Page 135 of Waiting Game

“No.” My laughter is bitter this time. “He left those for when he died.” I can’t stop myself from tipping my head forward and resting it on his chest. “Those two were terrifying enough. He owed forty-two grand to the people who deliver our beer every day.”

He whistles. “That’s why you sold her out?”

I recoil but face the bullet. “Yes. I-I knew things were bad because I’d started using my own cash to pay for each delivery.”

“That’s fucked up. Especially as it wasn’t your business then.”

“It was though. It’s a family business.”

He grunts, so I know he disagrees.

“It’s not like I needed the cash,” I argue. “Uncle Chuck handled my rent for me.”

That has him humming. “If you say so, babe.”

“Ido. But that week, they informed us that it wasn’t enough to pay for the deliveries. They wanted some of the debt to be covered too.”

“Makes sense. They’re not a bank.”

“No, and I got it. That’s why…” I swallow. “I hate that I did what I did.”

“Still did it though.”

I bite my lip at his flat response. “Yeah.”

“Would you do it again if you had a do-over?”

Here’s my chance to make everything right but I don’t sell either of us short by taking the easy way out.

“T-This bar was Chuck’s everything. I noticed him watching Gracie leave, didn’t think anything of it because he was getting himself a beer, but I-I saw his expression as he stared at the guy she was with.

“When I tell you that I know nothing about hockey, I mean it. Seriously, I don’t really know who Gretzy is and I got his signed jersey?—”

Cole jerks, making me jump, then screeches, “IT’S GRETZKY, MIA! Jesus H. Christ! Greh-tzz-kee.”

My nose crinkles but I repeat the surname until he’s satisfied—so, nine times.

Because that’s such a Cole move in the middle of a massive confession, I have to huff out another chuckle.

To be honest, I’m surprised he hasn’t asked to see the jersey.

“I went into the back office later that night, and he’s staring at this pile of bills on his desk.

“I was bringing him a sandwich and I asked him if everything was okay and he picked up the bills and handed them to me.

“I still remember that feeling of my heart sinking. Like, I knew that things were bad, but I didn’t realize we were on the brink of losing everything. And my god, that was the tip of the iceberg.” I lock eyes with him. “The bar’s seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars in debt, Cole.”

His brows lift. “You’re shitting me?!”

“No. I wish I were. I thought that forty-two Gs was horrific. His face when I saw those bills…” I shake my head. “He wasbright red and breathing heavy. I thought he was going to have a heart attack. But he was facing facts—no booze, no bar. And no bar equaled no Chuck.

“I didn’t realize until later that no other distribution company would touch him because he already owed a handful of others a bunch too.”

He winces. “I’m sorry you were in that position.”

“God, so am I. But it doesn’t make it right. Doesn’t make things better with Gracie. The bitch of it is?—”

“She’d have helped you if she knew.”

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