I smiled at the sound of hope in his voice as I unlocked my car and got behind the wheel. “I’m serious.”
“About fucking time,” Griffin said a little too loudly in my ear, and I pulled the phone back with a grin.
I heard his big boots hit the floor and then the creak of his office door opening. I pictured him walking the hallway to the main room of his bar.
“She dumped his ass,” Griffin shouted to the room, and I heard a bunch of cheers erupt. He put the receiver back to his mouth and said, “Hear that? Everyone’s excited for you.”
Griffin had worked hard on opening his bar, and he had a steady stream of regulars who liked to hang out almost every night. They all knew about my boyfriend and how Griffin didn’t like the guy.
I grinned. “Yeah, I heard.”
“They all want you to come in, so they can buy you a drink,” he told me.
I didn’t know if that was true, but I didn’t care. I could use one right about now. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“See ya then, Mads.”
Two
Griffin
The second Madeline walked into my bar, I slid over a cold bottle of her favorite beer.
She took a long swig before she even sat down.
“Ahh…” she said as she pushed her dark blonde hair over her shoulder. “That tasted better than it should have.”
I grinned. “It’s the taste of being single.”
She rolled her eyes. “And you would know.”
“Hey,” I said as I picked up a glass to dry it. “I’m not against relationships.” I was just against relationships where my best friend dated assholes who thought they were better than other people.
“Then, why are you never in one?” Madeline asked with a sparkle in her brown eyes.
She liked to put me on the spot.
But the joke was on her because I wasn’t embarrassed.
I shrugged. “I date. I’ve just never met anyone I wanted to get serious with.”
She eyed me over her beer as she took another sip. “Mmhmm,” she said knowingly.
“He’s too busy sleeping around.”
I turned my eyes to Albert, one of my regulars. He was in his eighties and was in my bar every afternoon. He said alcohol kept him young. I was pretty sure his liver might disagree, but I wasn’t going to judge. After all, he never got wasted, and his moderate drinking habit helped pay the bills.
I spread my hands out onto the bar and leaned in. “And how would you know, old man?”
Albert wasn’t wrong. I did like to have sex, and it wasn’t always with the same woman.
But I didn’t shit where I ate, which meant I never took a woman home from my bar. This was my place of business, and I wasn’t going to jeopardize everything I’d worked so hard for. I didn’t need rumors floating around that I slept with customers, and I didn’t need someone getting clingy with me and wanting more than I had to give. It would look bad.
Plus, I found that the illusion of me and my bartenders being unattached kept the single women coming to my bar. And if single women came, the single men followed, and they were the ones who really brought in the money. My regulars who lingered through the week kept the lights on, but it was the Friday and Saturday night singles crowds that made it possible for me to pay for everything outside the bar, like food and clothes.
Albert scanned me up and down. “You remind me of when I was your age. Good-looking. You work out and own a business. You can’t tell me the ladies don’t like you.”
Madeline laughed and leaned over to get closer to Albert. “You’re right. Our friend here is an S-L-U-T.”
I frowned at her.
She shrugged and sat up. “What? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. It’s just a statement of fact.” She took a drink. “I’m thinking of becoming a slut myself.”
“Becoming?” I teased.
“Ha-ha, Griff. You’re hilarious.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “In case you forgot, I just got out of a year-and-a-half relationship.”
“True. But you have to remember, I’ve known you forever. I remember how you were in high school and heard plenty of stories from college.”
She smiled wistfully, as if she was reminiscing about the past. “Yeah, I had some good times.”
“I like loose women.” Albert sighed. “But they don’t seem to like me much anymore these days.”
While I laughed, Madeline almost choked on the beer she’d sipped on when Albert spoke, and she patted his hand after she was able to stop coughing. “Hang in there. I’m sure you’ll find someone.”
Not if he kept coming to my bar every day rather than putting himself out there, but I wasn’t complaining.
I propped my elbows on the bar and moved in close to Madeline. “How are you doing? Really?” I asked in a low voice.
She picked at the label on her beer bottle before meeting my eyes. “I’m good. Really.”
I raised my eyebrows.
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, I’m a little sad, but things hadn’t been good with Harris for a long time. I only wish it hadn’t taken me so long to realize it.”
“So, what did you tell him?”
She snorted. “Well, after he told me he was going to be out of town for my birthday—”
I winced. Jackass.
“I told him not to worry about going out to celebrate Friday or Saturday.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked if I still wanted my birthday present.”
“And?”
She grinned. “I told him that I was already giving myself the best birthday present. I was breaking up with him.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “I bet he loved that.”
“Not so much.”
I laughed some more, picturing Harris’s face as she’d delivered her birthday line. I wish I could have been there.
“Aren’t you the least bit curious as to what he got you for your birthday?”
Madeline scrunched up her nose. “After Christmas, no.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
Harris had gotten her a new vacuum after her other one broke. It was top of the line and expensive, but…dude.
“Even I’m not that clueless.”
She wiggled her eyebrows at me. “So, what are you getting me for my birthday?”
“I read online that all women want is a dress with pockets, so…”
She laughed.
“Seriously though, I’m still waiting for you to text me your list.”
Madeline always picked out her own presents, and I just bought what she’d told me to. It made both of our lives easier.
She took a drink of her beer as someone on the other end of the bar flagged me down. I held up a finger in the universal sign to wait a second.
“I haven’t decided what I want yet. I’ll send you some ideas soon.”
I straightened, walked around to her side of the bar, and put my arm around her in a half-hug. “Sorry about your breakup right before your birthday.”
She rested her cheek on my chest. “Thanks, Griff. It’s for the best though.”