Breaking Through to Sue (4th in Breaking Series)

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

"I'm all alone, there's no one here beside me. All my friends have gone...."

"You want another drink?" the bartender asked as he interrupted Ryder's sad, mournful singing.

Ryder nodded and held up his beer glass. The bartender refilled it and then went back to cleaning cups, "We're pretty empty tonight and I'm not real busy. You want to talk about whatever it is that's got you so down in the dumps. As I recall you're damn near the happiest man I've ever met."

"Not tonight," Ryder mumbled as he crossed his arms on the bar and laid his head down on top of them, "I messed up, I guess. I still don't know what I did wrong. All I did was beat the crap out of a man that said mean lies about my woman. How was that wrong?"

"There's your problem right there... A woman!" the bartender assured him, "You're better of without one. Just have some fun with the working girls and forget about the rest."

"But I love her," Ryder replied sadly. He was methodically hitting his head against the wooden bar when he heard someone sit down on the stool beside him. He peeked out of the corner of his eyes and saw Kaitlyn watching him with concern.

"Are you okay?"

Ryder lifted his head and took a big swallow of beer before shaking his head, "Nope. How are you, ex-future wife?"

Kaitlyn sighed and took his beer away from him. She downed a big swig and shrugged, "I'm restless. It's a slow night. We don't have very many customers at nearly midnight on a Sunday."

She offered Ryder his drink back but he shook his head, "You keep it. It ain't workin',"

Kaitlyn saw that Ryder's legs were bouncing as he began to rub his palms methodically on his legs. He was chewing on the inside of his lip and staring down at the bar top, "What's the matter, hun?" she asked gently.

"Susie's mad at me," he replied, sounding as if his entire world had ended.

"What did you do?"

"Beat up Garth. He caused a scene at church, made Susie cry and then called her a whore and I beat the holy hell right out of him. Now she's mad."

"I heard about a fight at the church," Kaitlyn replied.

"That was me," Ryder said forcing a smile that didn't take away any of the sadness on his face.

"Did you beat him up inside the church?"

Ryder shook his head, "No. She told me I couldn't do it inside, so I took him outside. I ain't got a clue why she's so darn upset."

"I ate lunch with Susie while you were gone after Sheriff Atkinson ran you off. You should go to her and figure out why she's so upset. If I had to guess I'd say she's making excuses to put distance between you and her because she feels like she's not good enough for you and doesn't want to get hurt."

Ryder's eyes widened, "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"

"You shouldn't call her ridiculous. It won't help her mood," Kaitlyn warned, "Go to her. Tell her how much you care about her and let her know that you will work harder in the future to not use your fists to prove your point."

"You think it'll work?" he asked.

"Do you love her?" Kaitlyn replied.

Ryder nodded enthusiastically, "With all my heart," he vowed as crossed his heart.