Page 34 of Both Sides Now

Fuck safety.

The idea of her sitting alone in a bar, drowning her sorrows, hurts my heart. The fact that she called me to join her?

Let’s just say I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Chapter

Six

CALLISTA

"Would you like another, miss?"

I glance up from my phone and nod at the bartender who holds a bottle of whiskey in his hand. I might as well get drunk. Good and stinking drunk.

That way, I can feign amnesia about the blatant pleas I sent to Keegan, begging him to join me, all while drinking enough to erase my mental image of him shagging some model type.

Good plan.

"I'm shocked," the bartender states, resting his hands against the bar. “How does a pretty woman such as yourself not have a date tonight?”

Thanks for the extra blow to my ego, buddy.

"I did.” My reply is simple and to the point, my gaze focused on the bottles lining the shelves behind my nosy barkeep.

He snorts out a laugh. “Ended already? That good, huh?"

I offer a nod, grateful when a customer interrupts our chat. This whiskey wielding stranger, while well-intentioned, doesn't need the details ofmy evening.

Hell, I’m trying to forget them. Hence, my ass perched on a barstool in this darkened pub.

My date—if you can call it that—was dead in the water from the start. The man was lovely in all aspects. Kind, accommodating and handsome.

Instead of listening to his small talk during dinner, I spent the minutes mentally comparing him to Charlie.

No, that isn’t true, either.

I compared him to Keegan.

Poor bloke didn’t stand a chance.

The irony is that Charlie and Keegan are opposites in every sense of the word. Charlie was light—physically and emotionally—with a dry wit and calming manner. Keegan is dark, arrogant, and a bit on the brooding side.

But both men stir something inside me.

Sadly, my date did not.

We survived dinner, but immediately afterward, we both proclaimed to have this laundry list of chores that needed to be completed right at that very moment. Seems he was equally underwhelmed with our meeting.

So, I went home, but as I watched Domino roam the backyard, I realized I wasn’t ready to face my empty house again. Not yet. I needed some padding between me and the loneliness. Liquid padding.

Now, here I sit in the king of all dive bars, trying to ignore the local patrons' lewd stares and sucking down whiskey that I know I'll regret tomorrow.

Isn't life grand?

"This seat taken?"

My head flies up, a smile splitting my face.

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