Valerie couldn’t breathe.
When she’d numbly walked into the bakery, Leah took one look at her pale face, flipped over the CLOSED sign, locked the bakery door, and hugged her friend so hard that Valerie thought she would break in two. And God, she practically did.
Sobs ripped from her chest as her shoulders shook with heartbreak. Pain clawed its way through her until there was nothing left but a desolate trail and the disturbing knowledge that she’d brought all of this onto herself.
Concern filled Leah’s eyes. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“Logan broke it off with me.”
“What? He called you to come in to work early so that he could break up with you? That doesn’t make any sense. Why would that idiot do that?”
Valerie sniffed and rubbed her raw nose. “Because he found out that I’ve been lying to him. It’s my own fault, but I didn’t know any of this would happen.”
“Let’s go sit down, and you can tell me all about it.”
Valerie shook her head. “You can’t just close up your bakery and not make money because I’m having a personal crisis.”
“The hell I can’t. I’m the owner.”
“I’m being serious, Leah.”
“So am I. You’re my best friend. I would close my doors for you any day.” She nudged Valerie toward one of the chairs near the front window. “Now sit down and tell me everything.”
So she did. And she cried the entire time.
Finally, after the hiccupping sobs began to fade, she swiped away the remaining tears. “He’s so mad at me right now that I’m not sure if he’s ever going to get over it.”
“He will,” Leah assured her. “You just told me this morning how he told Brett that he loved you. Do you think he can just turn that off?”
Valerie swallowed the lump in her throat. “I ruined everything for him. His whole life is messed up because of me. That’s what he said. There’s no way he’s ever going to forgive me for that.”
Leah rubbed her hand over Valerie’s slumping shoulders in slow, comforting circles. “Honey, he was mad and hurt when he said that. Trust me, he didn’t mean it. This is just like the situation with Brett. Logan needs a day or two to cool down. Once he does, he’ll come around.”
“But what if he doesn’t?”
“Then I’ll send Sam over there to kick him in the head.”
Normally, she would’ve laughed at something like that. But Valerie wasn’t in the mood. She lowered her gaze to the floor. “How can this be happening?” she said, more to herself than to Leah. “After all the years I spent waiting on Logan to come around, he finally did. And then what did I do? I went and screwed up the best thing I ever had.”
“Everything will be okay,” her friend promised. “You’ll see. Just give it time.”
Unable to do much else, Valerie took a deep breath, her chest hurting from the effort. God. Please let Leah be right.
The doorknob rattled.
Valerie glanced up, tears still in her eyes. “Leah, someone’s at the door.”
“So.” Leah shrugged.
Someone knocked on the door. When neither of them moved to answer it, the soft knock turned into manic pounding.
Valerie sighed. “You have to open it. If it’s Mrs. Howard, she’s going to think I locked her out again.”
“Again?” Leah asked, her eyes widening. “You locked Mrs. Howard out of the bakery?”
“Well, I tried. But she got in anyway.”
Leah laughed. “You’re going to have to tell me that story for sure.” She headed to the door, unlocked it, and swung it open.
Max filled the doorway, his eyes flitting back and forth between them. “About time you opened the door. Why the hell is it locked?”
“We were having a private conversation,” Leah told him. “Ya know, girl talk.”
He gazed at Valerie and took in her swollen, tearstained face. “Do I need to go kick his sorry ass? Because you know I will.”
Valerie tried to smile though she was sure it didn’t reach her eyes. “No, it’s okay. Thanks for the offer though. With my brother not talking to me and Logan breaking up with me, I was fresh out of men who were out for blood.”
Max stepped over to her, tipped her face up, and kissed her cheek. “Sweetheart, I don’t think you’ll ever be out of men who are willing to kill each other over you. Now stop this crying shit and tell me what the fucker did to you.”
She laughed. Leave it to Max to put a smile on her face. “He didn’t really do anything.”
“So then you’re crying because he’s leaving town?”
She blinked. “What do you mean he’s leaving town? Who told you that?”
“No one. I just thought that he was moving or something.”
“Not that I’m aware of,” she replied. “Did you hear something?”
Max pulled out a chair and spun it backward before straddling it. “I didn’t hear anything. On my way here, I drove by the bar and saw the asshole putting a FOR SALE sign up outside.”
“What?” Valerie exchanged looks with Leah and then glanced back to Max. “He’s selling the bar?”
“Apparently. And he’s selling it cheap too. Only asking ten thousand dollars for it. He’ll sell it fast at that price. It’s bound to be worth a hell of a lot more.”
Valerie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Damn it. He’s only selling it for that price because that’s how much he needs to get his mom’s house out of foreclosure.”
Leah gasped. “Oh no! Mrs. Mathis is going to lose her home? That’s terrible. I hadn’t heard.”
“No one has. They’ve been keeping it a secret. But Logan is trying to help her get the mortgage back on track. That’s why he needs the ten thousand dollars. God. This is all my fault.”
Max raised a brow. “How is it your fault that his mother didn’t pay her mortgage?”
“No, not that,” Valerie said, shaking her head. “On Saturday, when we got back to the bar after the reception, Logan got into a fight with his ex-bartender named Paul, who was seriously injured. Logan’s insurance would have normally covered the incident and paid Paul’s medical bills, but because I served him a drink, Logan’s insurance won’t cover the damages.”
Max looked even more confused. “But aren’t you the bartender? Who else is supposed to serve the drinks in that place—the doorman?”
“No, no. I mean, I was a bartender who was supposed to serve drinks. But I lied to Logan about having a TABC certification and ended up accidentally canceling his insurance coverage for the bar. So now he’s going to have to pay for Paul’s medical bills out of pocket, which means using the money he was saving for his mom’s house. That’s why he’s selling the bar. To get the money for his mother’s house.”
“Damn, that sucks,” Max said. “He’s in a tough spot.”
“Yeah. Because of me.” Valerie scowled. “But you know the really messed-up thing about all of this? Since I’ve been living upstairs in Leah’s old apartment and working two jobs, I’ve been able to stockpile a good amount of money. If I thought for one second that he would let me help him…” She sighed.
Max grinned. “Maybe you should buy the bar from him.” Then he burst out laughing. “Or I could do it. That would really piss him off after I goaded him at the reception.”
Leah glanced at Valerie, and they both stilled.
When Max realized he was the only one chuckling, he stopped. “Um, sorry. Too soon? I wasn’t trying to be insensitive or anything. I was just kidding around.”
Valerie smiled. “Um, actually, I think your idea has merit.”
“That you should buy the bar?”
“No. You should. It’s brilliant.”
Max squinted at the two of them. “Have you two been smoking something? Logan isn’t my biggest fan. He’s not going to sell me his bar. And even if he would, I don’t want it.”
Leah giggled. “No, silly. You would buy it for Valerie. That way she can keep him from selling it to someone else as well as help him to pay off his mother’s foreclosure. Win-win.”
“I can’t do that. It’s dishonest.”
Valerie rolled her eyes. “Like you care? You’re all for this kind of stuff, troublemaker.”
Max grinned. “Well, it keeps people on their toes around me.”
“So you’ll do it?”
“Hell yeah. Why not? Sounds like fun.”
Valerie gazed over at Leah. “Can you call Sam?”
“On it,” Leah said, heading for the cordless phone hanging on the wall.
Max frowned. “Sam? I thought you wanted me to buy the bar from Logan. What the hell do we need Sam for?”
“Oh, come on, Max. You didn’t really think I would unleash you on Logan without having someone there to keep you in line, did ya?”
“One could only hope,” he said with a wink.
True. And right now Valerie hoped that she wasn’t too late.
* * *
Logan glanced up when a knock sounded on the door. “Bar’s closed,” he yelled out, but the door opened anyway.
“Then you probably should’ve locked the door, smart guy,” Sam said, stepping inside with Max on his heels.
Great. Valerie’s cheerleaders were here. “We don’t know each other very well, fellas, so I’m going to say this as nicely as I can. If you’re here for what I think you’re here for, then I’m not in the mood.” Unless Max was looking to fight. Then he would get in the mood for that real quick.
“Just came in for a drink. Know where we can get one of those?” Sam said, gesturing to the glass of top-shelf whiskey in Logan’s hand.
Logan tossed it back and poured himself another. “Yeah, at an open bar.” But he grabbed two extra glasses and filled them anyway. “So you two didn’t come by to talk about Valerie?”
They grabbed seats at the bar as Sam shook his head. “Nope.”
Logan’s brow arched in curiosity as he slid them each a drink. “Then what are you doing here?”
Sam took a big swallow of his whiskey. “Well, I thought you could use a friend. Since Brett still isn’t talking to Valerie, I figured he probably wasn’t talking to you either. Or am I wrong about that?”
“Nope. You nailed it right on the head.”
Logan nodded toward Max. “So what’s he doing here then?”
Max grinned. “I’m here to buy your bar.”
The words were like a bucket of ice water dumping over Logan’s head. He held his breath as his heart seized in his chest. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“Nope. I don’t kid around about money. I’ve got ten thousand dollars burning a hole in my pocket right now.”
Logan took another shot of whiskey, letting the burn numb him from the inside out. “You’re serious?”
“I said I was, didn’t I?”
“Do you even know how to run a bar?”
Max downed his drink in one gulp. “What’s to know? Just hire some people to run the place and then show up and drink.”
Logan rolled his eyes. Idiot. “Yeah, well, there’s a bit more to it than that. And you shouldn’t drink on the job. You need a clear head to run a bar.”
Grinning, Max raised one brow. “Didn’t help you, did it?”
“Max,” Sam warned, shooting his buddy a dirty look.
“Oh, calm down. I’m just kidding around.” He gazed around the room. “There’s a lot I could do with this dump.”
A lot he could do? Dump? That asshole. Nothing needed to be done to the place…because Logan had already done it. “I’m asking ten thousand. Cash only.”
“Don’t trust me?” Max said, grinning.
Logan shrugged. “Nothing personal.” Jackass.
Max pulled a huge wad of bills out of his pocket and started counting them out on the counter. When he finished, he stacked the cash into a pile and shoved it toward Logan. “Ten thousand dollars.”
“You aren’t going to look around first? Or ask to see the books?”
“Don’t need to. I’ve been in here before, and this place hasn’t been open long enough to maintain good books.”
“Okay, fine. But since I just put the FOR SALE sign up a few hours ago, I haven’t had the time to draw up a contract for the deed. And I don’t think either of us trust one another enough to do a gentleman’s agreement.”
“Why not? It’s legally binding in Texas.”
“I think we’d both prefer something a little more concrete than that.” Logan grabbed a pen from next to the POS system and wrote up a mini-agreement on a bar napkin and then copied it on a second one. “Just to keep us honest,” he said, shoving both of them across the bar at Max, along with the pen.
Max checked them both over and then signed at the bottom of each next to Logan’s signatures. “A copy for each of us?”
“That’s the idea.” Logan nodded. “But I’ll need a week to clear out my stuff. And you’ll need to find new staff since I’ve already let mine go.”
He nodded. “That’s okay. I’m betting I know at least one who will be more than willing to come back to the bar.”
Now he was just trying to push Logan’s buttons. “Yep, probably. Might want to make sure she has her TABC certification though. And I wouldn’t take her word for it. She’s been known to lie.”
Max’s gaze heated. “You might want to watch what you say about—”
“Max,” Sam interrupted, “now that your business with Logan is concluded, why don’t you go ahead and take off? I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Don’t have to ask me twice.” Max slid his empty glass back to Logan. “Thanks for the drink…and the bar.” He grinned and then strolled out the door.
Logan shook his head. “You really like that guy? He’s a prick.”
Sam grinned. “Yeah, he’s a bit of an instigator. But he’s also a damn good friend. If anything, I imagine you can understand that. Given that you’re friends with Brett. I get along with him, but he’s not always the easiest guy to be around.”
“Well, to hear him tell it, we’re not friends anymore.”
Sam shook his head and laughed. “Max tells me that every time I threaten to fire him. He hasn’t left my side yet.” He hesitated and then said, “So about this thing with Valerie…”
Logan laughed. “I knew you had an ulterior motive for being here. You said you were here for a drink, you liar.”
“That too,” Sam said, tossing back the rest of the contents in his glass. “But if while I’m drinking, you need to talk about what’s bugging you, go ahead. I’ll listen.”
“There’s not much to say. Valerie lied to me. Within a matter of days, I lost my best friend, my insurance coverage, and my bar. And almost my mom’s house.”
“And Valerie.”
“Huh?”
“You forgot to include Valerie in that list. You lost her too, didn’t you? Although I’m pretty sure that was your own fault. She didn’t leave you. You left her, right?”
“Well, yeah. But what else was I supposed to do? If she hadn’t lied about having a TABC certification, my liquor liability insurance wouldn’t have been canceled and I wouldn’t have had to pay a settlement to Paul, my old bartender. That lie of hers cost me a lot.”
“Really? Because I thought it was you who threw the punches at Paul, not her. I’m betting that if you hadn’t done that, then none of this would’ve happened. Am I right?”
Logan took another swallow of his whiskey and grimaced. “Okay, Sam, you’re really not helping matters.”
“I don’t know. I think I’m helping a lot. I’m making you think.”
“I don’t want to think. I want to drink.”
Sam chuckled. “Look, I get it. She lied. You’re pissed. But I think we both can agree that she wasn’t the only one who made mistakes. And you know she didn’t intentionally screw you over. Valerie would never do something like that. The girl doesn’t have a malicious bone in her body.”
“Maybe not. But it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m completely screwed.”
“Again, that isn’t Valerie’s fault. At least not completely.”
Logan sighed. Yeah, he was well aware of that. But he didn’t know what to do about it. “Okay, enough said. I get your point. But I don’t know where Valerie and I go from here, if anywhere. So let’s just sit here and drink so I can try to figure it out.”
Sam grinned. “You got it, buddy.”