Chaser Page 10

  Apparently, Ada had no thoughts on the matter.

  "So he was away on tour in Europe or something stupid. But he said I could crash at his place for a while." I stared out at the softly falling snow. "It was much warmer there. Still some girls in bikinis and everything. I caught up with a couple of friends and checked out a few bars, you know. Did a bit of shopping, stuff like that."

  Ada sucked on my arm, which was slightly gross, but whatever made her happy. A thin line of drool dripped down onto my jeans.

  "Nice," I said. "You're a very classy girl and don't let anyone ever tell you differently. Now, where was I? Right. My trip. So I took a look around town, hit some of the new hot spots. But this is the really weird part. You ready?"

  She made no response. Still, she was struggling with how to bawl about life at the same time as sucking on my arm, so at least the volume had turned down a little.

  "I just ... I kind of panicked for some reason. Don't tell anyone this, okay? That's a pretty safe bet with you, I think." I sighed. "Like, I was worried about you guys. I wanted to see you and your mom. But I didn't at the same time. Again, don't take any of this personally."

  Still no response.

  "Then, see what I did? The minute I get back, I'm knocking on your door. Can't stay away." I shook my head. "Crazy, isn't it? You think maybe my mom dropped me on the head when I was little or something? Might explain a few things. Just joking, you'd love my mother. She's a great woman. I'm sure you'll get to meet her sometime soon if you haven't already."

  Nothing.

  "Ada?"

  Carefully, I lifted her so I could see her face. Sure enough, her eyes were closed, her chest rising in deep even breaths. Amazing. I'd bored the baby to sleep. My internal pain meant nothing to the kid. This just confirmed my beliefs about not talking about life stuff. Nobody wants to hear it.

  A door cracked open and Jean tiptoed out, eyes wide. "She stopped crying."

  "Shh," I whispered. "I thought you were getting some rest."

  "I brushed my teeth." She sounded weirdly satisfied.

  "For the last five minutes?"

  She nodded serenely. "First time in days. Gross, I know." Her chin tipped toward Ada. "Is she...?"

  "She's asleep."

  "Good job," she said. "Now we have to try to put her down in her cot without waking her up."

  "Why do I suddenly hear the Mission: Impossible theme song playing in my head?"

  Jean laughed softly. The nicest thing I'd ever heard, aside from the blissful sounds of Ada not crying. "That's pretty accurate, actually."

  "Babies are intense."

  "You have no idea."

  And it took three tries. She kept startling and waking, upset with us for trying to put her down. Hey, if I was her, I'd want to be cuddled and carried around constantly too. It was probably extremely soothing. But in the end, the baby was in her cot, eyes closed, fast asleep. I quickly gathered up the old food containers to take Jean's garbage down. Since the contents of my fridge included two beers and some moldy cheese, a food run was required. Sure, I could eat at the Dive Bar. But I wasn't ready to end my downtime, away from everyone.

  Still feeling like the king of the world, I left. It was good to be home.

  *

  They cornered me the next day, right before my very first shift back. A sure sign of bad things to come. The three of us crowded into the small dingy office in the back, Lydia sitting behind the desk at the computer. Since she handled the bookkeeping, this made sense. Nell carefully lowered herself down into the seat beside me, hands laced over her growing belly.

  "What's going on?" I asked, not the least bit seeming afraid because that wouldn't be manly. No, fuck that. I was edgy. Edginess was manly. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

  "What do you think we want to talk to you about?" asked Nell, a ginger brow elegantly raised.

  "I don't know."

  "How'd things go in California? Fall off the no-sex wagon yet?"

  "No, I did not." I held in the "so there." Very mature of me, I know.

  "Damn, he's telling the truth," said Lydia. "I owe Vaughan five bucks."

  Nell sighed. "I owe Pat a lap dance."

  "You've all been betting on me?" I spluttered.

  At least Lydia had the grace to look ashamed; Nell held her head high. "Yes. But that's not the reason for this little talk. Been up to anything else lately we should know about, Eric?"

  "I don't know. Jesus." I inched up in the seat just in case an emergency bolt was required. She couldn't possibly know about me and Jean. Not that there was a me and Jean. All we'd done was hang out and I'd rocked the baby to sleep. I was innocent. Mostly.

  Nell's gaze narrowed.

  "What?" I asked. "What have I done? Just tell me."

  Lydia slumped back into her seat with a sigh. "Nell, stop playing with him. Honestly, you are such a sadist."

  The edge of Nell's lip curled up. Evil woman.

  "Not funny," I groused.

  "An interesting thing happened yesterday," Lydia said, fiddling with a pen on the desk.

  "Nell went down to the crossroads, bargained with the devil, and got her soul back?"

  Faster than the speed of light, she punched me in the arm. Bam. The woman might be pregnant, but that didn't slow her down one iota. I doubt Ali would have braved the ring against the woman.

  "Ouch!"

  Lydia smacked the palm of her hand against the table. "Enough. We should be able to have business meetings without insults or violence. Please."

  Silence.

  "Sorry," I said eventually. Because someone had to be a grown-up. Sad-ass day when that someone was me.

  "Nell?" asked Lydia.

  "Oh, all right. I'm sorry." She exhaled. "Let's get on with this."

  The look Lydia gave us both spoke strongly of grabbing us by the ears and banging our heads together or something. Hard to blame her. She cleared her throat, setting her shoulders. "The thing is ... we got an offer on the Dive Bar."

  "What? Who from?" I asked, startled.

  "A well-respected local businessperson," said Lydia.

  "The owners of the resort," Nell chimed in.

  My face tightened, I could feel it. Brows pulling in, forehead stiff. "Huh."

  "It's a good offer," said Lydia.

  "How good?" I asked. She gave me the figure and I swayed slightly in my chair. "Jesus. That is good."

  Nell scowled. "My bet is they want to be top dog in town. We've established a reputable upmarket restaurant and bar so they swan on in and try to take it off our hands."

  "You don't want to sell, then?" I asked.

  "Do you?"

  "I don't know." I thought of life without the Dive Bar. What a huge change and not necessarily a good one. "I mean, the money would be nice. Guess I could get a job somewhere else."

  "The money would be nice," agreed Nell glumly. "Pat and I could buy a bigger place. Something with more room for a family, you know?"

  "Yeah." I scratched at my chin. "What about you, Lydia?"

  "I'm sure I could find something to do with the cash," she said. "But do we really want to give up this place?"

  For a long moment, we all stared off into space, deep in our thoughts. It was a lot to take in. A lot to consider.

  "What would happen to everyone else?" I asked. "Rosie and Boyd and everyone?"

  "Apparently, the new owner would assess them for suitability."

  "They'd lose their jobs?" I swore quietly.

  "Not necessarily," said Lydia. "Hopefully, they'd be given interviews for the positions and their prior experience would weigh in. They wouldn't necessarily be out of work. But ultimately, that would all be up to the new owners. We just don't know."

  "Pat's keen on the idea of me maybe taking some time off after the baby's born. Financially, I'd be able to do that if we sold." Nell placed her hands over her stomach. "Maybe stay home until our baby was ready for kindergarten. Maybe have another child in the meantime."

 
"Is that what you want?" I asked.

  "Good question. It would be nice to have a bit less responsibility for a while. Anything would be an improvement over managing this place." It might have been my imagination, but it felt like Nell's eyes flickered in my direction.

  "I'm not sure I could work for someone else again, here or somewhere else," said Lydia. "It was so horrible being at the real estate agency, having those assholes just fire me like I was nothing. Being in charge of myself, having a say in everything ... I like it. Chances are, the first time anyone gives me crap about something, I'd tell them to get screwed."

  Nell snorted. "Yeah, me too."

  "So we start up somewhere else?" I shrugged. "It's an option."

  "There'd be limits on our ability to do that. How soon and how close to the Dive Bar," said Nell. "They'd legally tie us up to protect their interests here. Make sure we don't steal any of the customers."

  Lydia nodded.

  I cocked my head. "I don't know how I'd feel about just walking away, you know? Would they let us work for them?"

  "Back to what Lydia was saying." Nell pointed in her direction. "Eric, would you really be able to handle someone telling you how to run your bar? Telling you what you could and couldn't do?"

  "You do that already."

  She snorted. "Not even remotely to the extent that another actual manager would. And what if they want to make their imprint on the place, alter things, and redecorate ... change the name, completely transform the vibe of the place?"

  "You're right. This is the Dive Bar," I said, more than a little outraged. "This place has been the Dive Bar since back in the seventies or so. There's real history here. Sure it's largely cheap beer and gaudy, shameful shit. But it's still real local history."

  "They'll change my menu," said Nell.

  I frowned. "So? You change the menu all the time."

  "It's different when I do it. For starters, I know what I'm doing." She crossed her arms. "They'll probably be like those idiots who are all, 'And here's a serving of organic chicken breast in a fresh crumb mixture served with golden potato spears and a liquid tomato salsa and a sprinkling of microgreens.'"

  Lydia gave her a blank stare.

  "Chicken nuggets with fries, ketchup, and a sprig of parsley on top," I said, having heard this particular rant of Nell's previously. Several times.

  "Oh, right." Lydia nodded. "Pretentious assholes are the worst."

  "Exactly!" Nell raised her hands. "So wrong."

  "Practically speaking, though," said Lydia, "we could all get jobs elsewhere and it is a lot of money. Vaughan and I could pay off the house. That would be a huge weight off our shoulders. Go on a trip, maybe."

  Nell bit her lip. "Yeah. It's a lot of children's school fees and books and everything. Eric, you could buy an even bigger and better muscle car penile-enhancement vehicle. A real chick magnet."

  "Don't talk about my genitals. That makes me uncomfortable."

  This made her laugh.

  "So, mostly no?" asked Lydia, gaze moving back and forth between Nell and me.

  I raised my brows and Nell winced. "Maybe?"

  "So, partly yes?"

  Again, we both hemmed and hawed.

  "Okay." Lydia rapped her knuckled against the desk. "Decision made. I'll tell them we're considering the offer, but won't be rushing into anything."

  Nell nodded. "Agreed. Eric?"

  "I can live with that."

  "If they don't like it, too bad." Lydia grinned.

  CHAPTER NINE

  "Thing is, I honestly don't know what I'd do with myself." It was around lunchtime, the next day. I'd spent the last twelve hours running the question over in my mind.

  Jean kept on packing the dishwasher. "With all your experience, you'd be able to get another job without a problem."

  "Yeah. Probably." I lay on my back on the living room rug, a cushion beneath my head and Ada lying on my chest. The perfect way to chill when I had stuff on my mind. Seemed I'd traded women and whiskey for spending quality time with a baby and her awesome mom. Even more surprisingly given my history, it was more than fine with me. "I think she's trying to gum a hole in my shirt."

  "Wait 'til her teeth come in. Then she'll do your wardrobe some damage."

  "Little girl, that's a Black Sabbath tour shirt you're attempting to eat," I said. Then I frowned. "Hmm. Actually, that's probably kind of appropriate, in a heavy metal kind of way. Carry on."

  "Put her on her blanket under the baby gym if you want."

  "Nuh, we're good." I patted Ada on the back, ignoring the dribbled-on wet patch of shirt sticking to my chest. Gross, but whatever. If you liked the baby, you could apparently put up with the weird and disgusting.

  "You're not ready to try something else?" asked Jean. "Move on to a new challenge?"

  I sighed. "There are times it gets boring behind the bar, sure. But everyone that works there, our regular customers, they're like family. Well, Joe is family. But Boyd and Taka and everyone too."

  "So don't sell."

  "But it's a lot of money."

  "Big decision." Dishwasher packed, she stood and stretched her back, a hand to her lower stomach for support. "I'm not sure what I'd do in your position."

  "How're your stitches and everything?"

  "Good. The doctor's happy."

  "Good."

  Ada made a little grunting noise, her face creased. Next, a truly awful smell filled the air. Oh no. No, not on me. Even if there was a diaper and baby suit between me and the possibly toxic mess, it was still way too close.

  "Your daughter wants you," I blurted out. "Quickly. Please."

  "Hmm?" Jean wandered over, her gaze on Ada. And then her nose wrinkled. The mom's, that is, not the baby's. Ada was still busy doing her thing.

  "You take her," I said.

  "Ha. You're a fair-pants friend, Eric Collins." She picked up the baby, raising her to her face. "You smell bad, my darling. Are you poopy? Are you?"

  In reply, Ada sucked on her fist.

  I shook my head. "Jesus. I'm sorry, but that smell is shocking."

  "I think you should change her." Jean smiled because she was evil. "It'll be a growth experience for you."

  "No, thank you. I am a conscientious objector when it comes to growth experiences."

  "Oh, come on. Be brave."

  "Another time. Or possibly never. Let's wait and see."

  I climbed to my feet, following them into the nursery. But at a safe distance. Not that anywhere in the apartment was safe, care of what was going on in Ada's pants. Hazmat suits would probably be required. Some emergency Febreze would also be great.

  "Coward," taunted Jean, laying the baby on the changing table and getting busy. "My respect for you just plummeted."

  "Come on, at least start me out on a wet diaper. Something low-key."

  "Your bestie Eric is not coming through for you," she told Ada.

  "Hey, come on. That's just mean."

  "It's the truth."

  "I let her dribble on me."

  "What's a bit of spit between friends?" Jean laughed quietly, making faces at the baby. "Let's get you cleaned up."

  "She's so tiny. Where did all that even come from?" I asked, mildly horrified. Okay, lots horrified. Hell.

  Safer to distract myself with the newly crafted ambience in Ada's room. Farm animals had been painted on the walls. A cow, duck, dog, pig, and hen. Alex's work, I bet. The animals were over the top deliriously happy, their eyes huge and smiles wide. Maybe the grass on their farm was the special stuff. Brilliant colors splashed around the room: wooden furniture with bright yellow sheets, blankets, and stuff. It was cute.

  "Shouldn't you be on a date or something instead of hanging out with us?" asked Jean over her shoulder. "Not that I object to you hanging out with us, but I'm sure you have better-dressed and better-smelling options."

  I lifted a shoulder. Fact was, I'd just spent three weeks away from them and largely been fucking miserable and worried. It was the pl
ain hard truth. As vacations went, running away to Cali had been a bad idea. I hadn't meant to change my priorities and worldview, it had just happened. Jean and Ada were important to me and that wasn't going to change anytime soon. Time to accept it. They didn't replace the baby Nell and I had lost. They were new and special in their own way. "I'd rather spend my downtime with you two. If that's okay?"

  "Sure it is." Her smile was something else. If the room hadn't already been duck's-butt yellow, that smile definitely would have lit the space up. It made me feel things. Complicated things best set aside. The woman was barely getting enough sleep to string a sentence together. Me putting the moves on her would be selfish and stupid. Even I could figure that out.

  "And she's good to go," said Jean, swinging the baby back over my way. She pulled at her somewhat straggly ponytail. "Would you mind hanging out with her a bit longer so I can take a shower and wash my hair?"

  "'Course not," I said. "Go for it."

  "Are you going to run if she poops again?"

  "Maybe," I joked.

  Jean sighed. "For clean hair and a shower that's longer than a minute, that's a risk I'm willing to take."

  "Go ahead. We'll be fine."

  I lay Ada on the blanket under her baby gym and sat down at her side. Mostly, she waved her arms about, occasionally swatting some of the toys, and blew bubbles. No idea what the toy turtle dangling on a plastic cord had done to her, but she really gave it a whacking. Possible future in boxing for the kid, if she was willing to work on her form.

  "Hands down, you're the prettiest girl I've seen all day," I told her.

  She really was a damn cute kid with her chubby cheeks. It would be cool once she started to smile. The book, however, said that didn't tend to happen for a few more weeks. She hadn't been swatting away for long when I heard the front door open and close.

  "Hello?" I called out, leaning over to try and check out more of the hallway.

  Nell walked in, loaded down with a couple bags of food from the restaurant. Guess Jean had given her a key. At the sight of me, her two brows formed one vaguely threatening and most definitely unhappy mono-brow. "What are you doing here?"

  "Visiting."

  "Jean's in the shower?"

  "Yes."

  Her gaze flicked to the baby, because I obviously couldn't be trusted with shit. Let alone something as precious as Ada. Then she started unpacking the food and putting it into the fridge. Taking out the old containers and chucking them in the trash.