Page 39 of Undeniable

I couldn’t remember the last time I took off two entire days. There was an afternoon here or there, and depending on the occasion, I might take an entire day, but otherwise, I’d been working nonstop for nearly a decade.

Maybe there was something wrong with me because the call from my mom, hearing the longing and frustration in her voice that I wasn’t going to be there, made me spring to action. Her attitude and heartache weren’t due to just one missed festival. It had built up over years of me missing out on nearly everything.

I contemplated it the entire drive and decided that I had lost my mind when we pulled up to Murphy’s. It was the only logical reason why I was there.

It was a Wednesday evening, so the crowd in the bar was mainly people grabbing a drink after work and blowing off steam after a long day.

“Hey, man…” Reed greeted hesitantly from his position behind the bar. It was unusual to see him behind the bar since he had a slightly more hands-off role in the business, instead focusing on running his gym while Josh did most of the work at Murphy’s. But I knew it was even weirder for him to see me in there at all.

I was happy to see my friend—it felt like it’d been ages since we’d caught up in person between him moving, his businesses, and my steering clear of the bar—but he wasn’t the person I was looking for.

One of the younger bartenders they recently hired stepped into view from the other side of the bar, reshelving a bottle of gin while methodically shaking the shaker in his hand.

“She’s not here.” Reed didn’t even look up from the tablet in his hands when he spoke.

I didn’t respond, instead glaring at the side of his face as I slid into a seat. Like he could feel my scowl, he chuckled.

“She doesn’t work tonight. Volleyball game.”

I roll my eyes at his presumptiveness. “You know what they say when you assume…”

He laughed and finally turned around, tossing the tablet on the bar in front of me. “It’s not an assumption if I know I’m right, and I can’t be an ass if I’m correct.”

I shook my head. “Cocky much?”

He shrugged and greeted a small group that entered to my left. He turned back to me. “Only when I can back it up.”

“What are you doing?” I asked, pointing to the tablet and trying desperately to change the subject. She was the reason I was there, but he didn’t need to know that. It would only prompt more questions, and I wasn’t in a position to answer them.

“Inventory. What areyoudoing?”

I knew I made a mistake walking in there. I needed new, less nosy friends.

“Came in for a drink.”

He scoffed and straightened to his full height, crossing his arms over his chest. “You got it that bad, huh?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

He studied me for a moment, then waved me off. “Why the hell are you in here at five thirty on a Wednesday? Don’t you usually work until at least seven?”

I sighed and asked for bourbon. He poured the drink but still looked at me expectantly. I tossed the liquor back and let the warmth settle me before I told him anything. It was no use trying to keep secrets from any of them. As I said, they were nosy.

“My car was stolen this morning,” I started, and Reed gave me the exact look I was expecting.

“What the fuck?”

“Yeah,” I continued. “I talked to the cop on my way here, but they still haven’t seen or heard anything. I had to order a car to take me to work and then to bring me here, but that’s not why I’m not working late tonight.”

I knew what Reed’s response would be once I explained why I was at the bar, and I really didn’t want to hear it.

“My mom called me today. My hometown does an end-of-summer festival every year around this time. It’s a fundraiser for the high school, and my mom is one of the main coordinators. And I could tell she was upset about me not going. So I decided to go and surprise her. The only thing is, I don’t have a car, and I can’t use a rideshare app for a nearly two-hour drive…”

To his credit, it didn’t take long for him to click the pieces into place. And when he did, a conspiratorial smile curled up his lips.

“And let me guess, you came here in hopes of asking a curvy, gorgeous redhead if she wouldn’t mind driving with you? Because this sounds like the exact type of thing Ivy would make sure she went back for.”

All I could do was nod once and hope he didn’t press. His gaze was contemplative, but thankfully, he just poured me another drink instead of saying what I figured was likely on his mind.

---