Page 32 of Drawn to You

I’ve been talking to Marti since the bar cleared out around eleven p.m. She’s a married mom of two adult kids, so I don’t have to worry she’ll think I’m trying to pick her up.

“Last one, Fred. And I’m not letting you walk out of here and get into a car, just so you know.”

I give her a foolish grin, wondering what the hell I was so wound about when I got here. “My name’s not really Fred. Shh.”

“You don’t say.”

I tip back the shot glass and set it on the wood bar top. “You know your shit, Marti. Ain’t nobody gettin’ a lie by you, is they?”

“Not a chance.” She uses a white towel to dry a tall glass. “So you like this woman, but you also don’t like her, right?”

I cringe as I consider the question. “She drives me crazy like...eighty-seven point forty-two percent of the time. But the other fifty percent...” I put my hands out in front of me, trying to demonstrate...something. “I just want to push her onto the bed and...you know what I’m sayin’?”

“Yep.”

She puts the glass back on a shelf and takes another one from the sink of soapy water.

“Is my ass still on the barstool?” I ask.

“For the moment.”

Marti pours a glass of water from a pitcher and sets it in front of me. “Drink it, Fred.”

I look at the glass. “I’m not ready.”

“Not ready for what? That awful feeling when youdon’tpass out and hit your head on something?”

“She’s gonna be so mad at me.”

Marti laughs. “Who, Legs? Judging by the amount of whiskey you just put away, I’m guessing she already knows drinking is an issue for you.”

Reluctantly, I pick up the glass and take a drink of the icy water.

I made Josie think we were going out together and then ditched her. She’s going to be furious at me, and I understand why. She started to trust me and got burned.

“Tell me you didn’t just break a sobriety streak,” Marti says. “I would’ve tried to talk you out of that if I’d known.”

I laugh and say, “No. I ditched Nosy.”

“You ditched her? Why? It sounds like you really like her.”

I drink more of the water, reality starting to seep back in.

“That’s just it, Marti. It’sit. I’m no good.”

She puts another glass away. “Why do you think that?”

“Let’s see...” I put a finger out. “One, I’m cold. And two...I’m an asshole.” I look at my fingers, getting confused. Might as well just put all ten fingers up. “Too possessive. But that’s number three, not two.”

Marti nods. “So a past girlfriend told you these things and now you think you’re no good.”

“She was right, though.” I rest my elbow on the bar, putting my forehead in my palm. “I get jealous. I even got jealous when I heard Lucas likes Nosy.”

“And Nosy is Legs, right?”

“Yep.”

“Here’s my advice. Stop calling her Nosy, for Christ’s sake. Man up and tell her how you feel.”

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