Valentina arched a brow and cocked her head to the side. “Ah, see, I knew I was right. It’s totally something to do with Walker.”
I leaned my head down, tunneling my hands through my hair with a sigh before lifting my face to meet her gaze again. “Fine. You’re right. He left me this cryptic text saying he had to go see Dave and he’d explain. I don’t know what the hell is going on. I haven’t heard from him in two days. I feel like an idiot for falling for him, and I don’t know what to do. I mean, if it mattered, I think I would’ve heard from him by now.”
Valentina bit her lip as she considered me. “Maybe, maybe not. Since you don’t know what’s going on, maybe you should try not to assume it’s bad.”
I let out a heavy sigh just as the coffee maker beeped. Standing, I strode over to fetch two mugs and fill them with coffee. “You know, sometimes you’re too optimistic,” I commented over my shoulder.
Turning, I set Valentina’s mug on the counter beside her before taking a long sip of mine. She glanced sideways as she finished shredding some cheese. “Well, sometimes you’re too pessimistic. Especially about men,” she said with a pointed look.
I considered Valentina’s observation as I stared at the drunken guy standing across the bar from me. “No,” I said flatly. “You’re cut off for the rest of the night. If you keep bugging me about another drink, I’ll be kicking you out of the bar.”
The guy gave me something between a lopsided smile and a glare. “Geez, you’re a bitch for someone so pretty.”
And Valentina wondered why I was pessimistic about men. With a disgusted snort, I turned away, immediately taking another drink order from a young woman who was ordering for a table of ten in the corner.
I still hadn’t heard a thing from Walker, and it had now been three days since I’d seen him. Much as I wanted to take Valentina’s advice to be more optimistic and my oh-so-wishful heart was being needy and noisy, I’d come to the conclusion that his radio silence could only mean one thing. He’d reconsidered his feelings.
I was wondering if I’d seen everything through the wrong lens with him. Maybe he’d been prepping me for the inevitable choice to have one last night and make a clean break of it if I didn’t scrounge up the nerve to tell him I loved him. And now, even more obnoxiously, I was probably going to have to come up with some sort of explanation for Lucas, seeing as he’d asked Walker about us. I was surprised he hadn’t asked yet, but he’d stayed quiet even though he certainly had a few chances. My best guess about that was Valentina had told him to leave me in peace for the time being.
I tried to ignore the piercing ache in my heart. Fortunately, the bar was busy tonight. The brewery, which was on an adjacent property, was hosting a wedding event this weekend. There was spillover from the guests filling the bar tonight. The downside to this particular crowd was it kept reminding me of the very wedding that had started it all for Walker and me.
I spun through making one drink after another, relieved when Griffin, one of the bartenders at the lodge restaurant who occasionally pitched in here, came in to help out. The pace was relentless.
After the busy night ended, we were cleaning up together and Griffin’s voice came over my shoulder when I pulled my phone out of my pocket for probably the thousandth time tonight. “Okay, what gives?”
“Huh?” I asked as I turned and tossed some empty beer bottles into the recycling bin.
“You managed to check your phone in between almost every drink you mixed tonight. I gotta give you credit, though, it didn’t slow you down a bit.”
I looked over at Griffin. Grabbing one of the clean white towels from a stack behind the bar, I dipped it in a disinfectant mixture and began wiping down the bar. I sure as hell didn’t want to admit I kept checking to see if Walker had texted or called.
Griffin chuckled. “I’m guessing it’s something to do with your boyfriend.”
Pausing, I rested a hand on my hip. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
Griffin leveled me with a look. “That’s not what I heard.”
I groaned. “What did you hear?”
“I heard that fake wedding date turned out to be pretty real.”
I practically growled at him before I began vigorously cleaning around the sink behind the bar.
“No need to get so pissed off, Jade,” he said. “Speaking of…”
The moment he said that, the hairs on the back of my neck rose and a prickle raced down my spine. I didn’t know how I knew, but I knew Walker was here.
I kept my voice low. “Didn’t we lock up?”
“In the front. You were supposed to get the back door. How about I finish cleaning up and you, uh, I don’t know, go somewhere to talk?” Griffin offered.
I hated that my heart was pounding so hard, each beat more resounding than the last and coming in rapid succession.
“Hey, Jade.”
The sound of Walker’s voice struck me right in my solar plexus. Whether I wanted to or not, my head lifted. I found him standing directly across from me on the other side of the bar. He looked tired, his dark hair mussed, and the lines on his face tense.
I finally managed to speak. “Hey.”
Before I realized what was happening, Griffin stepped to my side, removing the towel from my hand. “Jade was just finishing up,” he said, patting me on the back.
I cast him a glare. He ignored me. “You two want to talk out back? I’ll take care of anything left to do and leave out the front.”
I didn’t know why the hell Griffin was trying to be so freaking helpful when I didn’t need any help. Either I made
