Page 45 of Another Last Call
“I’ll take your word for it.” She looked back down at the papers in front of us. “We’re really doing this, huh?”
“Seems like it.”
She looked up at me, a pained expression on her face and I knew.
I just fuckingknewwhat she was about to say, and that hopeful little feeling I’d had earlier crumpled in my chest.
“We can’t keep fucking,” she said.
I nodded.
“I… it’s too much of a risk.”
“You’re not wrong,” I said. “As much as I hate to say it.”
“Of course you would hate admitting I’m right.”
I looked up at her. There was a sad but cheeky smile on her face, and I laughed quietly. “Sure, Mags. Let’s go with that.”
She bit her lip. “I just—”
“No, you’re… you’re right.” I looked up at her. My heart was more than a little broken, but I tried not to show it. “We’re business partners. We need to be professional. Hooking up when we have more to think about than just us is… it’s a bad idea.”
She nodded. “I’m… I’m glad we agree.”
“Me too.” I smiled at her. “And I’m glad we’re working together, Mags. I really am.”
She smiled back. “You know, I’m kind of excited about it now.”
“Good.”
An awkward silence fell between us and after a moment, she slid off the barstool, grabbing her jacket. “I should get home. It’s late.”
“Yeah, me too. Final inspection tomorrow.” I didn’t move off my bar stool. “I’m just going to clean up a few things tonight so I don’t have to in the morning.”
Maggie paused beside me, put her hand on my shoulder, and leaned in to kiss me on the cheek.
“Thank you for everything, Caleb.”
Twenty-Four
Maggie
I’dneverbeenasterrified as I was the night we re-opened.
It was firmly fall at that point. Tourist season was long over. And we opened a few days ahead of when we said we were going to. So when I woke up that morning, I wasn’t worried. I was certain it was going to be an easy, chill sort of day, the perfect kind of day for me and Caleb to get our toes wet and discover how well we wereactuallygoing to work together.
Because that was what was happening. I tried to argue with him when he said he was going to bartend, but he shook his head.
“Mags, your mom and Tiny Steve are gone. We haven’t hired anyone to replace either of them.”
“I could bartend,” I said stiffly.
“Yeah, you could, but then who’s going to wait tables?”
“Well…”
“I mean, I can, but—”
