Page 128 of My Mistake To Make

‘Doug, this is your home, yours and hers. You can stay here as long as you want or need, and I love helping you out with her.’

I lean in to kiss her cheek.

‘Thank you. I guess I have bouncer duties to get to.’ I roll my eyes, and she laughs.

‘Give ‘em hell, baby.’

Walking into the bar, I can see why Zoe was worried. The place is packed out. She has a couple of staff on with her tonight, and Bree being here helps act as a deterrent for the locals who might be considering trouble, but the out-of-towners tend to have a little less respect for our town chief.

‘You’re here.’ Zoe beams at me from behind the bar as I approach.

‘You didn’t give me a whole lot of choice.’

I take a seat, and she places a bottle of beer in front of me, then carries on with her work.

I don’t want to be here. I want to be at home sitting on the back porch feeling sorry for myself about the fact that I’m back where I was a couple of months ago, broke, single, and grumpy as fuck. I have my kid, but I lost my girl, and I hate how that ache in my chest still feels.

‘Doug, hey, I was hoping to catch you.’ I turn to see Frank Garvin smiling at me, and I wonder what he wants. I don’t have the patience for chit-chat.

‘Hey, Frank, what’s up?’

‘Oh, well, I wanted to talk to you about the house that Jessie was renting from me.’

‘If it’s mess or debt, they’re hers to fix.’

‘No, no.’ He smiles, shaking his head. ‘She gave notice on her lease.’ She did? ‘And she suggested you might want to take it over.’

The fuck?

‘She did?’

‘Yeah, think it over. Let me know.’ He claps a hand on my shoulder and walks away, and I turn to Bree at the side of me.

‘Did you hear that?’

She grins and nods. ‘I did. Do it, Doug.’

I take a drink from my bottle and process what just happened. I just got offered a house, and I have Jessie to thank.

‘You can be happy, you know,’ Bree says as Zoe comes over to our section of the bar. ‘It’s going to be okay.’

‘I don’t know how to be happy right now. I feel like someone’s giving me something in one hand and taking from the other.’ I look up to meet Zoe’s gaze, knowing she understands loss and heartbreak better than anyone I know. In different ways, but she gets it. ‘I don’t know how to be happy if I can’t get her back.’

She reaches for one of my hands on the bar, and Bree takes the other.

‘It’s going to be okay, little brother.’

As Zoe looks behind me, then moves away to get on with her work, I notice the change in the music from the jukebox above the chatter of the bar. Bree lets go of my hand, and I recognize the song starting to play.

‘Fuck, no.’ I sigh and shake my head. There’s that take again, goddam universe. I place my hands on the bar, ready to push myself up and get the hell out of here, unable to hear this song right now, when a hand appears in front of me, palm up, asking for mine.

Turning my head, I feel like I can’t control my breathing as I look into the eyes I’ve been dreaming about for months.

‘Will you dance with me?’ she asks softly, and I look down at the hand she’s still offering, then back to her beautiful face. She’s chewing her bottom lip as if she’s nervous, and there’s a flush of pink in her cheeks, and I can see the rapid rise and fall of her chest as she waits.

‘This is our song,’ I say, turning to her fully now, and she smiles.

‘Why do you think I put it on?’

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