Page 8 of Accidental Abduction

“Probably,” I mumbled. They were still together after thirty-five years, so clearly, they’d done something right.

“You need to figure out what you want out of life beyond the four walls of that building. There was a reason that Grandpa was divorced, and Grandma lived on the other side of the country. Owning a bar can be stressful, and if you let it, it’ll take over your life.”

Clearly, it already had.

“But if you have a partner there that keeps you grounded, someone who pulls you back when you get too deep, then you can live the life you want. You’ve done a good job of getting the business where it needed to be when your dad retired. He was tired. And while I know he used me as an excuse, he wanted to travel more and spend time out in the garage building things.”

“I knew about the separation,” I confessed, remembering how hard things were between them before I left for college.

“You didn’t know everything, Hudson. Your dad was the one who moved out. He was afraid that his lifestyle wasn’t fair to me because with my schedule opposite of his, we never saw each other. He told me he wanted to sell the bar, and I tried to talk him out of it, knowing he loved that place and wanted to pass it down to you.”

I’d always thought it was the other way around.

“And how did you change things? I thought you two were going to get divorced.”

“A grand gesture,” she said simply, a smile in her voice. “I showed up at the bar one night, joined him behind the bar and told him I was going to move to a different shift. If our schedules conflicting was what he was worried about, I solved the problem. You two were old enough to get yourselves off to school and didn’t need me around after, so I started working night shifts a few days a week so we could both be home during the day.”

“I don’t know…” I wasn’t sure that solution would work for Viv and me, but maybe I could hire another bartender and do more of my work during the day while she was at work. If I made more of an effort to let others step in and help at the bar instead of doing everything myself, maybe that’d relieve some of the stress.

“Just think about it. Start small. Maybe making a small gesture will help things along.”

“Maybe…” At this point, it wouldn’t hurt for me to make a few changes and see where things went.

“I’ve got faith in you, and you need to have some in yourself too. Just jump, and if you two are meant to work things out, she’ll catch you. Everything will work out how it’s meant to.”

Hudson

Viv had said shewanted a grand gesture. She said she wanted someone exciting and adventurous who’d help bring her fantasies to life. A few years ago, Iwasher fantasy. I could do this. Iwoulddo this.

Even if I wasn’t sure if I could do this.

“Fuck, Huds. Stop. You’re makingmenervous. Everything will be fine. I promise we have all the details for the party in place. People will have fun.Youwill enjoy yourself for once. I told you we had this all under control. Charley will be on for the first two hours before Gianna takes over for her, and I can stay longer if they need me. But we don’t needyou.”

Blowing out a breath, I braced my palms on the edge of the bar, gripping the surface until my knuckles turned white. I knew Hazel was just trying to reassure me, but she didn’t know why I was currently freaking out. If she did, she’d probably be telling me I was a dumbass, like Reid had.

Hazel and my girlfriend—or whatever she was now—had never gotten along, despite being slightly closer in age. I wasn’t sure if it was Viv’s loud distaste for her best friend, or if Hazel just genuinely didn’t like her. Viv had tried so hard when we started dating to include Hazel in things, even trying to set her up on blind dates with some of her friends, but their relationship had never blossomed beyond having me in common.

“You’ve taken nights off before,” Hazel said quietly, placing her hand in between my shoulder blades and rubbing until the tension drained away. She was right. I had taken nights off before andthings at the bar had been fine. I had a team that knew how to manage a crowd and just because there was a party didn’t mean they couldn’t handle it.

“I know. I know you guys have got this. I trust you, but tonight is different. If things go off the rails, I don’t know if I can fix this.”

Hazel leaned against the side of the bar, leaning over until I looked at her face. “Is the bar in trouble or something? You would’ve told me if something was wrong, right? I know you’re the one in charge, but Dad wanted us to be partners.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, dropping my head forward. “The bar is fine. I’ve just got other things on my mind right now.” Like trying to find my balls to pull off my plans for later. They’d been stashed in Viv’s purse for so long. I wasn’t sure if I still knew how to use them.

“Are things okay with you?” she asked, and I sighed loudly, closing my eyes. “You’re not sick or something, are you? I know you’ve been stressed lately, but if something else is going on, we can get coverage for you behind the bar.”

Fuck.Now my little sister was convinced I was dying.

No, Haz, I’m just being a dramatic little bitch because my girlfriend sort of dumped me, and I have one shot to get her to take me seriously. And if I fuck that up, I’m not sure what I’m going to do.

“I’m fine.”

“Is...” she hesitated, her hand squeezing my shoulder. “Is something going on with you and Viv? She’s normally up your ass when you’re here for holidays, and I haven’t seen her today. Actually, I haven’t seen her for a few days. She is coming, right?”

I have no fucking clue.

She’d given me the impression that she was going to come tonight, despite things being strained between us. But she hadn’t texted me since I left her apartment, and I was too afraid to text her before I’d decided to go through with this.

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