Page 6 of A Surefire Love
“He does have seniority.” Honor pinned her arms to her sides, hands under her thighs, as she peered after her boyfriend.
“And nothing else.” Madison glared toward the bar and tsked. “And now he’s messing with the Lions.”
Anson twisted. Jimmy elbowed his way between two of Anson’s former high school basketball teammates. A bus accident their senior year had taken Coach Voss’s life and branded everyone on the team in the minds of the community. A decade after they’d hung up the jerseys with the mascot, the people of Many Oaks still called them Lions, especially when they were together like David and Sterling were now.
Sydney elbowed him.
Jimmy wouldn’t appreciate Anson interfering, but the night would only grow more uncomfortable the more the guy drank. Anson pushed his seat away from the table. “Be right back.”
Nearing the bar, he nodded to his teammates. They shifted to let him join Jimmy, who was shouting greetings to men on the other side of the bar. Jimmy’s attention drifted up to the big screen.
“Rough day?” Anson asked.
Jimmy’s glassy eyes cut to him. “I thought you didn’t understand.”
“I heard about the job. I understand disappointment.” Even more so after the day he’d had.
“It’s discrimination.” Jimmy’s attention returned to the screen. “Hiring women just because they’re nice to look at in meetings.”
Anson tensed. The female bartender cocked her head. Jimmy had better watch out unless he wanted spit in his drink.
He prayed for wiser words than he’d spoken to Blaze earlier. “That’s where you lose me. Disappointment’s one thing. Blame’s another. You could trust that management had good reasons.”
“And you could get lost.” Jimmy pounded his fist on the bar. “How hard is it to pour a whiskey?”
“You sure another one’s a good idea?”
Jimmy angled toward him, chest puffed up. “I can tell you whatisn’ta good idea.”
Anson kept his arms down and his posture open, hoping if he didn’t pose a threat, Jimmy wouldn’t get physical. “Everyone back at the table’s pretty uncomfortable. Maybe it’s time to slow down.”
The bartender delivered a short glass of amber liquid. Jimmy swiped it up. “I’ll slow down when you mind your own business.” He lifted his glass in a mocking toast and swallowed a hearty gulp before he ambled toward the men on the other side of the bar.
Honor might not appreciate this solution, but she deserved a better boyfriend. Maybe a little distance tonight would help her see that.
As Anson stepped from the bar, Mercy glanced at him, then hunched over her milkshake. Regret stepped up like a bouncer intent on preventing him from returning to Sydney. He couldn’t pass by as he became the reason faith communities triggered feelings of shame in a student.
As he approached Mercy, voices lifted behind him—one of them Jimmy’s. But he was the bartender’s problem now.
He recognized one of the women with Mercy. Marissa,David’s little sister, had moved back to town a couple of weeks ago. She must know Blaze if she was babysitting. As he stepped up to the table, she flashed a lackluster smile.
Her companion gave him the once over. “Well, hello.”
Marissa chuckled. “Don’t get too excited. This is the pastor.”
“Oh.” The other woman’s gaze flicked between him and Mercy. Everybody at the table must know about the service project. They might as well watch him mend fences.
He turned to Mercy with what he hoped was a disarming smile. “I owe you an apology.”
She hunched deeper into her seat and froze.
“I’m sorry for embarrassing you.”
After a peek at him, Mercy resumed kicking one foot. “It’s okay.”
“I hope you’ll come to Rooted this fall.”
Marissa rubbed her back but kept her focus on Anson. “Does that mean you’re going to let Blaze help lead?”
