Page 10 of All Along The Watchtower

Returning the carafe to the warmer, I busied myself with wiping down glasses, trying not to watch their reunion. But itwas like a car wreck. I couldn’t look away as she slid out of the booth and straight into his arms. The easy way they fit together, the natural intimacy of their hello kiss. It was the kind of effortless connection I’d dreamed about having once upon a time, before reality had shattered those hopes. I scrubbed harder at an already spotless glass, pretending the burn behind my eyes was from the cleaning solution rather than anything so complicated asfeelings. I didn’t do feelings. Not when I could help it.

Not that I begrudged my friends a moment of their happiness. God knew they’d both been through enough to earn it, with everything Willa had endured with her family and Sawyer’s own rough start in life. But sometimes, watching them together reminded me of everything I’d lost. The easy affection, the way they looked at each other like nothing else in the world mattered. Because I’d long ago learned that, other than Pop, no one would ever put me first. Not my parents, who’d left me behind without a backward glance, and certainly not the one person I’d been foolish enough to trust with my heart.

When the pair of them started getting a little too cozy, I cleared my throat. “Okay, you two. I’ve got no problem with Willa setting up a mobile office here, but I draw the line at y’all making it a second bedroom.”

Willa eased back from him, pink-cheeked and fighting a smile. “Sorry, Bree. We’re celebrating.”

I arched a brow. “Oh? There an announcement you want to make?” My gaze slid down to her belly. Were they already jumping ahead on their happily ever after and starting a family?

“Notthatkind of announcement.” Her blush deepened. “Sawyer just got his contractor’s license. He’s all official.”

“No shit? Congratulations, Sawyer.” I offered him a fist bump. Finally, something good was happening to someone who deserved it. “You want a celebratory drink?”

“Let’s have a couple glasses of whatever y’all’s latest creation is.”

“You got it.” I headed back behind the bar to pull their pints, giving them a moment of privacy. Monty’s Island Time was the perfect thing for a celebration.

As I reached for the tap, the door opened again, and I glanced up out of habit, the way I’d done thousands of times over the years since taking over the Brewhouse.

A teenage girl stepped inside, shoving back the hood of her jacket and shaking raindrops from dirty blonde hair that curled in wisps around a sharp-featured face. Something about the way she moved caught my attention. A familiar swagger in her stride that I couldn’t quite place, like a half-remembered song. She had to be new to the island—I knew all the local kids, especially the ones who hung around during off-season. Being one of the few year-round businesses that welcomed teens, I made it my business to keep track.

I set a pint glass beneath the tap. “Can I help you, hon?”

The girl approached the bar and leaned forward on her elbows, her posture radiating a confidence that seemed both natural and practiced. “I hope so. I’m looking for somebody.”

Those green eyes. Where had I seen them before? They sparked something in my memory, making my stomach do an uncomfortable flip as my brain tried to connect dots it didn’t want to acknowledge.

“You meeting your party here?” I scanned the room, trying to match her with one of our current customers. But I knew everyone here, and she didn’t belong to them. At this time of year, I knew pretty much every face that walked through my door, and hers was new.

“No, not like that. I’m looking for my father. He lives here on the island. I thought, this being such a small place, that maybe someone here would know him.”

Red flags went up. A kid looking for her daddy who lived here? In January? Why didn’t she know exactly where to find him? And where was her mother? I recognized bravado in her posture and a knowing in her eyes that made her seem older at first glance, but up close, I’d put her at thirteen, maybe fourteen tops. I bet she easily fooled others, though. This kid had seen some shit. I recognized the look, having seen it in the mirror for most of my life. That particular blend of defiance and vulnerability brought back memories of the day Pop first took me in—memories I usually tried my best to keep buried.

“We can sure give it our best go. Who’s your daddy, hon?” Surely I could find the kid’s dad to make sure she wasn’t running around here on her own. It wasn’t safe for a kid by herself. Not even on an island this small. We had the legacy of Gwen Busby to remind us of that. Even after all these years, that wound in our community had never truly healed.

The girl straightened her spine, chin lifting in a gesture that sent a chill down my spine because I knew where I’d seen it before, even before she spoke. That particular tilt of the head, the set of those shoulders.

“Ford Donoghue.”

The room tilted sideways. My fingers went numb where they gripped the tap handle, and I was dimly aware that beer was overflowing the glass beneath it. The roaring in my ears drowned out everything but the echo of those two words, pounding through my head like waves against the shore.

Ford Donoghue.

Holy shit.

Ford had a daughter. The man who’d walked away from everything—from me—had a child standing right here in my bar, looking at me with eyes that held shadows I recognized all too well.

CHAPTER 6

FORD

I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel as I took the exit toward Norfolk. The rain that had chased us from the Outer Banks had finally given up, leaving puddles and wet asphalt in our wake. Through the rearview mirror, dark clouds stretched across the southern horizon like an angry bruise.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Rios shifted in the passenger seat, killing the classic rock station we’d been arguing about for the last hour.

“Mario’s?” The hole-in-the-wall Italian joint had been our go-to whenever we passed through Norfolk.

“Read my mind.” He checked his phone. “We’ve got time before check-in.”

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