AT THE BAR WAS WHERE IT ALL STARTED.
Mia strides behind the counter wiping it with a rag. Her daily chore.
She wiped vigorously hoping to one day quit this job that wasn't worth the pay.
Since she had begun working at LARRY'S BAR she had only gotten a raise once. He was quite the stingy man.
She had been working at LARRY'S for the past four years. Being alone as a single mother wasn't easy.
Scratch that, forced single mother.
The child she had been taking care of was her nephew. After her sister had gotten married, she travelled with her husband to Panama on a business trip and informed her they would be back in a week, but it had been a month.
Mia was barely twenty-five. The last thing she needed was caring for herself and a child while doing a menial job.
She glanced at the clock on the wall that seemed like it would fall apart any time soon, her shift was almost over.
Larry's bar hardly had customers by night and she wondered why he hadn't closed down already.
But there was more to Mia than this. She could have all the money she ever wanted but had left her family after the death of her father, EDWARD MARTINEZ. She had decided to be independent and live on her own.
Edward Martinez was one of the richest men known in all of Mexico, and very popular for his "WEALTHY BUSINESS" but nobody knew the secret of how he earned his money, not even his WIFE ROZELLE MARTINEZ.
Unfortunately, her father hadn't written a will and now the whole family fought for who would take over the business.
Mia didn't want to get involved in the drama so she moved out of the house and left her brothers and sisters to fight among themselves not to add that she was the last child, so she barely had a chance of taking over the business.
Now with her older sister in Panama, everything seemed to be working in the favour of her eldest brother Andrew.
Mia has dated a few guys in the past who just wanted to use her to get to her father's properties.
Her siblings had refused to come to a mutual agreement of sharing the property, everyone was greedy and wanted everything for themselves.
Valerie her sister and the first child refused to back down. She wanted the whole property to herself although she was married to a wealthy man.
Andrew had tried to reason with Valerie since he was engaged and wanted a secure business before marriage and having a family.
On the other hand, she has three step siblings. Her father had married two wives her mother being the first and JULIA MARTINEZ being the second. Her step siblings NEIL, JEFFERY AND CATHERINE also wanted their hands on the property.
In order of birth, the eldest was Valerie, Neil, Andrew, and Jeffrey and she and Catherine were the same age.
Catherine had refused to let her share of the property slip from her hands. Since she was eighteen, Catherine had vowed to never marry or give birth.
Jeffrey and Neil only desired to be at the top. Their mother was with her father in the car and they had both died in the accident.
The issues at hand only stressed her mother Rozelle who wondered why her husband hadn't left a will knowing the number of children he had.
Surprisingly the two women were on good terms with each other despite being married to the same man.
•••
Mia's shift just ended and she rounded up her tasks. As she was about to lock the bar and leave for the night, she noticed a man sleeping on one of the chairs.
He had his head leaned back and seemed to be in a deep sleep. A sight she was used to as the man seemed to have been repeating this routine for some weeks now.
Realizing this she became scared, she was one of the children of the 'ever wealthy Martinez clan' and her brother Jeffery was shot some weeks ago though he survived.
Her father's property was not only targeted by her siblings but also by others who weren't even related to them.
The whole Veracruz knew about the dispute of the Martinez children and had one motive, 'get rid of the children, steal the property'.
The other day her sister Catherine was in an accident on her way back from the school she taught, and her sister Valerie had almost been kidnapped some months back.
And the only words that resided in her head were that she was next.
It seemed someone was after her and her siblings, and who knows it may be the same people who killed her father.
She glanced sceptically at the man who had been sleeping here for the past two weeks.
She slowly walked up to him, her heart in her throat. What if he jumped at her?
He was wearing what seemed to be a cowboy hat.
She looked under his hat to find a handsome man deep in sleep.
She took a step back examining his form he seemed young probably in his late 20s.
She gave him a quick tap on the shoulder but he didn't budge.
She repeated the action and he jumped a bit before waking up.
He looked around him before looking up to find Mia staring at him with curious eyes.
"We've closed sir" she said with a little quiver in her voice.
She had never seen a man this gorgeous.
"Oh..." he looked around seeming confused.
"Apologies" he murmured rising to his feet and grabbing his jacket from the arm of the chair, quickly putting it on and he turned to leave but Mia grabbed him by the arm.
"Sorry, but may I ask you a question?" she asked swallowing hard, wondering if she should be scared of this strangely handsome gentleman.
He gave her a long hard glare before turning around.
"Ask" he replied. His voice husky probably from all the beer he had been drinking but he didn't appear drunk in the slightest.
"I noticed you stay here late all night" she stated her voice a bit shaky.
"Ah, I'm sorry I shouldn't have overstayed my time" he said with a brief nod and turned to leave.
"Why?" She asked meeting his eyes and he stared at the woman before him who seemed ready for an interrogation.
"Personal issues" he tipped his hat at her but all Mia could focus on was his deep voice reverberating in her spine.
She hesitated before she spoke,
"I'm listening, I've got all night" She wanted to know him and what had him looking so depressed and falling asleep in a bar everyday.
He stared at her she seemed weird but oddly sincere. He slowly sat down.
"This is weird" he remarked before he began.
"Well the woman I loved broke my heart" he said watching her expression morph into a sad one.
"We had a lot of good times together, hell I thought she loved me as well" he continued tears welling up in his eyes.
Shit! He didn't want to cry in front of a stranger
Janice had done him bad.
"Well the thing is I don't really have money, so I worked extra time at my job to get enough cash to propose to her"
"That's so sweet" Mia said interested in his narration.
"Well, she didn't think so. She said I wasn't giving her enough attention and suspected I was seeing someone else"
"One day, when I had saved up enough money, I finally proposed to her but she turned me down saying I didn't care for her and she didn't want to live with a poor man for the rest of her life."
"I could understand that, but what hurt was her shoving her hand in my face and telling me she was engaged to another. Someone who could actually take care of her. That made me heartbroken and since then, I've come to this bar every night hoping to drink myself to a stupor and probably numb the pain" he explained not meeting Mia's eyes blinking back the tears that threatened to fall.
"Wow...
"I apologise but that is just plain out cruel" Mia frowned staring at the stranger in pity. She couldn't relate but she could understand.
Her hands trembled as they slowly moved then to touch his, patting it soothingly.
"You'll be fine, time heals everything" she assured and he smiled.
"Thanks for listening, I've never told this to anyone and I just blurted out to a stranger" he chuckled and she laughed.
"Well the world works in strange ways" she said and he nodded standing up to leave.
"Where are my manners, I am Angelo" he extended his hand.
"Mia" she replied smiling as she accepted his hand.
"I believe I have kept you longer than your stay, I'll get going" he said turning to leave and she followed after him locking the bar for the night.
She turned to the back of the building walking over to the car.
She started the engine sighing as she remembered she would be returning to her boring house.
The engine roared, she set the gear and drove into the cold dark streets.
She turned around passing the front of the bar, she opened the roof of her car her hair flowing in the wind.
She wants a teenager anymore but she knew how to have fun. She slowed down when she noticed Angelo walking down the street.
Her headlamp shone on him and she pressed her horn.
Angelo turned around hearing the sound and shielded his eyes from the blinding lights if the car's headlamp and walked closer to it.
"Hop in, I'll drop you home " Mia offered.
"Don't worry, my house isn't far but thanks for the offer" he said about to walk away.
"I don't mind, please I insist" she said and he smiled before entering the passenger's seat.
"Thanks" he muttered and she restarted the engine.
There was an awkward silence between them. Both of them not knowing what to say.
"Why the hat?" She asked
"Ah, nothing really…" he paused
"She said I look handsome in them" he replied looking through the window at the cold quite streets.
She wasn't wrong, Mia thought.
"Well since I don't want anything reminding me of her" he sighed removing the hat and he held it examining it.
She stared at his silky black hair, some of it falling over his forehead and she could only think how foolish his ex was leaving such a sweet and handsome man.
"Right here" he pointed as they arrived at a modern looking bungalow. It didn't look like a poor man's house.
"Nice house, is it yours?" She asked.
"Yes, since she left me, I sold the ring and invested the money. Now I don't have to work my butt off" he narrated.
"That's a very wise choice" she beamed at him.
"Yea, thanks for the ride and being so nice, I really appreciate it" he smiled at her as he came down from the car.
She waiter until he reached the door of the house before driving off.
In no time, she arrived at her house, parked her car and opened the front door.
She turned in the light walking over to the fridge.
Other than working the counter, she was one hell of a Baker. She pulled out half of the cream pie she had made from banana and taffy.
Throwing it in the microwave, she popped a can of cola open. The microwave beeped and she grabbed her pie and cola, sitting on the couch she grabbed the remote and scrolled through the channels.
A.N
Thank you guys for trying this story!
I'll continue this based on your feedback!
Let me know what you think so far!