All Because of You (Morgan's Bay Book 1)

by Theresa Paolo

  Every time she opened the fridge, she’d hoped something new would appear, but it was still exactly the same. Eggs, milk, leftovers from God only knows when, and a tub of sour cream—no fresh fruit or vegetables from the farmer’s market, no Greek yogurt or artisanal cheese to snack on.

  “Forget this,” Olivia announced, and John Andre didn’t even poke his head up from his perch. She grabbed her purse and headed out. A cheat day was calling out to her, and a burger from McConnell’s Pub sounded like the perfect remedy to her growling stomach. Also, she wouldn’t mind a little conversation with someone who wasn’t an eight-pound walking ball of fur. Connor was always a good conversationalist… or Shane.

  It’s not like she was going to McConnell’s just to see him. So what if he was a beautiful specimen of a man, and he’d carried her bags for her, met her eyes when he spoke like he was talking to her and not down or over her? She wasn’t going for him. She was going for a burger.

  She made herself believe the lie the entire way to the front door when she realized she wasn’t in Manhattan. She couldn’t step outside and wave down a cab. She couldn’t call a car service or hop on the nearest subway. She was in Morgan’s Bay, where a car was essential.

  “Damn it,” she mumbled under her breath, and her stomach joined the chorus with a loud rumble. She looked down at the strappy three-inch heels she’d paired with her black shorts and three quarter-sleeve white top. Not exactly the best outfit to walk the mile to Main Street.

  There was only one option, and she did not want to sink to such levels, but she was hungry and in desperate need of social interaction. She turned back and grabbed the keys to her parents’ golf cart—the same cart Olivia was embarrassed of the minute her parents bought it and explained it was to put-put around the neighborhood. According to them, John Andre liked the wind in his face. Olivia liked to roll down a window on a nice summer day, too, but her parents didn’t run out and buy her a golf cart.

  She tossed all the ill-will to the back of her mind and headed to the garage. She’d never driven the blasted thing, but it couldn’t be that hard. She found the ignition, stuck the key in, and turned it over.

  The cart sputtered to life and Olivia placed her bag on the seat beside her. She pushed down on the gas, and the cart moved forward. Dad wasn’t kidding when he said to put-put around the neighborhood; this thing couldn’t get out of its own way. At this rate, she’d be better off walking, but then she thought of the potential blisters and pressed down on the pedal, hoping the golf cart would find some will to speed up.

  It didn’t.

  Olivia pressed on. She focused on the cheeseburger, but Shane’s face quickly overpowered that vision. A smile came to her face when she thought of their interaction the other night. He was not only easy to talk to when she wasn’t a blubbering mess, but he also paid attention to the little things. Daniel couldn’t even remember her birthday.

  She continued on her way to Main Street when she did a double take at the triangular figure walking down the street. If she was in the city, she would have kept going without even a glance in the oddity’s direction, but this wasn’t the city.

  She slowed the golf cart, and as she approached the triangle turned, revealing it was actually a life-size costume of a slice of pizza, and Hal’s head popped through a pepperoni circle at the top. His long black hair must’ve been pulled back.

  While Olivia should’ve been surprised, she wasn’t. It was Hal after all.

  “Olivia!” Hal’s arms came up, big white, Mickey-Mouse-looking gloves on each hand. “It’s so good to see you.”

  “Hal.” She stopped, trying to find the words as she took in the triangular costume, complete with a pair of ridiculously oversized cartoon-like sneakers. “You’re a slice of pizza.”

  “Got a job at Carlos’ handing out flyers. I’m on my way there now.”

  “Where’s your van?” she asked. He had a big black van that would be suspicious driving down any area with children, but the only thing Hal kept in the back was his guitar amp.

  “In the shop. The AC went, and I figured I should get it fixed before the humidity rolls in.”

  “Hop in. I’ll give you a ride.”

  “You always were a sweet girl.” He lifted one bulky sneaker that reminded Olivia of her dad’s monster slippers into the cart. He lifted himself up and turned to sit. He bent down adjusting his costume, the top of the crust knocking Olivia’s sunglasses off her face.

  After much movement, Hal settled and Olivia fixed her glasses. “We good?” she asked, and he nodded. Olivia hit the gas and continued on. “How’s the music going?” Her gaze drifted to Hal, and his face lit up.

  “Great! I’ll be playing at Greta’s tonight. You and the fam should stop by.”

  “I’ll see if my parents are up to it.”

  He held out a flyer, and she took it. One hand on the wheel, she glanced at the paper.

  “On the front is a coupon for Carlos’. You get a dozen garlic knots on the house, and on the back…” Hal waited for Olivia to turn the flyer over. She bit her lip to keep from laughing. There was a closeup picture of Hal decked out in his Alice Cooper makeup, tongue out, fingers bent in the rock and roll devil horn symbol.

  “I’ll save this for later.” She held the steering wheel with her elbows and made a show of folding the flyer and tucking it safely in her purse.

  She talked with Hal, mainly about his music, until they reached their final destination. Hal jumped out first, his costume getting stuck on the frame of the cart. Olivia gave it a good shove, and Hal popped free.

  “Thanks for the ride,” he said. “Hope to see you tonight.”

  Olivia waved, a familiar calm coming over her. She acted like she hated small town life and she was a city girl at heart, but a simple conversation with Hal had made her feel more at home than she had in a while.

  Olivia’s phone vibrated, reverberating in her bag. She fished it out, and her heart dropped at Daniel’s name flashing on her screen. Her good mood instantly gone.

  Ignoring the asshole would be the smart thing to do, but curiosity was a bitch unfortunately. She clicked the text open and rolled her eyes.

  Everyone is asking for you. What am I supposed to say?

  Her lip curled, and rage simmered inside her, taking over her fingers as she violently tapped a reply on the screen, wishing it was Daniel’s face.

  You can tell them that you’re a no good, two timing jerk who used me in your climb to the top.

  Unbelievable. He cheated on her, and now he expected her to bail his ass out. It wasn’t going to happen. It wasn’t her fault he couldn’t keep Mr. Willy in his pants, and it sure as hell wasn’t her fault that they were in this situation.

  Her phone vibrated again, and she resisted the urge to chuck her phone in the street and watch as the next car drove by, crushing it into oblivion.

  She gritted her teeth and opened the text.

  Stop acting like a child.

  She might’ve been twenty-five and unsure about most things in her life, but one fact remained true—she was not a child.

  But if he thought she was, well than that’s exactly what she was going to be. She had nothing to prove to him anymore. She picked her phone back up and shot off another text.

  Excuse me I’m late for my playdate.

  She hit send and shoved her phone in her bag. Victory consumed her for about two seconds, but that word kept flashing in her mind. Child.

  Miles away and broken up, Daniel still managed to bring out her insecurities.

  ***

  It’d been three days since Shane rolled into town, and he had yet to meet his grandfather. He wasn’t delusional; he didn’t expect the man to meet him at the train station with wide open arms, but he at least expected him to make an effort to meet the grandson he’d never met. He felt like an idiot every time he glanced toward the pub door, as if the man would pop in.

  He didn’t want to care, but the lack of interest ate at him. It made him qu
estion what sort of relationship his father must’ve had with the man. He’d accepted that he didn’t have a father, and that was okay. He didn’t know the man, so it’s not like he ever had to feel the loss. Now, being in his father’s hometown, he couldn’t ignore the ache in his heart for a relationship that never was. And maybe that’s why he was so disappointed. Maybe a part of him was hoping to bridge a gap in his life he didn’t even know was there.

  Connor reappeared from the kitchen and dropped a plate of nachos off at a table of older women who all held a copy of the same book in one hand and margaritas in the other. According to Connor, they met every Monday for book club, but their book club was really an excuse to day drink.

  He made his way back and leaned against the bar. Humor lit the strong angles of Connor’s face and glowed in his green eyes. “Make sure you keep the margaritas flowing for that group, or they’ll get rowdy.”

  “Will do.”

  Shane glanced toward the door then at Connor. “Does our grandfather ever stop in?”

  “Here?” Connor barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Even if pigs took flight down Main Street, he wouldn’t come in here.”

  “I just thought…”

  “That we were a close-knit family? No. We all just live in the same town. To be honest, if it wasn’t for Mimi, we probably wouldn’t even see each other.”

  “Oh.” A strange disappointment settled in his stomach.

  “Grandfather spends most of his time at his Manhattan office. He comes home Thursday night then heads out Sunday. Unless it’s summer. Then he spends most of his days in his office at Bayview. Mimi can coax him out for a family dinner or an event.”

  “Are you two close?”

  “Depends on your definition of close. I see him on occasion, and we talk about the Yankees. He has season tickets on the front baseline. He usually uses them to schmooze clients, but every now and again he’ll offer me a ticket.” Connor tapped Shane’s shoulder. “Hey, maybe we’ll get to go this summer. Watch a few innings, throw back a few beers.”

  “Sounds great.” Shane had only been to one baseball game his whole life—the Angels vs the Mariners. His mom had gotten them tickets when she’d gotten a raise because he had always wanted to go. She’d always been selfless like that—always doing everything for him and nothing for herself. She was so busy taking care of him she didn’t even realize when her own health had declined.

  Visions of her emaciated in a hospital bed filtered into his mind. He swallowed hard and shook his head. He wasn’t going back there. Not now.

  “So, does that mean you might be sticking around for a while?”

  Shane didn’t want to commit, but he also didn’t want to let Connor down. “It’s a possibility. Not like I have anywhere else to go.”

  “I know you said it was just you and your mom, but do you not have any other family?”

  Shane shook his head. “Nope.”

  “Our family might be a bit dysfunctional, and we might not be the family you dreamed about, but we’re yours now.”

  It was more than Shane had, and though he was hesitant to step into and accept this new family as his own, he was grateful to Connor for welcoming him so easily. “I appreciate that.”

  “We don’t have to hug now or anything, right?” Connor asked.

  Shane’s eyebrow arched, and he leaned back. “I sure as hell hope not.”

  Connor gave him a knowing smile. “You’ll fit in just fine.”

  The door opened, and out of habit, Shane’s attention went to the entrance. Olivia appeared, the sunlight encircling her as if she were a walking beam of light. His gaze immediately dropped to the long curve of her bare legs before roaming up and settling on her deep brown eyes.

  “Looks like family’s not the only reason for you to stay.” Connor patted Shane’s back and disappeared into the kitchen. He was about to make a joke when he saw the array of emotions fighting for the spotlight on Olivia’s face.

  “Rough day?” he asked as she approached the bar.

  She dropped her bag on the top of the bar and hopped onto the barstool, slouching on the bar top. “Are all men assholes or just a select few? Is it like a gene or something?”

  “Boyfriend trouble?” he asked.

  Her lip curled in disgust. “Ex-boyfriend. And kind of.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Not really.”

  “Okay then what can I get—?”

  “It’s just that we were together for a long time, and you would think I would have noticed I was dating a total jerk. But no, I was blissfully unaware of the magnitude of douchebag that was contained in that custom suit of his.”

  Shane rested his arms on the bar beside her and leaned forward. “Maybe you didn’t want to see it.” She blinked up, brown eyes like deep pools of chocolate he’d be more than happy to drown in for a night. “Sometimes it’s easier to pretend everything’s okay rather than accepting that it’s not.”

  He’d done it all too often. First when he was sick, refusing to accept his diagnosis. Then when Mom got sick. Denial was a better state of mind… until it wasn’t.

  “I guess you could be right. Look at me now. I had to do my own blowout this morning.” She made a sweeping motion toward her hair. “I’m homeless, jobless, and an emotional train wreck.”

  Shane shook his head and laughed. “No, the other night you were an emotional train wreck. Today you seem like you’re on your way to figuring out your next steps without him in your life.”

  Her glossed lips pressed together in what looked like an attempt to hide a smile. He wished she didn’t suppress it. Her smile was beautiful. “I hope so. Right now, I feel like I’m never going to figure out my next step.”

  He rested a comforting hand on hers; an unexpected jolt of electricity shot through his arm and right to his groin. He swallowed down the rise of desire the touch of her skin against his awakened inside him and focused on the conversation.

  “You will,” he said.

  “How do you know?”

  A smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Because there’s a fire in you. I saw it the first time I met you, and I can see it now, and that fire is not something that can be contained.” He felt it when he touched her, too. Heat roared beneath the surface, begging to be released. He wouldn’t mind helping her free the built-up inferno for a night. He’d bet money that one seductive touch to her prissy demeanor would spark a blaze of passion inside her, making her become overzealous and eager to take him.

  “You’re good at this,” she said.

  His brow furrowed, knocking him away from visions of Olivia satiated and naked beneath him. “And what’s that?”

  “Being a bartender.”

  “I haven’t even offered you a drink.”

  “No, but a good bartender is much more than the drinks they make. A good bartender knows how to talk to people, and a good bartender knows exactly what to say to make their train wreck of a customer have hope again.”

  “I’m happy I could help. Now back to the other portion of being a good bartender. What can I get you? A burger?”

  Her head tilted, and her hair fell forward and brushed against her cheek. “How do you know I’m going to order a burger?” She pushed the chestnut strands behind a delicate ear.

  “You look like you need a cheat day.” He wrote down her order. “Besides, why would you order anything else other than the best?”

  Her eyes dropped to the bar, and a sadness surrounded her, sagging her shoulders and frowning.

  “Hey, you okay?” Shane asked. He didn’t mean to upset the girl. If she didn’t want to commit to a cheat day, he’d get her a kale salad or whatever it was she ate.

  She glanced up, a forced smile on her face. “It’s silly really.”

  “I like silly. Tell me.”

  She bit her lip as if she was debating whether to tell him or not. An air of shyness floated around her. He waited, hoping she’d let him in on whatever she was thinking. N
ormally, he wouldn’t care, but he wanted to know what went through her head.

  “It’s just that I’ve known you for what? Three days? And I feel like you already know me better and understand me better than my ex ever did.”

  The honesty was a shock to his system, but her words warmed him unexpectedly, and pride swelled in his chest. “When a pretty girl talks, I listen.” He might’ve steered clear of relationships, but he knew how to give women exactly what they wanted.

  Disappointment tugged at the corners of her eyes, but she pressed her lips upward anyway. “Damn, and here I thought I was special.”

  He reached across the bar, taking her hand in his to add weight to his words, but mainly because he wanted to feel the softness of her hand against his again. He ran the pad of his thumb across her knuckle and met her eyes, holding her gaze for a quiet moment. “You are.”

  The disappointment vanished from her features as a pretty blush crept up her neck and into her cheeks.

  Satisfied with her reaction, he let go of her hand. “How about that burger?”

  “How about more margaritas!” The table of margarita drinking women all held their drinks up in solidarity.

  Olivia covered her mouth and muffled a laugh. “You better get on that before they get rowdy. Hi ladies,” Olivia waved then turned back to Shane. “I’ll keep them in line while you get started on those margaritas.” She slid off the stool and strutted toward the women.

  Shane watched as she greeted each of the book club members then with confident ease, rested her hand on the back of a chair to continue the conversation.

  In the way she dressed and carried herself, Olivia came across as confident, but Shane could see beyond the façade. He could see the insecurities and uncertainties that poked beneath the surface, but as he watched her speak to the table of women, those nuances of self-doubt vanished.

  Shane prepared a pitcher of margaritas for the table and passed off Olivia’s order to Connor. It’d been only a couple days, but he already felt like he belonged, manning the bar and working as a team with his cousin. He grabbed the pitcher and brought it over to the table. He was greeted with cheers as he filled all the glasses.