Page 64 of The Barkeep and the Bro

“I’m happy you’ve discovered this new side of yourself. But this can’t happen again, though. For a whole host of reasons.” I had to be the adult here, which sucked. Supremely sucked. But it was the only responsible avenue. I hated this more than people who used the word adulting. “I’m your boss, Charlie. This would be a really bad look for us to continue. Really bad. Borderline unethical.”

He nodded blankly, as if he understood the words but they weren’t calculating in his head.

“We’ll just leave it here. Tonight, we’ll be so tired from the wedding that we’ll crash. Then we’ll wake up and go back to Sourwood and continue on with our lives. There are lots of guys out there, a whole world out there for you to explore with your bisexuality.”

The thought of him experimenting with other guys flipped every jealous, possessive switch in my head. But again, the whole maturity thing.

He answered with another blank nod. I could tell he was holding back a smile. What the hell was so funny?

“Do you understand?”

“I mean, I do.” He buttoned up his shirt. There was that cocky grin again. “But I also want more.”

I gulped back a horny lump in my throat. “More?”

“I’ll stop if you want to stop. But I would like to do more. A lot more.”

My mind spiraled with possibilities of more.Keep it together, Mitch.I blinked back to reality, and Charlie was fully dressed.

“I’ll see you down there.” He left me alone in my underwear with my thoughts of more.

“We’re not doing this again!” I called out, but the door had already clicked shut.

* * *

I metCharlie downstairs to start setting up. We moved supplies from the truck to the kitchen area. We took the food out of the fridge and plugged in the portable heaters. The kitchen space was small but still workable. There was a deep sink and some counter space along a window. Charlie moved food into the fridge and beer into the coolers we’d brought. Heavy gray clouds blanketed the sky, ready to burst. They were water balloons floating into a needle.

We maneuvered around each other in the kitchen, too busy to focus on any lingering sexual tension. What did Charlie mean by more?

“Alanis said rain on your wedding day is good luck,” Charlie said.

“How do you know Alanis Morrisette?” I laughed to myself. “You were born after that song came out.”

“I know the classics.”

Jagged Little Pillwas considered the classics? I just died inside.

“Although, are any of the things in that song actually ironic or just shitty luck?” he asked.

I hummed the song to myself before Charlie cued up the whole album on Spotify.

“This album was the first cassette I bought when I got my license. I thought I was so cool because I had a tape deck in my car. Hannah and I blasted it every morning when we drove to school.” It was funny how time flew. Listening to “Ironic,” I could feel the blast of the heating vent on my face as I drove to school on those cold mornings, condensation streaming down my car. The heat in my first car had two modes, off or scorching.

“We played it at ’90s parties in college and sung along.”

‘90s party. I died inside again.

Charlie danced in place as he put more trays into the heating station. His butt swayed to the beat, and I found its round shape through the loose slacks. I watched for longer than I should have. A roll of thunder rumbled outside and in my belly.

Ellie burst through the kitchen, eyes welling with tears. I pulled my glance away from Charlie.

“Ellie Bear, what is it?” A ripple of shame flared in me, thinking of what I did with her ex-boyfriend. Did she find out somehow?

“It’s raining!” She pointed outside to the heavy drizzle. “The forecast said it’s supposed to rain all day. The estate owner said we should plan for an indoor wedding.”

I wrapped a soothing arm around her. “We knew this was a possibility. That’s why we have an indoor contingency plan. It’ll be okay.”

Charlie watched from his corner but stayed quiet. I wondered what he was thinking, if he felt any awkwardness. Or if he still wanted more.

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