The Bartender's Guide To The Galaxy

23 - Deux Reunions

I talked Cabe out of driving all night. He'd been exaggerating anyway. He was at the cabin, which added a couple of hours to his drive. He slept until seven then got on the road, keeping me entertained with messages like Two hundred miles to salvation and Passed a mattress truck. Thought of you.

By the time he arrived on my doorstep, I wanted to tackle him on my pillow top, even with his helmet hair. He looked exhausted as he dropped onto my couch, but he still needed to tell me his side of the story. I deserved that much.

"You must be beat. I'll get you some water. How often do you stop when you're biking this far?"

"How often did I message you?"

"Three times."

"Um, that many."

I delivered his water as he was running his fingers through his hair. The dark circles under his eyes told me he hadn't been sleeping well. When I sat beside him, he looked at me like a lost boy.

"I'm sorry, June. I know you didn't ask for all of this. You have plans, and I want to see that nothing gets in the way of that."

"How much did you know about the bar? Did you know my mom was planning to sell it?" I asked the question because it needed to be asked, not because I wanted to know the answer.

"The timing was shit. But we didn't know about your mom's intentions. It was a property that had been on my dad's radar for years. So, when Derek's restaurant popped up, Dad sent me down here with a dual purpose."

"So, you probably saw an opportunity when my mom dropped the bar in my lap."

"No. By then I was . . . I was invested in you. I told Dad to offer the kind of advice he would give to family."

"Yet, we still went to Miami. And you still arranged for Jeffrey to give me his spiel about finding my dad."

His eyes glistened, like he was preparing to cry. But I'd learned that his eyes did all sorts of magical things. "If you had chosen anywhere else, I wouldn't have tried to talk you out of it. I was just hoping things wouldn't go sideways at that point. When you told me you'd seen the email, I thought you would never believe I wasn't trying to coerce you."

"Yeah, that was a blow I wasn't prepared for."

He reached for my hand, and I let him have it. "Hurting you was the last thing I wanted to do. I was so angry at Jeffrey. At my dad. But mostly, at myself. Regardless of whether you forgive me, I still blew it."

"I don't think that's completely true."

"I'm an idiot for letting it play out. I didn't think I would meet a woman I felt so connected to after . . ." He pursed his lips, and I gave his hand a squeeze.

"After Nikki?"

His forehead creased, then realization took over and he shook his head. "My dad told you about her. For fuck's sake. Did he give you my entire life story?"

"No. He was making a point. He said you'd been pulling away from the company for a while. That you weren't happy. I read between the lines and deduced that it had negatively impacted your relationship with Nikki."

"I don't completely blame company bullshit for the break-up. Meeting you has made me realize I was using the company as a scapegoat. The break-up needed to happen, but I didn't want to admit it."

"Why has meeting me made you realize that?"

"You don't want to know. Can we pretend I never said that?" He stared at his boots, but I was no fool. I knew why he didn't want to talk about it. And, frankly, neither did I.