Page 8 of A Night With You

"I know, I know. I’m sorry." He pauses with his hand still over his eyes. "Wait...Bree?"

"No, wait." Steve uncovers his eyes and looks me over. He leans closer, his eyes narrowed, and I know he's about a second from figuring out what happened between us. Shit, shit, shit. I never should have said anything. I should have kept her out of it. "Did something else--"

"Steve--"

"Did something else happen last night other than me falling back in love with my ex?"

Steve's eyes are bright, and he pushes his fingers into the bar like a detective on one of those cop shows who's just been handed a major clue. “You and Bree? You and her are a real thing?”

It’s like he just now realized what half the town already knows. I can tell he’s happy for me, even if he thinks his world is going to crumble because this town doesn’t shut up and his marriage is at the mercy of rumors and late nights.

I don't know what to say. I open my mouth to answer him, because he's sitting right there and I can't ignore the question, but I have no idea how to explain what happened last night without making things harder for Aubrey.

Just then, there's a sound up front--the latch on the door clicking into place.

Then the door swings open, and I can't say a thing because she’s standing right in front of us.

AUBREY

I don't know what I expected when I got in my car and drove over here, but it wasn't the awkward silence that falls when I push open the door of the bar and step inside.

Bennet looks at me, his eyes wide, like he's surprised to see me, which is justifiable. And Steve– the man who has owned this bar for as long as I can remember--looks at me with a strange expression I can't pinpoint. The music is off. It's so quiet I can hear my own heartbeat.

"Hi." My voice sounds too loud without all the chatter of other people and the constant music that played last night, along with the game on the TV behind the bar, and my face heats up all over again. This is the tenth time today. "I know you're not open, Steve, but if I could just..."

I motion to Bennet, who's wiping down the glasses behind the bar.

"Of course." Steve waves me over to the barstool next to him, rearranging his face. A little alarm goes off in the back of my mind, but I could be reading too much into it. Also, my heart is going a million miles an hour. "Good to see you, Aubrey."

"Good to see you, too."

This time, there's nobody else. I'm front and center. No distractions, no friends, nothing but the two of us. And no liquid courage. My heart flutters. At the center of that feeling is a warm spark that's pure excitement.

I'm not going to beat around the bush. "Did you hear the rumors?"

Steve frowns. "Did you want me to step out?"

"It doesn't matter." I look back at Bennet. He seems shocked, and his hands are in the air, the glass he was drying abandoned on the counter. "I wanted to ask you."

"I swear, Bree, I'm setting the record straight--" Bennet starts.

"No one believes it, Bree. Don't pay them any mind," Steve says. He glances over at Bennet, and they share a look. Okay--something's definitely off, like the way he frowned, but I can't put the pieces together when my heart is pounding.

Bennet lowers his hands, placing them flat on the bar. "I hope you're not thinking last night was a mistake."

I steel myself and pretend it's just the two of us.

"Last night was wonderful for me, Bennet, but I don't want anyone thinking anything else happened unless..."

"Unless what?" Steve interrupts.

Bennet sighs and then scowls at Steve, "Maybe you should head to the back and do some inventory or something."

Stew swallows hard, the color draining from his face. He looks panicked. Is that why everything feels so off?

"Are you okay, Steve?" I ask, because if he's having some kind of emergency...if something's going on here…

"It's just, you know...it's not--it's like this, I--" He grips his coffee cup like it’s a lifeline. "Hey, Bree, could I ask you a favor?"