Until I'm Found

by M. Lynne Cunning

  He shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s been like this since I opened this afternoon, Amy. There’s a new bar that just opened over in Charleston. I think I told you about it. Tonight’s the grand opening there.”

  I watched Ryan for a second and saw he was biting the inside of his cheek. It was a habit of his when he was thinking, I’d figured that much out. I could also tell that this less-than-stellar turnout at his bar tonight was bothering him but I was not about to point out the obvious and pour salt into the wound.

  I tried to conceal my own dismay and mustered up as much encouragement as I could, grabbing one of the bar towels hanging from the rack. “It’s only a grand opening. The novelty will wear off and your customers will be back in no time.” I plucked one of the wine glasses from the dish bin in front of him and began to polish it, hoping my words rang true. I saw Ryan put on a brave front and then nod after a minute. “It’s not the first time a new place opened up and this happened. It never lasts.” He continued on with his polishing in an attempt to prove it was no big deal.

  I looked around. The bar counter and all the little nooks and crannies behind it were spotless. Ryan had obviously been keeping himself busy while serving the odd beer here and there.

  “Is Maria in the back?” I asked him when I remembered that her name had been on the schedule for tonight as well.

  He set the glass down and looked at me after grabbing another one. “Actually, I told her she could go home if she wanted to. She’d been here with me for two hours and all we did was clean. It’s Saturday night. I figured she had better things to do than come to work and not work.” He stopped polishing the glass and looked up at me. “You’re more than welcome to skip out early too, Amy. It’ll be tough, but I think I can handle the overbearing crowds that are pushing their way frantically through the doors.”

  I set the newly polished wine glass down and grabbed the last one in the dish bin. “It’s no problem, Ryan. I’ll stick around for a bit and see if things pick up, if you don’t mind.”

  He nodded. After a minute, a wry smile crept smoothly across his face. “I thought for sure you’d be racing for the door, Amy. Hot date later tonight? Maybe with Cole?” He arched a brow, smirking as my face turned crimson red.

  “Hardly,” I managed to spit out. I wanted nothing more than to know how and what he thought he knew but I didn’t dare question him. I was embarrassed enough as it was. Had he heard something from Maria, or had he been watching last night when Cole waited in the parking lot? Maybe Cole had told him.

  Ryan laughed loudly enough that the few patrons at the bar looked in our direction to see what was so funny. Seeing as the color of my face was displaying the level of my embarrassment so well, it was not difficult to tell that Ryan’s entertainment was occurring at my expense. “I was kidding, Amy. Well, half kidding anyway,” he chided. “It’s all Maria talked about this afternoon, that Cole asked her about you the other night and that you two were in the parking lot after the bar closed.” I could practically see the wheels turning in his brain as he tried to decipher my facial expression.

  I stayed quiet for a moment and then carefully put the wine glass that was in my hands back on the counter. I hesitated, then realized there was really nothing to tell. I had nothing to hide, so I figured the truth was the easiest route to take. “Maria said he mentioned me, and when I left after my shift, he was outside. We talked for a few minutes. That’s it. I went home, and he drove away. So, I don’t know what spin Maria put on it when she told you, but there is nothing more to it than that.” I exhaled audibly, wishing I hadn’t sounded so defensive. But I didn’t want my boss and coworkers discussing me behind my back, either.

  Ryan was obviously enjoying himself. He carefully picked up the polished wine glasses one by one, turned them upside down, and hung them by the stems in the overhead rack. I looked over at the men who were drinking their beers and pretending not to be eavesdropping on our conversation. One gentleman raised his hand to signal for another so I took the liberty of ignoring Ryan for a moment and getting the beer from the cooler. I was just reaching for the bottle opener when I heard Ryan speak again.

  “Nothing more to tell, huh? Well, maybe that’s the case about you and Cole, but what about you and Jeremy? The coffee drinkers this afternoon were talking about you two being seen downtown yesterday. Maybe I’m wrong and the hot date you’re having is with him.”

  “Ryan, you’re a great boss, and you’re even a good friend.” I paused. “However, I don’t think I have to explain myself to you beyond telling you exactly what I’ve already said, so I will say it once more. There is nothing going on between me and Jeremy or me and Cole. There is nothing more to tell, okay?”

  “I betcha that’s about to change, Amy,” I heard him say in a low voice from behind me.

  I turned with the unopened beer still in my hand and saw Cole striding up to the bar, obviously surprised by the lack of people inside as well. My heart sank and I turned my head slightly to look at Ryan, who looked ready to either burst out laughing or sit back and watch the show.

  I smiled hesitantly at Cole from across the room and then turned back to the gentleman at the bar, popped the cap off his beer before sliding it over to him. He paid with a five dollar bill, telling me to keep the change. I thanked him and headed back to the other end of the bar.

  Cole had seated himself at the last bar stool in the row, away from the other patrons, and Ryan had conveniently disappeared into the storage room, leaving me to tend to the bar alone.

  “Fancy meeting you here.” I gave Cole a half-hearted smirk, trying to play it calm and cool but knowing damn well my cheeks were flushed. Ryan’s comments hadn’t helped.

  “Yeah, imagine that.” He chuckled softly, idly playing with his truck keys. “How are you tonight, Amy?”

  “I’m doing all right, thanks, Cole. It’s not very busy, though.” Way to go, Captain Obvious, I thought to myself. I wanted to roll my eyes at my own stupidity but I suppressed the urge.

  Cole sat back a bit and scanned the room. When he turned back to me, I swore I could see a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

  “It is pretty dead in here tonight.”

  “Ryan says there’s a grand opening at another bar in Charleston tonight.”

  “He also says it’s too damn dead in here and that you are free to go home if you want,” Ryan announced loudly as he made his way back behind the bar with a few boxes of napkins in his hands. I turned to look at him incredulously, knowing full well he’d purposely just thrown me under the bus. It was subtle, but I saw him wink at me.

  “Go on,” he said without trying to mask his smile, “Get out of here.” Ryan paused for a moment, and then added, “Cole, give her a reason to leave, will you?”

  Maybe he saw Ryan wink at me, and that thought caused me to blush even more.

  “If you want, I know a coffee shop downtown that’s open late. Or we could have a drink here. If you want to, that is,” Cole said, leaning forward on his elbows. He gave me another reassuring glance. I’m guessing my expression made him think I needed it.

  I didn’t even need to turn and look behind me to know that Ryan was hanging on every word. If I stayed here with Cole, in a working capacity or not, I would be subjected to Ryan’s remarks and constant hovering. I blushed far too easily to have to deal with my boss’s little matchmaking tips.

  I struggled to look comfortable, trying hard to think through the repercussions of each choice I had. “I would love to, but I do have to work tomorrow so…” I began, then saw Ryan turn and glance in my direction out of the corner of my eye. “You know what? Sure. Coffee sounds great, Cole.”

  He raised his eyebrows slightly. I think he was surprised that I agreed to go with him. He picked up his keys from the counter and stood, probably deciding he had better move quickly before I changed my mind.

  “Just let me get my things and I’ll meet you out at your truck in a second, okay?” I tried to sound chipper, hoping
my apprehension wasn’t nearly as evident as I thought it was. He nodded curtly at me, and I knew he wasn’t buying into my act.

  “Good to see you, Ryan,” Cole called as he headed toward the door.

  Ryan looked up from his napkin folding. “You too. Have a good night, man.”

  I waited for the door to close completely behind him before I turned abruptly to face Ryan. “I should kill you,” I stated simply.

  He laughed wholeheartedly. “No, Amy, you should thank me. Wait, no, you will thank me.”

  “Oh yeah? And why is that? I don’t even know the guy, Ryan.” I was trying really hard to sound angry, but my voice of outrage seemed to be coming across weak and flat; the nervous quiver of uncertainty was giving me away.

  He gave me his full attention then, his grin faltering slightly as his tone of voice turned more serious. “You’re right, Amy. You don’t. But I do. He’s a good guy, you’re safe. Now, go.” He smirked, tilting his head toward the door.

  I wanted to say more but I knew that the longer I was in there, the more chance there was that Cole would come back in wondering what was taking me so long. Ryan had been good to me over the past few months. I raised my eyebrows, ready to object to his instructions, but he merely nodded his head once more at me and smiled knowingly.

  After that, he turned away from me and didn’t look at me again.

  “Have a good night, Amy.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  The ride in Cole’s truck to the coffee shop was awkward to say the least. He made small talk with me while I struggled to buckle my seat belt and we swapped the usual, “How was your day?” and “What’s new?”

  Our answers were vague and neither of us seemed overly ready to divulge too much information. Mostly, I stared out the passenger side window. If I had felt ready to go out with Cole, I would have told him without needing Ryan to stick his nose in where it didn’t belong. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go out with Cole, I just didn’t feel comfortable enough with him yet to know how to carry on a conversation without the surrounding distractions of other people and the chaotic bar atmosphere I’d grown accustomed to while at work.

  Maybe the problem was that this whole situation was structured in a typical dating format. After all, I’d been fine with Jeremy when we were downtown. Then again, maybe the problem wasn’t with Cole at all. Maybe I just wasn’t comfortable enough with myself.

  Cole was a gentleman. I smiled when he practically bailed from his truck immediately after pulling the key from the ignition to scurry around to my side and open the door for me. He led me into a small cafe which, in fact, wasn’t a cafe at all. It was more like a sit-down bar that happened to serve coffee and alcohol.

  There was a miniature stage in the left corner of the room and a long haired middle-aged man was picking his guitar and crooning about the travesties of love. His voice was distinctively raspy, and he was pretty good. When I looked around and realized there weren’t very many empty tables in the place, I figured that other people must share my opinion.

  “Do you want coffee or something a little harder?”

  I jumped a bit at his voice in my ear. I turned my face upward to look into his and saw that his face was incredibly close to mine. I thanked God the room was dark because I could feel the heat creeping into my cheeks.

  “Coffee’s fine,” I managed to reply, feeling foolish for how nervous I was.

  I followed him to the long bar on the other side of the room and waited while he ordered our drinks. I was trying to steal a glance in the direction of the stage when I felt Cole’s hand gently pushing on my lower back, nudging me away from the bar. He guided me through the crowds of people standing to watch the performance onstage and managed to snag us a small table in the farthest corner from the speakers, making it undoubtedly the quietest spot in the room. At least if we struggled to hold a conversation, I would still be able to see the stage from there and would be able to pretend to be engrossed in the music if I needed to.

  I watched as Cole moved the table out from the wall and placed the two chairs side by side. He motioned for me to sit, smiling encouragingly. I did as I was told and placed my hands on my lap. He leaned over, brushing my hair back gently as he spoke into my ear.

  “The coffee will be here in a minute. They’re making us a fresh pot. They must be selling more alcohol tonight than coffee. It looked like it had been sitting there a while.” Judging by the glassy look in some of the customers’ eyes, I knew it was safe to say alcohol wasn’t the only substance being sold at tonight’s musical event.

  “You’re having coffee, too?” I asked him. Sitting this close to him made it much easier to hold a conversation, even with the loud acoustic guitar riffs blaring around us.

  “Of course, but with Bailey’s. And a few shots of whiskey.” He smiled mischievously at me.

  “You’re driving, remember?”

  He shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to drive home.”

  “I’m not driving your truck!” I laughed at the thought of it. “Besides, where do you think you’d be sleeping if I had to drive home?” I arched an eyebrow at him.

  “In my truck, of course. I’m a total gentleman like that.” He gave me a crooked grin and I couldn’t help but smile in return.

  “Right, because a gentleman always get drunk on the first date and winds up sleeping in his truck in their date’s driveway.” I crossed my arms, pretending to be disgusted at such a thought. The truth was I was immediately embarrassed that I’d referred to this as a date.

  If Cole picked up on my slip of the tongue, he didn’t let on. “Good point. Thank God I only ordered coffee. I might have made a fool of myself.”

  I chuckled softly, shaking my head playfully as I relaxed enough to watch the long-haired guitarist descend from the stage into a crowd of applause and whistles. He had some fans here, that was for sure.

  I saw Cole raise his hand, signaling to the waitress. She beamed at Cole and set two mugs and a stainless steel carafe on the table in front of us with a little bowl of sugar and a miniature pitcher of milk.

  “Will that be all, Mr. Ceden?” She never took her gaze off him and her smile never wavered.

  “That’s it. Thanks, Angie.”

  She turned on her stiletto heel and sauntered away. Not once did she even glance in my direction. I decided not to comment, not wanting to come across as jealous in any way. There were, however, definitely a few tell-tale signs of jealousy in the pit of my stomach. I could feel it.

  First you blurt out that it’s a date and then you get jealous of the waitress? What’s wrong with you? I thought to myself.

  “You must come here often,” I commented carefully.

  Cole just shrugged and began to pour coffee for both of us. “I have to. I own the place.” He smiled at me, pushing a steaming mug toward me.

  My jaw dropped slightly. “You do? Oh! Well, no wonder you wanted to come here!” I hadn’t expected that. “You own this bar but go to Rustic’s for beer? I don’t get it.” I arched an eyebrow at the notion as I poured a little bit of milk into my coffee.

  Cole chuckled quietly and took his time preparing his coffee before he answered. “I go there some nights to wind down. Ryan’s always there, so that’s where I have to go if I want to say hello.”

  I stopped what I was doing and looked at him. “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the deal with you two? Ryan said he knew you pretty well.”

  Cole took a sip of his coffee and set it down, laughter escaping from his lips. “He should. He’s my brother.”

  My eyes grew wide with shock, and I struggled to put my coffee cup down without spilling it. “Your brother? He never told me that!” I was convinced I couldn’t possibly be blushing any more than I was at that moment. Ryan had set me up to look like a fool. If he had been standing in front of me, I would have strangled him with my own bare hands.

  Cole raised a hand to his face to conceal his amusement. “I kind of figured you didn’t know. It’s all rig
ht. Ryan’s probably embarrassed of me.” He laughed then, shrugging out of his denim jacket and hanging it on the back of his chair before leaning back in his seat and looking at me. I let my gaze fall to the table, not knowing what to say. I took a long sip of my coffee to fill in the awkward silence that had fallen between us.

  “I just didn’t know, that’s all. I’ll be honest, I feel a bit silly.”

  Cole reached over and patted my knee gently. I watched his hand intently as he touched me, holding my breath.

  “Don’t. Please,” he said softly.

  I gave him a hesitant glance, nodding as I settled into my chair with my coffee mug in my hands. “So, what else do I need to know about you? Or should I dare ask?”

  He rubbed his fingers against his chin, pretending to be deep in thought. “Well, I don’t want to tell you about the stint I did in jail for embezzlement, and I certainly don’t want to have to mention that one time in a brothel in New Zealand. I could tell you about…no, not that.”

  I laughed loudly at him. “Tell me something real, Cole.”

  The amusement was written on his face as he looked into his coffee cup for a second.

  “I own a construction company,” he stated after a moment, lifting his gaze back up to me.

  “I thought you owned this bar?”

  “I do.”

  “But how do you manage both?”

  “I work in construction all day, every day, but I’ve hired Alexis to manage and run this pub for me.” He pointed across the room to a fiery redhead who appeared to be in her mid-thirties. She was expertly wielding bottles while making conversation with staff and customers alike.

  I nodded as I peered over at her. “Wow. So, you and your brother are in competition, too?” Two brothers, two different bars in the same small town. That couldn’t be easy.

  Cole drank from his cup and then set his gaze on me. “As you can tell, both the atmosphere and the clientele are vastly different in this pub when compared to Ryan’s bar.” He chuckled quietly. I smirked, agreeing with him. That was an understatement.