The Bartender's Daughter

by Isabelle Flynn

  They sprang apart. Sam pulled her shirt down while Lee adjusted his khakis. He felt like he’d been caught necking his high school girlfriend instead of kissing his wife in the parking lot of their bar.

  “It’s Dylan.” She turned to him. “Lee, we can’t keep doing this.”

  He stiffened at the name. “Why, because your boyfriend might find out you’re cheating on him with your husband?”

  Chapter Five

  Maybe sticking around Oldport wasn’t such a great idea. Her eyelids felt glued down and she struggled to open them with the morning sun beating on her bed. No, not her bed. A guest bed in Dylan’s parents’ beach house. She sat up and rubbed her forehead when that little movement made the pounding worse. She had enjoyed one too many of Joanna’s tropical drinks last night.

  That kiss still made her body sizzle. She was so close to making a huge mistake. Getting involved with Lee on that level would be akin to opening up her chest and handing over her heart. She couldn’t handle the heat that sparked between them when he touched her like that.

  She stood up and braced herself, this time with a little less nausea. She pulled a few clothes out of her unpacked luggage. The stay at Serena and Dylan’s parents’ house was only meant to be an overnight, which turned into a week that would be ending tonight, when she finally moved into her father’s cottage.

  Twenty minutes later, after taking a shower and getting dressed, she was feeling much better. She stepped out into the living room and let out a sigh of relief when she found it empty. Serena had gone back to the city right after her father’s memorial, but Dylan had stayed behind for a few days. It gave her time to find a place to live, but also opportunities for Dylan to try convincing her to give up the bar. She wouldn’t do it.

  They talked about it last night and although he was disappointed she wasn’t going back with him tonight, he seemed to think that it was only a matter of time. Even he didn’t have faith in her. She poured the last of the coffee into her mug and took it back into the bedroom to pack away the rest of her things.

  She finished up and was rolling her bag to the front door when Dylan walked in.

  “I grabbed breakfast for us from the main house. I’m going to miss Consuelo. She makes the best pancakes.” He put down a platter filled with them and a carafe of syrup he’d managed to hold with the crook of his arm against his body.

  “This is exactly why you need to go back. You’re getting spoiled. You need your morning walk to grab bagels from the bodega down the street.”

  He laughed, “I’m not getting spoiled. I am spoiled.”

  She opened up a cupboard to pull out plates when Dylan stepped up behind her. His body warmed the back of hers. She stiffened as his lips descended on her neck. It felt wrong. Paralyzed by his closeness, she let him kiss his way down to her shoulder. When he went to turn her around, she pulled back.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

  “Why, Sam? What are you so afraid of? I know you feel this thing between us.” He reached up and rubbed one thumb over her cheek.

  She thought of Lee’s hand stroking her. The way he sent her whole being into overload with every touch. It just didn’t compare to the low simmer of attraction between her and Dylan. “You know why this isn’t a good idea. I’m married.”

  “And separated. We’ll talk to my dad’s lawyer about getting you a divorce. We can get an investigator to find the guy.”

  She pulled away from him and continued to set the table. “I know where to find him.” She hesitated telling Dylan about Lee. Clearly they knew each other, but beyond that she wasn’t sure how deep the relationship went.

  “It’s LJ, isn’t it?” Again, Dylan came up from behind her. This time he turned her around. Anger etched across his perfectly sculpted features. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t know you knew him, and I’ve been a little busy with figuring things out to be ready to talk about it.”

  “It’s been two years, Sam. Cut yourself free and give us a chance.”

  “It’s complicated.” She should have filed for divorce right after she left Oldport, but she had chosen to ignore the entire situation to keep from feeling the pain of betrayal. Now she was mired in a bar she didn’t know if she could salvage and a husband she just couldn’t stop touching.

  He eyed her with apprehension. “What’s so complicated? He cheated on you after you were married for what? A few weeks?”

  “There’s more to the story. I don’t think he ever cheated on me. At least, not when I thought he did.”

  “It doesn’t matter when he was unfaithful. He can more than pay for the divorce. Let me talk to him. I’ll get this straightened out.”

  “How do you know Lee?” She stepped back from Dylan.

  “Our families have known each other forever. God, Sam, don’t you realize what family you married into?”

  Whatever coffee she drank that morning churned in her empty stomach. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear about Lee’s family from Dylan. “No, he never talked about his family. Not a word.”

  “He is incredibly wealthy. My parents are paupers compared to his family. I don’t know what he was doing slumming as a bartender.”

  Her back stiffened even more at Dylan’s unintentional insult. Of course, if Lee was as rich as Dylan described, it would have been slumming. She got this feeling that she’d been played. Was Lee rebelling that summer, giving up his cushy life to live in a small studio apartment near the bar? She remembered the rusty pick-up he drove and the way he always kept any discussion of his family or past to a minimum. She had to give it to him though. He never lied. He simply let her fill in the blanks. “He didn’t talk about them and I made assumptions.”

  “I wish you had told me his name. If you had come back with me last Christmas, you would have seen him at my parents’ holiday open house.”

  She walked over to the wall of windows facing the bay. It was all a joke. It must have been a relief to him when she ran off. No wonder he never came after her.

  She reached up for the necklace tucked under her shirt and pulled out the shiny silver band she had slipped on that morning. It was a sentimental move after their kiss last night. A stupid, silly sentimental move.

  “He was there with my cousin, Melissa. They’ve been dating for a while.” His arms came up around her. This time when he turned her around, she didn’t hesitate. She let him wrap her up in his support. “I’m sorry, Sam.”

  ****

  From the bar, he watched Sam walk in, one piece of luggage wheeled behind her. Dylan followed her in, a duffel bag over his shoulder. The two made a beeline to the office. He swore Sam avoided making eye contact with him. Seeing her with Dylan after their kiss last night made his heart pound and his muscles tense. He stood there, staring at the closed office door until Joanna’s elbow hit him below the rib cage. “Damn, Jo. That hurt.”

  “I need you to tell me what to do next. I want to pass my exam on the first try, and you’re doing nothing but staring at your ex.”

  She meant ex-girlfriend but he almost corrected her. No, she wasn’t his ex. Not yet. They were still married. Was it so hard for Sam to give the institution of marriage a little more respect than to bring her boyfriend around him? He slapped the bar with his palm. “Joanna, study the book. I’m going outside for some air.”

  He stalked out through the front door and walked a few paces of the dirt lot. He was too angry to be there. He should have grabbed the keys to his car and headed out. This wasn’t going to work. He couldn’t own a business with her. There had to be some way to convince her that selling was best for her and the bar.

  He swiveled around when the door slammed shut behind him. No avoiding Dylan now.

  “I need to talk to you.” Dylan’s face was inscrutable.

  “Go ahead.” He loosened his shoulders and relaxed his pose. He didn’t need Dylan to know how much it bothered him to see him with Sam.

  Dylan crossed his arms. “I have to
go back to New York for work. I’ll be gone for a few weeks. I don’t like it but I have to. Sam’s hurting right now with losing her dad. Don’t make things any harder on her.”

  “How would I make it hard for her?” It galled him that this guy thought it was okay to tell him how to handle his wife.

  “By not making the divorce as easy as possible. I’m assuming you want an easy out. You’ve got the most to lose. You never told her about your family and I know you didn’t ask her to sign a prenup.”

  Lee gave him a once over. Of course, it was all about money. It always was. “So you want me to give her a big settlement?”

  Dylan laughed. “No, not at all. I can take care of Sam. She doesn’t need or want your money.”

  “That’s what you think now.”

  Dylan smiled. “You don’t know her at all. She’s not like that. You’re married to one of the sweetest, most genuine women out there and you think she’s a moneygrubbing hang-on. You’re wrong, man, and it’s my gain.” He walked over to the Lexus and drove off.

  Lee stood there staring into the dust kicked up by the tires for a few more minutes before walking back into the bar. So what if Sam had Dylan wrapped around her finger? If she was so in love with Dylan, she wouldn’t go off like fireworks every time he touched her. Money changed people. It made them selfish and underhanded. It made them greedy and disloyal. It was only a matter of time before Dylan learned his lesson. He knew one thing. There was no way Sam was going to Dylan with any of his money.

  He wasn’t going to touch her again. They’d keep everything between them as impersonal as possible, and when he got a minute, he was doing what he should have done years ago, calling his lawyer.

  When he walked back in, Sam was standing with her back to the door. Joanna was talking to her, her hands flying up in the air as she gestured to different parts of the bar. Sam took a gulp of water and then slipped something from her hand into her mouth. Clearly the night had more of an effect on her than it did on Joanna. He’d found his sister up early, as bright and energetic as usual.

  It was irrational, but her happy mood only irritated him further. “Joanna, make a vodka martini.”

  Her eyebrows quirked at his interruption, but she dutifully mixed the drink. Sam kept her eyes on Joanna, but he noticed the way her shoulders stiffened and her chin tilted up. Why did she have to look the same as the young girl he fell so hard for? Dressed in a little summer dress, she looked like innocence personified, except she wasn’t. Maybe if her sister hadn’t used him to get back at Sam for some unknown transgression, they would have had a chance. The minute she decided to run to Dylan she destroyed any kind of life they could have had.

  “I have some work to do in the back. You’re doing great, Joanna.” Sam turned around without facing him.

  He wasn’t sure why he did it but he reached out for her arm and stopped her before she walked past him. “It’s time we talk.”

  Red rimmed her delicate lashes, but she didn’t react to his words beyond a small nod of the head. So she was cut up over her boyfriend leaving? She should have followed Dylan and left the bar and Oldport to him.

  She continued walking to the small door in the back and he followed her into the office. They had to squeeze by her luggage. Sam took the seat behind the desk while he opted for the couch.

  She played with her father’s hat. She’d taken to wearing or carrying it. “Why did you ask Joanna to make a vodka martini? She’ll be working the taps and making rum and Cokes more than anything else.”

  That wasn’t what he was expecting from her and he couldn’t process what she meant. “What are you talking about?”

  “You asked Joanna to make a drink that the typical patron would never order here. You didn’t just pick a drink out of the air. You did it because you have plans for this place. I know you, Lee. You’re a planner. Everything you do is because you’ve thought it out. It might be the only thing I actually know to be true about you. So I’m asking you now, what are your plans for this place? What is your plan for me?” The entire time she spoke, she kept her eyes on his. They were completely devoid of emotion.

  He answered honestly. “Sam, when it comes to you, I’ve never had a plan.”

  ****

  She had to keep moving, keep her mind from focusing on the mess things were. The bar, her personal life, she needed a break from all of it. This morning had wrung her dry. She left the bar at noon, leaving Lee in charge, and walked toward the bay. They had decided to give Alan the weekend off, and that meant they would be splitting their time at the bar for the next three days. She intended to spend her time away from him, figuring out her father’s business and working out her own plan for the future of Ray’s.

  But first she needed a place to sleep and now that her sister had finally handed over the keys to her father’s fishing cottage, she’d have one that didn’t include Dylan’s constant pressure. He was the best friend she’d needed for the last two years. She’d seen him go from one woman to the next always thinking of him as the incorrigible brother she’d never have. Something changed in the last six months though, and his intent to become something more was creating a chasm she couldn’t bridge.

  His feelings may have changed, but hers had not. He was right about one thing though. Maybe a divorce would finally banish Lee from every molecule of her being. She could only hope.

  She walked to the cottage now, her cheap luggage trailing behind her the one-mile as she lugged her duffel bag over her shoulder. The walk wouldn’t be bad in the morning on her way to work and back at night without the weight of her entire life with her.

  She moved closer to the side of the road when a car came up from behind. It slowed and then stopped right ahead of her. She recognized the back of her sister’s small car before she stomped out. “What are you doing?”

  “Walking.”

  “I got that, smart ass. Where are you walking to and why are you dragging your luggage through Oldport?”

  She hated when her sister took that tone with her. “I’m moving my stuff into Dad’s cottage, and since I don’t have a car, I’m hoofing it.”

  She didn’t stop, not even to answer her sister. She wasn’t surprised when Michelle followed her in those skinny heels. Sam couldn’t even walk across in the room in heels like that, but here Michelle walked on uneven asphalt as smooth as could be.

  Michelle stopped. “You can’t be serious. You’re really going to sleep in that shack? That’s ridiculous.”

  Without looking back, Sam imagined her sister’s hands on her hips, long nails tapping on her tiny waist. “It might be, but it has a bed, a shower, and a refrigerator. That’s all I need.”

  She heard her sister scramble to catch up. When she did, Michelle grabbed her by the arm. “Why can’t you just sell the bar and move on with your life?”

  “Because I can’t. Why do you feel like you know what’s best for me? We’ve barely spoken for the last two years. You made sure of that.” Sam looked into her sister’s eyes and waited for her reply.

  “What are you talking about? You were the one that left.” Michelle spit out the words.

  Sam dropped the bag off her shoulder and down on the curb. “After you told me that you were hooking up with Lee.”

  “Why did that have anything to do with you leaving?” Michelle’s gaze narrowed in on her. “You really did have a thing for him, didn’t you? Sam, he was a bartender in our father’s bar. You knew he was off-limits.”

  “Lee was more than just one of his bartenders, and I was an adult. You shouldn’t have lied.”

  “I did it for your own good. If that’s all it took for you to leave, it obviously wasn’t very serious. Which brings me back to what I’ve been saying all along. You left the bar once before. What makes you think you should be taking the responsibility on now?”

  She sputtered. Her own good? Michelle had no idea how serious things were and how much her words had made her question everything she had in her life. Worried about Lee’s
secrets and unsure if the bar was really where she wanted to spend the rest of her life, she had been ripe for doubts to seep in. There was nothing she could do about the lies now, but the bar was no longer any of Michelle’s concern. “You gave up your half of the bar and any say in the matter when you had Dad sell it to Lee.”

  “You think you’re so smart. You don’t know anything about it. Dad was up to his ears in loans to Lee. He had to sell half of the bar or he would have lost everything. Just wait. It’s only a matter of time until Lee owns the whole thing. Only he won’t need to pay you for it.” She loosened her grip around Sam’s arm and walked back to her car.

  Sam could still feel the imprint of her sister’s fingers on her arm as she continued on her walk. It didn’t even register when she considered how her heart felt after a full day of hearing the truth about Lee.

  He wasn’t just rich. He wasn’t just parading around a woman everyone expected him to marry. He had convinced her father to borrow money so that he could take over the damn bar. She closed her eyes, summoned her heart, her body to get her through this. She’d figure it out but first she needed to get her things into the cottage, make sure it was livable for tonight and then head back to the bar. She obviously hadn’t dived deep enough into the books yet. Once she did, she’d know how far in her father had gotten and how much she needed to come up with to get Lee out of her life for good.

  She crossed over to the little flagstone path to the front door of her new place. The key turned smoothly in the lock, but she hesitated before stepping over the threshold. She threw up one small prayer to her father. No mice or other creatures. Please, Daddy.

  She pushed the door open, waited for any signs of scurrying and then finally walked into the little cottage. From there she could see the clean kitchenette, the couch, a small television. Everything looked the same as it had the last time she was there.

  She flashed back to her and Lee wrapped around each other on the couch. His fingers entwined with hers while his sky blue eyes fastened to her face. Her heart ready to burst from the magic of it all. “I love you, Sam. You know this is forever. I’m never letting you get away.”