Lexi turned to Marcus, who’d been quietly watching the whole exchange. “I feel bad for her. She’s really a loving generous person.” She lowered her voice. “I actually thought she might work things out with Josh.”
Marcus shook his head. “There’s plenty of single guys at my bar if she wants to meet someone away from you-know-who.” He inclined his head toward Josh furiously scrubbing the bar top with a rag at the other end of the bar.
“I’ll mention it to her later,” Lexi said. It was long past time for their meddling but well-meaning matchmaker to find her very own happy ending. “How’s your mom?”
He took a pull on his beer, taking his time answering. Finally he set the bottle down. “The same. No improvement.”
“Did you mention the therapy-dog idea?”
His shoulders drooped as he stared at the bar. “She says a dog is too much responsibility.”
Her heart ached for him. She could practically feel the weight of his burden.
He stood abruptly, tossing some bills on the bar. “I’m heading out.” He raised a palm to her friends. “Night, ladies.” He turned and called over to Josh still furiously scrubbing the bar. “Later, Josh.”
Josh tossed the rag under the bar, jerked his chin at Marcus, and then just stood there, jaw clenched, staring off in the distance.
Marcus turned to her, his dark eyes pained, his jaw tight. “Bye.”
“Bye,” she said quietly, watching him go. For one crazy moment she considered going after him and hugging him or something.
Once she got home from ladies’ night, she stopped by Sabrina’s old apartment and rang the bell, wanting to check in on Marcus. It had to be hard to be the only one your ailing mom could depend on. She planned to share more about her aunt’s agoraphobia and see if there was something that would work for his mom.
He wasn’t home.
Maybe he’d gone to check on his mom. No way could she show up there. His mom would have her head on a platter.
She headed back to her apartment, unlocked the door, and sighed. Ladies’ night had been a bust with everyone worried about Hailey. It almost made her wish for a time when Hailey would’ve been cheerfully all over her about finding the One, as if such a person existed. How effed up was that?
Chapter Five
Lexi had just returned from a trip to the grocery store the next day with the bare minimum to get by for the week—her dwindling bank account never far from her mind—when she ran into Marcus coming out of his apartment down the hall. He was dressed casually in a black hoodie and athletic pants.
He closed the distance between them. “Hey, Lexi, how’re you doing?”
She bobbed her head. “Good. How’re you?”
“Getting by. How’s Lexi’s Events? Get any new clients?”
She swallowed hard. She’d really been trying to keep positive about her new freelance career, but it was tough when she hadn’t brought in any new business. It had only been a week, but still, tell that to her bills. “Not yet. Working on it.”
“It’s not easy to start a new business. I’ve been there.”
Her throat tightened, eyes hot at the sympathetic understanding in his voice. “Thanks.”
“Listen, I’m on my way back to the city and I’ll be at work by four. Why don’t you stop by my bar and we’ll work out the details for the Mardi Gras event?”
“Really?” Her voice cracked. “But I upset your mom. I told you, you’re under no obligation to keep to our original deal.”
He flashed a smile that gave her a jolt. “Show me what you got, Lexi. Maybe I’ll hire you for more events and spread the word. My bar is filled with big Wall Street spenders.”
She stilled, trying to think it through, the logistics, the timing. Mardi Gras was only two and a half weeks away, which meant it would be tough to pull something good together. On the other hand, she currently had zero clients. “I’ll be there, thank you.”
“Excellent. Chin up, my friend, you’ll get there.”
He swaggered away and she watched him go, a lump in her throat. She shook her head at herself. It wasn’t like her to be so emotional. She headed into her apartment and set the two grocery bags on the counter. Marcus had given her hope, a lifeline when she really needed one, even after she’d screwed things up with his mom. You know what? She was going to fix this thing with his mom just like she’d wanted to in the first place. She’d go to her house and apologize. And if Lia wouldn’t let her in, then she’d slip a note under the door. Maybe she’d even be able to help Lia too, eventually.
She quickly put the food away, grabbed her purse, and headed out the door.
~ ~ ~
Marcus spotted Lexi the moment she stepped into The Burrow later that day in a white knitted hat with a big pom-pom. Not because he was watching the door for her, he reassured himself. Anyone would’ve noticed that hat. She wore a black down vest over a white turtleneck with black skinny jeans and high-heeled black boots. Winter gear that still showed off her sexy trim body. No big puffy coat for her.
“Lexi!” he called, raising a hand in greeting from where he stood behind the bar.
“Hey.” She lifted a hand and gave him a friendly smile.
His chest warmed at the sight, knowing he had something to do with that smile. He was her first client. She crossed to the bar, standing across from him, her brown eyes bright. A gray laptop bag on her shoulder told him she’d come prepared. She took off her hat and smoothed down her hair.
He caught her eye, his lips curving into the half-smile that never failed with women.
Her lips parted, her gaze on his mouth. Never. Failed.
“Can I get you a drink?” he asked.
“I’ll take some water, thanks.”
He filled two glasses. “Why don’t we sit in one of the booths?” Three people sat at the bar already, and he figured they could have a little privacy in a booth.
“Sure.” She looked around. “This place looks so much bigger than the last time I was here. I mean, I guess it was Saturday night last time.”
“Yeah, it can really get packed in here.” The Burrow had the look and feel of an Irish pub. It was long and narrow, the dark glossy bar on the right, a few high-top tables in the center of the space, and farther back, there were booths. Upstairs was a private room that could be reserved for large groups, with a fully stocked bar, poker tables, and a pool table. That was where he liked to bring his friends when they ventured out to the city. He lived only a few blocks away.
He made a quick phone call to get a sub behind the bar. Once Sam stepped in, Marcus headed for the first booth, where Lexi was already seated, facing the door.
He sat across from her and slid her glass across the table. “What’s up?”
She opened her laptop and booted it up. “I had lunch with your mom today.”
He shot up straight in his seat. “What? How? Where? Did she leave the house?”
Lexi met his eyes. “I felt terrible about upsetting her, so I stopped by and apologized. I told her sometimes I stick my foot in my mouth and I was very sorry for stepping over the line.”
“And she let you in the house?” he asked, unable to keep the shock from his voice. His mom had said Lexi wasn’t welcome in her home.
She laughed. “Why is that so hard to believe?”
He moved right on past that touchy question, figuring it would only hurt her feelings if she knew what his mom had said. “So you had lunch there or you went out? Details, woman!”
Lexi inclined her head. “After I apologized, I told her I’d recently gotten laid off and asked if she’d like to have lunch to commiserate with me. My treat.”
He blinked, shocked at the balls on her. To go back there with a humble apology and then offer to buy his mom lunch was above and beyond the call of duty. Lexi had been roped into going there in the first place, and they weren’t even in a relationship. Even if they were, he never would’ve asked her to face his mom alone. He would’ve run interference for her.<
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Lexi went on. “She said she loved Ernie’s Diner, so I brought lunch from there and we ate it in her kitchen.” That was the diner he and his mom used to go to before she refused to leave the house.
His chest ached, his throat suddenly tight with emotion. “But they don’t do takeout.”
“I worked around that. I sat and had a bowl of soup. Then I ordered her favorite chicken pot pie, got one for myself, and told the waiter to wrap it up.”
“Clever,” he murmured. And why hadn’t he thought of that?
“I’m a problem solver,” she said in a singsong voice.
She was something. He suddenly wanted to hug her, but she was across the table from him, and he couldn’t figure out a way to do it without being awkward.
“We talked about you.” She smiled mischievously, her eyes practically dancing with glee. “I told her how little Rose loved you, and guess who she told me about?”
He rubbed his forehead, avoiding eye contact. “Who?”
“Bitty Kitty!” She flexed her nonexistent bicep muscles and attempted to do a gruff he-man voice. “Big hulking teenaged Marcus hiding a tiny white kitten in his jacket pocket.” She laughed. “She told me all about how you tried to smuggle her home, covering up her meows with fake coughs and sneezes.”
He jabbed a finger at her and said in mock anger, “Hey! Bitty Kitty was a special cat. Not like the regular kind. She’d come when I called her like a dog.”
She didn’t laugh this time. Instead she looked at him warmly, tenderly, like she actually liked him at his embarrassing worst. “Your mom felt bad you couldn’t keep her because of the apartment rules. She told me you visited Bitty Kitty at Ben’s grandmother’s house for years.”
He grunted. “It was nice of Mrs. Walsh to take her in.”
“You loved her.”
He jerked his chin. The love of his life. “She lived to be sixteen. Lost her a couple of years back.”
“Aww, Marcus! You should get another cat.”
He shook his head. “Nobody can replace Bitty.”
She smiled at him, another warm tender smile. He swallowed hard, surprised at how much that warm tender smile affected him, feeling kinda warm himself, even in the throes of mom-induced embarrassment.
“Anyway,” she said, “I gave your mom the number of a local psychiatrist that Sabrina recommended. The woman specializes in agoraphobia and does phone sessions to help her clients learn to handle their anxiety and reenter the world.”
Something in him cracked open, a flood of emotions hitting him all at once—pure elation, gooey affection, tremendous relief. He was grateful too, so humbly grateful he couldn’t even speak, his eyes stinging.
Lexi must’ve noticed because she looked down at her laptop screen, giving him a moment to pull it together. “It went okay. She took the suggestion in the friendly well-meaning way that I offered it. I’ll text you the doctor’s info so you can arrange payment if she does call.”
He found his voice. “Lexi.” He waited for her to meet his eyes. “Thank you.” He put a hand over his aching chest. “From the bottom of my heart.”
She shrugged, her eyes shifting away. “No big.”
“No. It’s very big. Thank you.”
She met his eyes, her voice quiet. “You’re welcome.”
“Does she still think you’re my girlfriend or…”
“I acted like you were all that—” she waved a hand airily “—you know, just to encourage her to keep talking to me, so I think she assumed we were together.”
He couldn’t get past the fact that his mom was cool with Lexi now. Not only that, she didn’t seem to mind them being together. He would’ve heard about it right away if she still objected.
He couldn’t help his smile. “I’m all that, huh?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t let it go to your head. I was making amends, fixing what I screwed up for you since you were nice enough to give me this job when I really needed one. Should we get started?”
“Is it okay if we let her think we’re together a while more? I think it’s helping her. I know that sounds weird, but—”
“Marcus, it’s fine. Really. Besides, I’m getting all the goods on you. She even showed me your baby pictures. Classic naked-butt pose too.” She grinned.
He shook his head, smiling. “What can you do? Proud mom.”
“And you were hung!”
He barked out a laugh. “Shut up, you pervert.”
She laughed. “So I’ve got tons of ideas for your Mardi Gras event. But first, what kind of budget are we talking here?”
“Whatever you need.” He’d pay anything to help out Lexi, who’d already made more progress with his mom in one lunch than he’d managed in the last two months.
Her eyes widened. “You don’t have to worry about money?” she asked in a hushed voice.
He took a sip of water. “It’s like this. Jake Campbell lent me the money for this bar. I paid him back within a year and then I invested in Dat Cloud. Before it went public.” Dat Cloud was Jake’s company and had made Jake a billionaire. Marcus had made out very well too.
“Before it went public,” she echoed. He could see her putting the pieces together. “You hit the mother lode!”
“Shh. I’m doing well. Now I can invest for fun, so I’ll invest in you for fun.”
She stared at him, clearly in shock. Obviously she didn’t know him very well. He’d do anything for his friends, and Lexi now qualified as friend numero uno.
He made a big show of rolling his eyes and heaved a sigh. “Do I have to do everything? Hurricane drinks, beads, and purple, green, and gold decorations.”
She snapped to attention. “How about a speed-dating masquerade?” She made a pretend mask with her fingers around her eyes. “Just an eye mask, so you can still see most of the person’s face. And if you give the ladies half-price Mardi Gras cocktails, you could really pack them in here.”
He rubbed his stubbled jaw. “Keep talking.”
“We incorporate social media into it too. Royalty is a big part of Mardi Gras, so we make a king and queen of the bar contest. The first twenty people who enter will make a poll on social media to get votes.”
“Liking that social media idea.”
She went on enthusiastically. “We can have people make floats, like miniature floats out of small cardboard boxes, and then vote on the best one.”
He grimaced. “That sounds messy.”
“We could set up a couple of long tables away from the bar for people to make them.” She pointed over to the space. “Speed-dating rounds back here in the booths, royalty contest at the bar. Then staff can rotate people through stations. There’s something for everyone.”
“I like most of that, except the half-price cocktails. I think they’ll pay full price for this event.”
“Okay, then we can make cool cocktails too. Hurricanes, but also purple, green, and gold drinks.” She turned her laptop, clicking over to some saved cocktail recipes. “Anything look good?”
“Whatever you pick is fine.”
She smiled. “You might be my easiest client yet.” She looked around. “I don’t think you’ll have room for a live band with everything else, but we can make a cool jazz playlist, some nice mood lighting, like twinkly white lights. Some traditional New Orleans food.”
“We usually do jambalaya and gumbo.”
“Excellent. Maybe add some Cajun shrimp and grits. Ooh, maybe we could get some alligator meat too.”
He made a face. “You ever eat that?”
“No, but it sounds very New Orleans, doesn’t it?”
“You ever been to New Orleans?”
“No, but I read.”
He smirked. “I’ve been there. It’s amazing and the women flash you for beads.” He took a drink of water, hiding his smile.
“I always hated that. We should give out beads to the guys with the biggest dick.”
He spewed his water.
She cracked up.
She lifted one shoulder. “Same thing. Tits, dicks.”
He stared at her. “It is not the same thing at all.”
“Tomato, tamato. Anyway, we could give out a bead necklace when they walk in and then for prizes for different games. Trivia, best float, funniest float, cutest speed-dating couple, stuff like that. The person who has the most necklaces at the end of the night wins something. Maybe a fifty-buck bar tab so they’ll return and bring their friends.”
“That sounds good to me. I’ll probably need you to help run it.”
“Absolutely. I—” She stopped and stared at someone over his shoulder.
He turned to where his longtime waitress, Ellie, stood in her favored tight ripped jeans and skin-tight thermal shirt that emphasized her large breasts. That combined with long wavy brown hair and striking blue eyes meant she raked in the tips with the male customers. She was also his best employee—here with him from the beginning—and she managed the bar in his absence. “Hey, Ellie. How’s it going?”
Ellie smiled. “Hey, boss.” She turned to Lexi. “Hi.”
“Hello,” Lexi said.
Ellie turned back to him. “How long are you going to do this living-in-the-burbs thing? We miss you around here.”
“Not sure,” Marcus said, thinking of his mom. He forced a smile. “No worries with you around. You keep it running smoothly.” He was lucky he could count on her to step in while he was living part-time near his mom. He patted his jeans pocket, suddenly remembering the key he’d left in his office. He’d get the checkbook while he was there too for Lexi. “Excuse me a minute, ladies, I’ll be right back.”
He stood and turned to go.
Ellie pointed toward the kitchen. “I left you something sweet in the fridge.”
“You’re killing me.” He slapped a hand over his flat stomach. “You know I’m off sugar.” He kept walking.
Ellie called out to him, “That’s cuz you’re already sweet, sugar.”
He laughed and kept going.
~ ~ ~
Lexi went back to her laptop.
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