Page 120 of Forgotten Pieces

He stares at his cup, never making eye contact with me as he begins to speak. “I know you aren’t ready for this. I know last night was a means to an end for you.” I go to speak but he cuts me off. “But I’ll be here Tacoma… waiting for you.” He finally looks up and meets my eyes, my tears unable to stay in place. “I love you more than anything. But I need you to love me back. You know where to find me.”

With that, he stands and walks over to me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head before he turns and walks out my front door.

I collapse to the floor.

My heart more broken than it ever was before.

* * *

“You’re an idiot,” Charlie says to me as she pours drinks for customers.

I stop wiping down the bottles on the well rack as I turn to look at her. “What was I supposed to do? He just shows up here, professes his love, tells me I’m everything to him. Am I just supposed to drop my whole life here and run into his arms and forgive him?”

Charlie sets the drinks down in front of the regulars then turns to me. “More or less.”

I shake my head at her. “You need me here.”

She laughs. “No. I want you here because you’re the best damn bartender I’ve ever hired. But I don’t need you. I can find another bartender. But you.” She sighs as she looks at me with a pang of regret in her eyes. “You’re not going to find another love of your life.”

I see a customer wave me down at the end of the bar. I think about what she said as I take the customer’s order and make drinks. As I walk back over to Charlie, I can’t help but wonder if she’s talking from experience.

I pick up our conversation where we left off. “I never said Ryder was the love of my life.”

“You didn’t need to.”

I look up at her and scowl. “How would you know? You never even met him. You never saw us together.”

“Mmm. But I hear the way you talk about him.” She sighs and looks down the bar before turning back to me. “Don’t lose your second chance with him.”

“It will be my third,” I say rudely, cutting her off.

“I’m counting this as your second chance.” She looks off toward the back wall and quietly adds, “Some days I wish I had one.”

In the year that I’ve been here this is the first time I’ve heard Charlie open up about anything personal. “Same thing happen to you?”

She looks back at me and shrugs. “Kinda. More like we are better off as friends than lovers.”

“Are you still friends?” I ask, my curiosity piqued. She nods. “Do I know him?”

She glances back toward the back wall where a handful of signed band posters from bands that played here hang. “He’s played here with his band a few times.”

I look at her waiting for her to tell me more.

“Saints and Sinners,” she finally answers, looking down at the same time.

I know Charlie well. I know her mannerisms and her personality and this is the opposite of every way she has acted. I also am ninety-nine percent positive I know who she is talking about. Whenever Saints and Sinners is here, she is very close with the lead singer. I can tell he is a player, girls circulate around him. I always just thought she was one of his hookups. I guess I was wrong. “Jackson?” I ask.

She nods. “Like I said, friends. He isn’t boyfriend material. Nor second chance material. But enough about me,” she says. The sadness lingers over her like a dark cloud dissipating. “Don’t lose your chance with Ryder. He came here for one reason, to let you know he would wait for you no matter how long it took.” She grabs my hand and squeezes. “You said you and Ryder were always hit or miss. Stop letting it be a miss,” she pleads. “Don’t lose this second chance. There are enough of us who have. Go to him, Tacoma. Be with him.”

She walks away and I’m left with more thoughts in my head than I wanted.

Chapter Forty-Two

Ryder

I stare out into the woods behind my house as I sip on a glass of whiskey. It’s so quiet here. Peaceful. Yet I have trouble finding peace.

It’s been three weeks since I sought out Tacoma in New Orleans.

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