He grinned, giving her a wink. She smacked his pec playfully with the back of her hand.
“Timmy!” she hollered across the now nearly empty bar. It was approaching closing time, but the group I was with didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave. Tim looked our direction, lifting his chin in acknowledgement as he continued to dry a highball glass. “Get your ass over here! You have some explaining to do.”
With an amused smirk, he set the clean glass on the shelf and tossed his rag to the side before slowly making his way to us. Each step was smooth and confident as he went, his grin charming as he exchanged brief niceties with a few of the other lingering bar patrons.
He seemed happy to chat with everyone with the exception of me. Any time he looked my way, his expression turned into either a scowl or a fake smile that never quite reached his eyes the way I remembered. I wasn’t sure at what point our friendship turned so sour, but I figured it had to be around the time he up and left the band without so much as a goodbye.
It’d bothered me all night. I imagined our first encounter after all these years would be a little awkward, but I hadn’t expected him to look at me the way he did, like I wasn’t worth so much as a hello. I hated not knowing what I did or what had made him feel so much disdain for me.
“What’s got you all worked up, Doc?” he asked as he approached our table for only the second time tonight.
“You were in a band,” she accused.
“Yeah.” His shoulders lifted and fell. “I told you that.”
“Noooo.” She pointed a finger in his direction, twirling it clockwise. “What you told me was that you played lead guitar in a band you put together in high school. You failed to mention that band was Augustine. What the hell, Tim? How could you not tell me that part?”
His condemning eyes shot to me as if I’d let out some enormous secret. Every gorgeous angle of his face was taut with agitation. I didn’t understand what the big deal was. The whole table, except maybe Hannah and Devin, was already aware. Straightening my shoulders, I stared back in challenge, raising my eyebrows. Despite the silent anger he was sending my direction, I wouldn’t apologize for saying anything.
“It wasn’t worth mentioning,” he parried.
Devin rolled her eyes then turned her attention back to me, leaning forward conspiratorially as she asked, “Was he any good?”
“One of the best,” I replied truthfully. “A hard person to replace.”
His eyes held mine for a beat longer, softening slightly. And for that single, fleeting moment, it felt like it used to. Like he cared. But it vanished as soon as Devin demanded, “Play something for us.”
“No,” Tim rasped, looking away and starting to clear the table of empty beer bottles and glasses.
“Oh, come on,” she pleaded with him.
He shook his head with a half-annoyed, half-amused smile. “That’s all ancient history, Doc.”
“You can sing too, right? I still remember your performance in the high school talent show,” Aaron chimed in.
Tim stayed silent, not liking all the attention that was being aimed his direction. He passed the empties off to one of his servers.
“Yeah, you had a much better voice than Bobby,” Wes added, putting his arm around Devin. “I still don’t understand what you’re doing bartending.”
I tucked my lips between my teeth, keeping my opinion on the matter to myself. I agreed with every one of them wholeheartedly, but I could tell the conversation was making Tim uncomfortable. I wasn’t looking to add any fuel to the fire of his unexplainable contempt for me.
The truth was Tim should’ve been the lead singer, but he’d stepped back, letting Bobby take the lead to keep from making waves amongst his friends in the band. Tim was great at both the guitar and singing. Bobby’s voice was the only talent he had to contribute. He hadn’t learned the guitar until a year after the band had formed and it was only enough to get by. I was positive Bobby’s prime motivation for that was just to look cool holding the guitar while he sang.
“Because it’s my job. Speaking of, it’s last call,” Tim warned the group, effectively ending the subject.
“Thanks, man. But I think we’re done here,” Tucker announced. “We need to get home and take the kids off Dad and Grams’ hands.”
“No problem. You guys be safe on the road,” Tim said, giving Tucker a firm handshake.
“Will do, man.”
“Conley, you need a ride? I’m sure someone could give you one,” Lottie said as we all stood and gathered our things.
“Oh, I—I think I’m fine.”
“You aren’t driving,” Hannah insisted.
“Really, I—”
“Nope, the girls are right. You need to get a ride. We’d take you, but we’ve got the kids’ car seats,” Tucker said apologetically.
I looked toward the others and no one would meet my eyes, all firing off lame excuses, talking over one another.
“Yeah, car seats—”
“We live outside of town—”
“We’re going the opposite direction.”
Planting my hands on my hips, I wondered what the hell was going on. The last one was the worst excuse of all, considering I hadn’t ever mentioned where I lived.
“Timmy can take you. Right, buddy?” Wes smacked Tim on the shoulder, shooting him an ornery grin with a wink.
Shell-shocked, Tim looked from Wes to the others and then finally at me. “I ugh…I’ll give Roger a call to see if he can swing by and pick her up.” He reached for the cell phone in his pocket.
“Nope. He’s on a date tonight.”
“With who? I thought he was on duty.” Tim’s eyes narrowed. It had become more than obvious this was a setup.
“Don’t worry about it,” Wes retorted.
“Whatever,” Tim shook his head in defeat, "I’ll give her a ride.”
“You don’t have to,” I blurted, my entire body burning with annoyance. “I’m sure I can call my parents…” I glanced at my watch, knowing they’d already be conked out for the night, “or my brother. I have my car here anyway and don’t really want to leave it behi—”
“I said I would,” Tim interrupted my rambling, gripping the back of his neck, and then glanced over his shoulder. “Just give me a minute to talk to Melanie. I’ll have her follow us and bring me back to shut down the bar.”
“Whelp. Now that’s all settled,” Wes cut in when the awkward tension suffocated us all. “Conley, it was great seeing you.” He pulled me in for a reassuring hug and spoke low in my ear. “Hang in there, girl. He’ll come around.”
I nodded, wondering what he knew that I didn’t. When he released me, the others swarmed me with hugs, goodbyes, and promises to see each other soon, leaving Tim and me to stare uncomfortably at each other.
“I can wait…you know, until you’re done closing up,” I offered in a hushed tone, shoving my hands in my back pockets, wanting to end the strained silence passing between us. I didn’t want to be any more of an inconvenience to him, even if hanging around without the others would be unbearable.