Page 46 of Worth the Chase

I shook my head. “A little, yeah. I wasn’t expecting something so fancy.”

“It sounds like he wants to do something nice for you. I think it’s sweet.”

I sucked in a steadying breath before agreeing, “It is sweet. I just don’t want to feel out of place or awkward. I’m already nervous enough.”

She shook her head quickly. “You won’t be. It’s not like that there. It’s really great food, but it’s still Sugar Mountain. I promise. Plus, you know the family who owns the place.” A little giggle came out as she threw her arm around me and gave me a squeeze.

It all made me feel marginally better.

“But, hey, before you go out with him, I want to tell you something.” She pinned me with a serious look as a large plume of smoke danced out from the smoker, distracting her attention.

Addi glanced at Butch before she closed her eyes and inhaled long and deep through her nose.

“Addison?” My heart was racing, and all the nerves she had just calmed came roaring back to life.

“Sorry. Had to make sure it wasn’t burning.” She waved her hand.

Who the heck could tell that everything was fine just by inhaling?

“You really are a meat whisperer,” I teased.

“There are worse things.” She grinned before glancing around to make sure no one was within listening distance. “Okay, so you know how Matthew was always at the saloon on the nights you worked?” She asked it like a question, even though we both knew the answer. Hell, everyone in town knew the answer to that.

“Yeah.”

“And he’d call Patrick to come pick him up toward the end of the night?”

“Mmhmm,” I mumbled as my anxiety multiplied. I wasn’t sure what she was getting at or exactly where this conversation was headed.

“Did you know that Matthew would make Patrick wait in the parking lot until you got to your car and drove off?”

My head reared back like it had been pushed. “Wait. Really?”

How had I never seen that? I considered myself a safety-conscious person, and the fact that I’d never even noticed Patrick’s truck in the lot actually scared me a little.

“Yeah. I just found out about that the other day,” she said. “Matthew would refuse to leave before you did. He was worried about you. And when you got hired here, he grilled me.”

“He grilled you about what?” I shook my head, all of the information she’d just given me still rolling around in my mind, not processing fully.

“He wanted to know how it all worked. What my plan was. Would you be closing up alone or working late at night by yourself? What my safety protocols were.” I could hear the shock in her voice, the same way I was currently feeling it in my body.

“Safety protocols?” I repeated. I’d never even heard of such a thing. “What did you tell him?”

Addi grinned. “I told him that it wasn’t like the saloon. You’d never be here alone, and the bar wouldn’t be open unless the restaurant was. No one would ever close up by themselves.”

“What did he say to all that?”

“He was so relieved,” she said, her eyes widening for only a moment. “And then it hit me. He hasn’t been in here drinking. But he drank every single night when you were at the saloon.”

“He did.” I said the words slowly as I tried to put together whatever she was trying to say without coming right out and saying it.

She blew out a quick breath. “I’m not sure Matthew has a drinking problem, Bella. I think he was just doing it because it’s where you were, and he didn’t know how to be around you without pretending like he was there to drink.”

“He drinks around the family though, doesn’t he?” I had no idea why I even asked that question.

She nodded. “Yeah, he does, but I’m not even sure he finishes a whole beer before he grabs another one just because it’s cold.”

That actually made me laugh. Mostly because warm beer was foul and no one should drink it.

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