “And I know you will feel guilty about Eva, about all those people who protested. I know the guilt is going to chew you up from the inside, but it doesn’t have to be over, you can still make a difference.”

I nodded. Grams had left me a way to make a difference. Jack and I had already talked about what we would do if we got Blue’s Bar back, which it looked like we would. And it was we now. There would never be anything other than we: me and him.

My bones ached, tiredness weighing me down, pulling on every muscle, every fiber within me.

I offered him a smile though and pointed through the hallway to the far wall of the living room. It had always been strangely bare. On the journey home I’d thought of why. Now I knew.

“I think a piano would fit there just fine.” He glanced at the space and grinned back at me.

Both of us ignored the stinking mess my mother had left behind. Tomorrow I’d talk to Luca. Tomorrow I’d start to dream a future for me and my Blue.

Tomorrow.

I held out my hand for his. “Come and sit on the porch with me.”

Jack tangled our fingers, and we made our way through to the kitchen and the back door that rattled. Then together we sat on the porch. His hand in mine.

Epilogue

Lyra ~ Five Years Later

“Miss Lennox?” I turned at the call of my name. We weren’t open for hours yet. Re-stocking the bar took half the day. Who knew running a bar would be such hard work? “I’ve got three crates for you, where do you want them?”

“Just by the door, thanks.” I walked over to the delivery guy and scrawled on his sheet of paper creased on a clipboard.

One thing I’d learned about running a bar was the total necessity for not having lazy shit staff. Walking behind the bar to the stairs that led to the apartment upstairs I screeched, throat pinching with the level of noise I created, “LUCA!”

“It’s not ten yet, demon woman.” I stared up at him as he stuck his blond hair round the doorframe at the top of the stairs.

I say blond, but actually he’d gone a little gray. Ha.

“Yeah, yeah, but when we agreed to do the restocks in the morning and not the night before we both shook hands on pulling weight.” It had been me who’d wanted the morning work burst and not the late. I had things to get home for, end of. “We’ve just had three crates delivered. Could you help me move them? I don’t want to lift them by myself.”

He grumbled the whole way down the stairs, such a damn child. When he got to the bottom though I flung my arms around him. “Love you, brother.”

“This is a fifty-fifty business, Lyra. You aren’t the boss bitch of me.”

“I’ve always been the boss bitch of you.”

He pulled a face and then looked at the crates. “More soft drinks? Is this a bar or a fucking kindergarten?”

I punched his arm. “So moody in the morning. And you know as well as I do that we have to legally cater for our younger patrons.”

Luca rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Have you forgotten what’s happening tonight?”

I bounced a little on the toes of my boots and Luca grinned. “How could I?”

A little dart of excitement tickled in my chest. It was going to be a damn long day. “I think I should talk to Evan again.”

“Sure. If you want him to actually strangle you down the phone.”

I loved how close Evan and Luca were. Luca my real brother and Evan my absolute best friend.