Page 50 of Show Me How to Heal
It wasn’t only my table that erupted into cheers; almost the whole bar started congratulating me, and I was showered in…
“Who the fuck brought glitter?” I shouted, trying to get out of the little particles raining down on me. “Do you have any idea how bad this is for the environment?”
“Glitter?” I heard Chris’ voice booming from behind the bar. “I allowed confetti, not glitter. Whoever the fuck that fucking stupid idiot was, you’re on fucking clean-up duty!”
I snorted a laugh, trying to find the culprit in the sea of faces surrounding me. Not Avery, certainly not Mason. Carter looked rather pissed because he’d gotten glitter all over his face. Not Adam. Corey was laughing his ass off, but he’d have the decency to at least feel a little bad.
Wait.
Adam? I tried catching his gaze but almost immediately someone stepped in the way. It was Mason who gave me a big bear-hug, congratulating me once again. Technically he was the first person to ever congratulate me since he’d been the realtor the previous owners had used.
It’d taken a lot of time until all the commotion had died down and I’d shaken or hugged every patron in the bar — even those two kinda scary looking biker dudes that certainly hadn’t known what they’d be getting into when entering The Bar — but I finally got the chance to sit in the booth Avery, Adam, Mason, Corey, and Carter where manning.
Damn, my feet fucking hurt! The shoes felt good though.
“Soo… where’s your hot cashier?” Corey asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
“In bed.”
“Sooo… what are you doing here?” he teased me gently, winking to soften his words.
“Getting glitter bombed, obviously,” I deadpanned, scrunching up my nose. “Seriously — who did that? That wasn’t cool.”
The others shrugged, all of them wearing similar clueless expressions. “No idea,” Avery said. “I’m sorry. I planned the whole thing as an intimate gathering, but people kept asking, so I said they could come to wish you all the best for your business, but never once has any glitter been mentioned.”
“It’s fine,” I said, waving my hand. “I’m gonna lend Chris a hand tomorrow, so it’s all good. Thank you all for coming. The first round is on me.”
That earned me some shoulder slaps and cheering from Corey.
I leaned back while the others started organizing who’d go and get the drinks. I didn’t care. Exhaustion started taking over as the tension of the last couple of weeks started seeping away. Closing my eyes for a while, I simply enjoyed the hum of voices, the laughter. Being surrounded by my friends was enough.
“I’m sorry I missed the actual opening,” said a voice so quiet I’d almost have missed it over the general noisiness of The Bar. Addy.
I opened my eyes, turning my head to the left where he’d swapped places with Avery so he could sit right next to me. “I know I promised, and I really wanted to come, but…”
“Marc?” I asked, basically spitting his name out.
“Yeah.” Adam sighed. “I… I really fucked up,” he confessed quietly. “I just want you to know I appreciated your texts. Today is not the right time, today is about you, but maybe we could talk… soonish? I think I need help.”
I wholeheartedly agreed. Adam was a shell of what he used to be. Gone were the few extra pounds of padding around his middle, the rosy cheeks that made everyone want to cuddle him. Instead, he looked gaunt, haunted, even worse than the last time I saw him.
“I’d like that,” I told him, placing my hand on his forearm. “If you need to talk, I’m here. Anytime.”
“Even if you’re busy with your…employee?” He waggled his eyebrows and I wanted to cry. For a second he looked so much like the old Addy, his eyes lighting up with mischief, but at the same time, so much of the guy I’d been friends with was missing.
“He’s…” I shrugged. “I don’t know what he is. But what I do know is that I’ll always have time for you.”
“Me, too,” Avery said next to Addy, leaning forward so he could see both of us. “Even though I didn’t know anything about him and the cashier.” He raised an eyebrow at me accusingly. “I’m feeling left out.”
“I…”
“Oh, are we talking about Zayne and hishe’s not my boyfriend because I don’t have time for a relationship, so I just hire him insteadguy? Because I have things to say.”
“Shut it, Corey!” I snapped, immediately regretting my reaction afterward because, of course, there were just oohs and aahs like I’d just announced Luke and I were going to get married or shit like that.
“Sore subject?”
No. Yes. Maybe.
