“How brief?”
And that’d be best not said. “Let’s go say hi.”
We wound our way through the tables, heading toward the bar.
“Oh my God,” I said, with all necessary exaggeration. “They’ll let anyone work here. This is fantastic, I’m asking for a job.”
“Yes-s-s.” Val grinned. “Do it. Then we can be bartending besties.”
“Christ,” mumbled the grumpy bear behind me.
“Has he been that happy all day?” asked Val.
I shrugged. “Pretty much. Thought you were going to come upstairs and help?”
She got busy filling glasses with ice and lime again, pouring in nips of vodka before finishing them off with soda water. “I got talking to Lydia and found out that her fiancé, Vaughan, has gigs in Seattle and Portland for the next week that he can’t cancel. He was just waiting on Joe to come take over the bar so he could hit the road.”
“So you volunteered.”
“Yep. But I have to head back tomorrow.” She raised a brow at Joe, though she kept talking to me. “I take it you’re going to insist on helping him with the bartending duties as well?”
“Yes, I am.”
A heavy sigh. “You’re seriously going to run yourself ragged looking after this jerk that just dumped you?”
“Okay. When the jerk is standing right next to me, probably not the time to have this conversation, Val.” I got my ass behind the bar. Not checking out whatever look was on Joe’s face, because I didn’t want to know. “But Joe and I are friends. Friends help friends.”
“Mmhmm.” Both brows high this time, Valerie remained skeptical. “Vaughan’s away for a week, this Eric dude is MIA, and your friend not only needs to be here every night, but he’s apparently determined to carpenter all day, every day too. Let’s not even go near the topic of this ex-girlfriend coming back to town.”
Joe said nothing. A whole lot of it.
“I can handle it.” And the less I said about Star the better.
“You also have your own business to see to,” said Val.
“I can delay taking on new jobs for a while.”
“Three jobs. Three.” She even held up three fingers just to emphasize her point. Either that, or to help me out with the counting. Sweet of her. “While still paying for that hotel room.”
“His hand is broken.” I pointed at Joe, then gestured to the room at large. “Half of their staff are missing.”
Joe opened his mouth to speak, but Val got there first.
“And these are your problems how?” Hands on hips, Val stared me down.
“Because if I let him go on his merry way he’ll spend twice as long with a cast on. That’s if he doesn’t screw up his hand somehow permanently. It’s my problem because I decided it was and I need to respect that decision.”
“You’re stupid about him.” Val took to pointing at Joe too. Her bloodred fingernail looked downright dangerous. “Aren’t you?”
Head hanging low, Joe muttered obscenities.
“Val, stop,” I said, hands shaking with anger and other emotions I didn’t care to define. “You’re embarrassing me.”
“No, I’m staging an intervention. Your experience when it comes to relationships of this nature is somewhere between none and sort of fucked up. It makes me worry.” Taking a step closer, she lowered her voice. “Does he even appreciate you?”
“He does. Very much.” A muscle jumped in Joe’s jaw as he spoke. Oh dear, the tension coming from the man was not good. “But you can both get out from behind there. I’m here now, I’ve got it.”
“Please, you haven’t got shit. You look an even bigger mess than she does.” Val reached down for a bottle, popped off the top, and placed it on the bar in front of him. She did not smile. “Sit down, shut up, and drink your beer.”
Mouth open, Joe froze.
“Ouch. Told.” With her black tray at the ready, Rosie waited in the service area. The look of surprise contorting her face would have been hilarious if only the drama unfolding hadn’t included me. Three tables full of customers waited on the other side of the room. Well, mostly on the other side. Let’s just pretend they hadn’t heard. Given the way Lydia and Boyd were sneaking looks from the direction of the kitchen, I was probably well out of luck.
A moment later, the volume of the music in the room rose substantially. Thank you, baby Jesus.
“Your two vodka, lime, and sodas.” Val squeezed past me, placing the drinks on the tray.
“Thank you, ma’am.” Rosie smiled. “Looks like it’ll be a quiet night anyway. Vaughan got all of the fridges fully stocked and everything sorted downstairs before he left. You might as well sit and relax, Joe.”
A grunt. He eyed the beer as if it might be poison.
Beside me, Val’s shoulders rose and fell on a deep breath. “I think you’re doing the wrong thing.”
“Okay,” I said.
“And you.” She turned to Joe with a glint in her eye. “Let her do what she wants to do for you. If you screw up that hand so she has to stay here a minute longer than necessary, I will come back and hurt you.”
Saying nothing, Joe sat and started drinking his beer. Wise of him.
Val stomped off toward the ladies’ bathroom.
“She doesn’t share well.” I grabbed a beer for myself. Necessary after the last few minutes. “You should have seen what she did to this kid in middle school when he tried to use one of her scented gel pens. Total carnage.”
“She cares about you,” said Joe after a moment.
“Yeah.” I took a sip of beautiful cold beer. All the while, staring off at nothing.
“So do I.”
My gaze darted back to him, something squirming inside my chest.
“You’re determined to stay and help?” It wasn’t really a question, more of a statement.
“Yes.”
“All right,” he said. “You take my room, I’ll sleep on the couch. At least you won’t have to cover a hotel room.”
“Thanks. But no. I prefer having my own space.”
“Then I want to pay for your room. And for your time working with me.”
“Oh. No.” I drew closer, giving him an awkward smile. “Look, I’m not doing it for the money.”
“I know you’re not. But you’re still getting paid.” His tone left no room for maybe.
We both drank in silence for a moment, just listening to Solomon Burke singing “Cry to Me.” That man knew things about loneliness and pain, relationships and feelings. Maybe I should get all morose and listen to a bunch of sad songs. Probably an effective way of working through the clutter of emotions Joe inspired. Val was right, my knowledge in this area was crap. I could only go by feel, do what seemed right. And while Joe probably deserved a good ass kicking followed by abandonment, that wouldn’t help anyone in the end.
Love or like really did suck.
Joe cleared his throat. “I’m not used to needing someone … to needing help, I mean…”
I kept quiet.
“Sorry for being an asshole to you earlier and not warning you about Star staying with me.”