The Bartender's Daughter (6 page)

His feelings may have changed, but hers had not. He was right about one thing though. Maybe a divorce would finally banish Lee from every molecule of her being. She could only hope.

She walked to the cottage now, her cheap luggage trailing behind her the one-mile as she lugged her duffel bag over her shoulder. The walk wouldn’t be bad in the morning on her way to work and back at night without the weight of her entire life with her.

She moved closer to the side of the road when a car came up from behind. It slowed and then stopped right ahead of her. She recognized the back of her sister
’s small car before she stomped out. “What are you doing?”

“
Walking.”

“
I got that, smart ass. Where are you walking to and why are you dragging your luggage through Oldport?”

She hated when her sister took that tone with her.
“I’m moving my stuff into Dad’s cottage, and since I don’t have a car, I’m hoofing it.”

She didn
’t stop, not even to answer her sister. She wasn’t surprised when Michelle followed her in those skinny heels. Sam couldn’t even walk across in the room in heels like that, but here Michelle walked on uneven asphalt as smooth as could be.

Michelle stopped.
“You can’t be serious. You’re really going to sleep in that shack? That’s ridiculous.”

Without looking back, Sam imagined her sister
’s hands on her hips, long nails tapping on her tiny waist. “It might be, but it has a bed, a shower, and a refrigerator. That’s all I need.”

She heard her sister scramble to catch up. When she did, Michelle grabbed her by the arm.
“Why can’t you just sell the bar and move on with your life?”

“
Because I can’t. Why do you feel like you know what’s best for me? We’ve barely spoken for the last two years. You made sure of that.” Sam looked into her sister’s eyes and waited for her reply.

“
What are you talking about? You were the one that left.” Michelle spit out the words.

Sam dropped the bag
off her shoulder and down on the curb. “After you told me that you were hooking up with Lee.”

“
Why did that have anything to do with you leaving?” Michelle’s gaze narrowed in on her. “You really did have a thing for him, didn’t you? Sam, he was a bartender in our father’s bar. You knew he was off-limits.”

“
Lee was more than just one of his bartenders, and I was an adult. You shouldn’t have lied.”

“
I did it for your own good. If that’s all it took for you to leave, it obviously wasn’t very serious. Which brings me back to what I’ve been saying all along. You left the bar once before. What makes you think you should be taking the responsibility on now?”

She sputtered. Her own good? Michelle had no idea how serious things were and how much her words had made her question everything she had in her life. Worried about Lee
’s secrets and unsure if the bar was really where she wanted to spend the rest of her life, she had been ripe for doubts to seep in. There was nothing she could do about the lies now, but the bar was no longer any of Michelle’s concern. “You gave up your half of the bar and any say in the matter when you had Dad sell it to Lee.”

“
You think you’re so smart. You don’t know anything about it. Dad was up to his ears in loans to Lee. He had to sell half of the bar or he would have lost everything. Just wait. It’s only a matter of time until Lee owns the whole thing. Only he won’t need to pay you for it.” She loosened her grip around Sam’s arm and walked back to her car.

Sam could still feel the imprint of her sister
’s fingers on her arm as she continued on her walk. It didn’t even register when she considered how her heart felt after a full day of hearing the truth about Lee.

He wasn
’t just rich. He wasn’t just parading around a woman everyone expected him to marry. He had convinced her father to borrow money so that he could take over the damn bar. She closed her eyes, summoned her heart, her body to get her through this. She’d figure it out but first she needed to get her things into the cottage, make sure it was livable for tonight and then head back to the bar. She obviously hadn’t dived deep enough into the books yet. Once she did, she’d know how far in her father had gotten and how much she needed to come up with to get Lee out of her life for good.

She crossed over to the little flagstone path to the front door of her new place. The key turned smoothly in the lock
, but she hesitated before stepping over the threshold. She threw up one small prayer to her father.
No mice or other creatures. Please, Daddy.

She pushed the door open, waited for any signs of scurrying and then finally walked into the little cottage. From there she could see the clean kitchenette, the couch, a small television. Everything looked the same as it had the last time she was there.

She flashed back to her and Lee wrapped around each other on the couch. His fingers entwined with hers while his sky blue eyes fastened to her face. Her heart ready to burst from the magic of it all. “I love you, Sam. You know this is forever. I’m never letting you get away.”

She believed every word he
’d said back then and bought every dream he’d painted. Even the one where they grew old together in a little house on the beach, with their two black labs and eventual children. Her heart ached at the memory of a life no longer a possibility.

Sam rubbed the small callous on her left ring finger and pushed the thoughts away. First up was a quick check of the kitchen faucet and a celebratory dance when the water flowed clear. She walked into the bedroom, tossed her bags on the bed and started opening up windows. The cottage could use some air, a few touches here and there and a whole lot of dusting and it would be livable, at least until winter. If she could survive the proximity to Lee for that long.

Chapt
er Six

“
You’re what?”

“
Married. I’m married.” Lee finished signing the last contract before looking back up at Jake. He was more friend than work acquaintance, and that was why he called a real estate lawyer to help him out of this situation with Sam.

“
I got that, but for two years? Where have you been hiding her?”

“
New York. It was a…” he searched for the right description of his biggest mistake, “youthful indiscretion.”

“
So you knocked her up, married her and then sent her away?”

Disgust rolled through him.
“No. Do you really think that’s something I would do? It wasn’t a shotgun wedding. It was impulsive and amazing and then it wasn’t.” His voice dropped off. He shook his head and pushed the thoughts of those early days away.

“
Well, I’m not a divorce lawyer, but as long as you have a tight prenup and no surprises, I think you should be able to get it taken care of in less than six months.”

“
There’s no prenup.”

This time Jake didn
’t even attempt to keep the incredulity out of his voice. “What were you thinking, Lee? That’s just stupid.”

“
Whatever it was, it’s done and over with. Now tell me what I need to do to get out of it with as little damage as possible.”

Jake rubbed a hand through his hair and then pulled off the glasses he
’d been wearing to read the contracts. “Get a great divorce lawyer. I’ll see if I can get one of my buddies to help you out. Did she just up and leave?” At Lee’s nod, he continued, “Maybe you could use desertion as grounds for divorce. I’m assuming she hasn’t been faithful, but neither have you.”

Lee opened his mouth and shut it closed with a snap. Faithful? He could be honest with his friend. He could lay it all out on the line but he
’d look like a stooge, a complete idiot. Later, he could tell Jake the whole story but for now he’d stick to the bare facts.

Jake stood up and put his glasses in his pocket.
“I’ll go ahead and hire someone in New York to take a look into what your
wife
has been up to in the last two years.”

“
This situation is delicate. I want as few people to know about it as possible. Make sure this person knows that they are to handle the situation with as much discretion as possible.”

“
Of course. Lee, I’ve got to tell you. You could be in trouble. If this woman wants to, she could really take you for a ride. I mean, we’re talking half of your worth. A good lawyer can make a difference, but maybe you should think about settling.”

“
I’m not giving her a dime. She’s engaged. I’m not letting her future husband walk away with anything I’ve built in the last two years.”

Lee agreed with the curse out of Jake
’s mouth. The situation was messed up. He just needed to get out of it with as little damage as possible.

“
Jake, one more thing. I don’t want to drag her through the mud. She’s not a bad person. She just lost her father and I think it would be best if we kept things as clean as possible.”

Jake paused abruptly in the act of nodding his head.
“Her father died? Sam Pierce is your wife?” He threw up his hands. “That explains the look on your face the other day. Now things get a little clearer. She’s not what I would have expected from you. Melissa’s more your type.”

“
What does that mean?”

“
You know what I mean. Ray’s daughter isn’t exactly the wife your mother would be expecting you to bring home, is she?”

In a way, he was right. He had never brought Sam around his family
, but that didn’t have anything to do with her and everything to do with the cold, severe home he grew up in. His silence must have been telling because Jake picked up the papers on the desk and slid them into his briefcase. “I’ll call the investigator I’ve used before. I’ll get him on it ASAP.”

Lee scratched out Sam
’s full name, Dylan and Serena’s name, and the general dates of her time in Manhattan. He didn’t have an address, but he assumed a good investigator could find that out with little trouble. He handed off the slip of paper, and without another word, his friend walked out.

He looked around his home office, the one that was meant to be a place of calm, and needed to escape. He
headed toward the sliding glass doors and the solace only the beach could give him when his sister’s voice stopped him.

“
Why didn’t you tell me?”

He squeezed the door handle and dropped his forehead on the cold plate glass. He closed his eyes to the view of the water for a breath. A moment later, he straightened and turned to face his sister.

“It’s ancient history, Joanna. We just need to get some papers signed and it’ll be over.”

She sat on a stool by the kitchen counter, a mug of coffee in her hand and a grim look on her face.
“It doesn’t look that way to me. You look…” she hesitated as she gave him a once over, “tortured.”

“
I’m not tortured. What I am is tired. I’ve got four small businesses I’m trying to keep afloat. One of which is barely above water.” He walked over to the coffee maker and poured his third cup of the day. He’d slept about four hours last night after working out some ideas for the bar.

“
For what it’s worth, I don’t think she’s doing too well either. She looks tortured, too.”

“
Don’t romanticize this. We’ve been over for years. The divorce is just a formality. If she’s having a rough time, it has more to do with having just lost her father and being away from her boyfriend.” He walked away. Instead of watching the sun glint off the surface of the water, he’d go for a run and maybe get this morning behind him.

****

She saw him from a distance during her morning run. There was no mistaking the smooth, confident gait or the way his head stayed high, looking forward. She envied his approach. She always struggled to look up when she ran, fighting her natural urge to look down at the ground. She turned and ran back to the cottage, cutting her run short but saving herself from encountering Lee when she wasn’t prepared.

They hadn
’t spoken more than the bare minimum in the last two weeks and they certainly hadn’t kissed. She had avoided any situation that may have found them alone. She simply didn’t trust herself. She’d gone over the books, cleaned out a few drawers in her father’s office, and read a few books on small business she’d found at the library. She had lots of questions for him. Questions that could no longer be avoided.

She pulled the key out from under a rock and unlocked the front door. The door was just shutting behind her when she threw off her clothes and added them to the growing pile of laundry. She
’d need to hit the Laundromat today or tomorrow. While she didn’t have Serena’s cleaning lady or the luxury of a washing machine and dryer, she loved living in the cottage. It was all hers, a place that was completely her own. She’d lost that feeling of being constantly indebted.

She got ready and started on her walk to the bar. Except for sleeping and her occasional trips to do laundry, she wasn
’t spending much time at her new home. Mornings were for deliveries. Then there was the small lunch crowd after opening, the afternoon drinking crowd, the dinner push, and then the nighttime drinkers. She was getting back into the rhythm of the place.

There were upgrades that needed to be made, marketing that had to be developed, and most of all, the loan to Lee that had to be repaid. Apparently, he hadn
’t used the loans to purchase his share of the bar. She found a handwritten promissory note in the bottom drawer with no information on the kind of interest rate the bar was expected to pay him back. She wondered what her father was thinking when he made such a decision.

She kicked a rock along the quiet road and watched it skitter across the black top. She shouldn
’t be questioning her father’s choices. She hadn’t been there when the deep fryer broke or the walk-in went out. Obviously he’d done what he thought needed to be done at the time. Either way, she had a significant amount to pay back to Lee, even if they split the debt in half. In the future, she had every intention of being the only owner of Ray’s. She needed him out of her bar and out of her life.

It was getting harder and harder to avoid him. If only he had begun losing his hair, gotten fat, and stopped coming around all together. Maybe then she could forget those kisses and that she had been nothing but a joke to him, a well-played bit of rebellion that he kept to himself.

She sighed and pushed on, concentrating on the salty breeze and fresh morning air that promised the humidity only summer in New England could bring. A little of the pressure building in her chest loosened when she spotted the empty parking lot. She would have to deal with Lee soon but, at least, not until she had her morning coffee.

She slid her key into the slot
, but the door opened without any pressure. The door had been locked last night. She swore remembering the click of the lock and turning off the air conditioning just before walking out. Now it hummed loudly and cold air leaked from the open door. She was just about to shut the door and pull out her cell phone when she heard her name.

She opened the door wider until sunlight lit up the figure striding toward her. A little of the anxiety calmed as she recognized Lee but her heart didn
’t get the message as it double-timed. His gaze roamed from the top of her head, over the short halter dress down to the sandals on her feet and then back again. The door slipped from her hand, slamming shut behind her. She stood her ground when he came less than a foot away. He frowned and she stiffened when he reached his hand up. She could feel the heat from his body and had to stop herself from leaning into it.

His hand reached behind her and flipped the switch on, illuminating the entire bar.
“I thought I’d come in early so we could talk.”

“
Oh.” He needed to step back. This close and she couldn’t remember all of the reasons she wanted him far away.

Of course, as in all things related to Lee, he did the opposite of what she wanted. He took one small step forward. She gave in to instinct and stepped back until her back hit the door. His closeness thrilled her. He reached for her face, his hand sliding over her cheek, while one thumb rubbed her cheekbone.
“You’re not sleeping well.”

“
No.” She didn’t move. His fingers roamed over her face, sliding delicately over her lips and then down over her jaw. When they slipped into her hair, her eyes closed of their own volition and her knees began to shake. She could just feel the slight pressure of his lips when his hand suddenly pulled out of her hair. She kept her eyes closed as she heard his footsteps move away from her. She wanted to reach out for him when the loss of his touch left a void in her heart.

When she opened her eyes, he stood a few feet away. His hands were gripped into fists while he looked down, his gaze focused on the wood plank floor.

Why was it always like this between them? What turned her into this needy, wanting woman she could barely recognize every time he touched her? She needed grounding. She pulled the necklace from under her dress. Her hands were shaking and it took her a few tries to finally get it undone. When it did, she slipped the ring off the chain and held it out to him.

“
It’s real, isn’t it?”

It took him a moment to see the small shiny ring in her hand. He picked it up with just a brush of their skin and held it up to the light.
“Yes.”

“
I thought it was a nice fake, but it’s not silver and it’s not cubic zirconia. I imagined you spent all of your savings on this pretty little ring, but it was just another story I made up to fill in the blanks.” She swallowed, pushing the lump in her throat down. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“
That it was real?”

She shook her head back and forth.
“That you weren’t who I thought you were. That this was all a big joke, a chance for you to see how the other side lives. You made a fool out of me and now you’re like a constant reminder of the idiot I was to trust you. Thank god Dylan finally told me about you.”

At the mention of Dylan, his hand tightened on the ring and she waited for him to throw it. Instead he took it and dropped it into the pocket of his jeans.
“I’m sure Dylan explained it all to you. Don’t worry, Sam. I’ve already got things in motion. You’ll be free to live the kind of lifestyle you’ve become accustomed to.”

****

Like he had all morning long, he felt the outline of Sam’s ring in his pocket. Again he let himself be pulled to her. Joanna’s words had somehow worked their way into his thoughts during his run. He had her drop him off early so Sam couldn’t avoid their conversation. Instead of talking to her about the bar’s business, he was caught in the smudges under her eyes and the sadness that resonated from her entire being.