Page 51 of The Hometown Dilemma
In all honesty, I had no desire to go out and party, but she didn’t know that. I grabbed our empty glasses and went across to the bar, taking a seat there instead. I slid the glasses over to the bartender.
“Get me a double Jack, please, buddy.”
He nodded, placing the drink in front of me.
Draining the first double, it barely took the edge off. As I contemplated the potential loss of my first serious girlfriend in years, my need to get completely and totally wasted increased.
The bartender hadn’t moved far away from me, and I waved him over again. “Get me another, please, my man.”
A second glass with amber liquid appeared on the bar in front of me and it went the same way as the previous one. In the back of my mind, a tiny alarm bell started to ring – a warning sign to tell me to slow down. When Jaime came back, I needed to be able to talk to her in a rational manner, not be a complete prick.
“You okay?” The bartender’s voice cut into my booze addled brain. “I see you’re on your own now.”
“Mmm. Think I’ve been dumped.”
“Shit, sorry, man.”
“She’s gonna leave me for the bright lights of the big city.” I waved my hands around. “Can’t say I blame her. There’s more for her here than in a small town.”
The bartender shook his head. “Don’t be too sure. You wouldn’t be here for a start.”
I snorted. “If only that were enough.”
“You can’t give up yet. You don’t look like a quitter.” A man from the other end of the bar waved him over and he left me alone.
Nursing yet another glass of whiskey, I tried to focus on my phone as it vibrated against the bar. I squinted, able to make out Mom’s name on the screen. My chest tightened. Was it Dad? Grabbing the device, I stabbed the accept button.
“Mom?” I tried not to slur my words and failed.
“Oh, Wade,” her voice choked, and a sickening sobriety hit me.
“What’s wrong?”
“You need to come home immediately.”
I swallowed hard. “What’s wrong?” I repeated.
She didn’t answer, a sob gasping out of her.
My body went cold, all thoughts of what had gone on that evening forgotten.
I needed to get back to Abbott Ridge. Now.
ChapterTwenty-Two
Jaime
Vanessaand I ended up speaking for hours. I joined her at one of the bars we used to go to after work and we talked. In all honesty, when we’d worked together, we hadn’t been that close - she was my boss after all. But during our conversation tonight, she spoke as if we were equals. Her comments about Wade had me thinking though.
“Your boyfriend seems a little frosty, Jaime. Are you sure he’s one hundred percent behind you and this career move?”
After the way he’d spoken to me earlier, I would say he wasn’t even one percent committed to our relationship. But I didn’t want Vanessa to know that. I blustered through an answer, making something up about how we’d consider a long-distance relationship to start with if anything came of the job.
I had even shared with her my plans of applying forInterior Nirvana.
“Pfftt, darling, you’re way too talented to go on arealityshow. Not to mention Colm would have an absolute fit if he thought you were doing something like that.” Vanessa waved her wine glass around with such gusto I thought the liquid would slosh out onto her expensive silk dress. “Conflict of interest you see.”
“Then it might be a blessing in disguise that there isn’t going to be another series.” I forced a laugh, still tainted by the disappointment I’d felt when I found out the applications weren’t going to open.
