Liam
“Fuck,” Drew said, staring down at the phone in his hand.
“What?” I asked, looking up from the cards in my hand.
“My cousin’s kid has strep,” he muttered.
“Sucks,” David said, shaking his head as he adjusted his hand.
“Yeah, now we’re down an usher.”
David shook his head, disapproval clear on his face. “The kids got strep throat and you’re worried about an usher.”
“Have you seen Red lately?” Drew asked. “She’s beyond stressed. Now I have to tell her that we lost an usher. She’s gonna lose it.”
Sean shifted his cards. “Too bad you don’t know anyone else who could do it. Like maybe a good friend who, I don’t know, happens to be a bartender.”
I looked up at him and narrowed my eyes.
Drew looked over at me, his face hopeful, and I sighed. “Fine.”
“Thanks, man. You’ll be saving my ass,” Drew said.
David clapped me on the shoulder. “Great. This way if one of the bartenders craps out, you’ll have a spare.”
I brushed his hand off my shoulders as Sean laughed. “Real funny, asshole.”
David shrugged his response and tossed his chips into the center of the table.
“How you doing, man? Any cold feet?” David asked, tossing his chips into the pile.
“Nope,” he said, “but I’ll be glad when all this wedding shit is over and we can get to the honeymoon part.”
Sean laughed. “Alex been holding out on you?”
Drew sighed and tossed his bet into the pile. “She’s got this idea in her head that waiting until after the wedding will make it special.”
David chuckled to himself and nodded. “Yeah, Millie pulled that shit on me, too.”
“To make matters worse, her bridesmaids got her these little white shorts that say Mrs. Collins across the back. She’s been walking around the house in these tight little shorts, with my name splashed across her ass. I swear to God the woman is trying to kill me.”
We all burst out laughing. “It’s not funny,” Drew said, adjusting himself under the table. “I’m in pain. I don’t know how I’m gonna make it until the honeymoon.”
“Just pull her into the coat closet after the ceremony. That’s what I did,” David said.
We all turned to face him, eyes wide with shock. David and Millie are so adult. So put together and responsible. It was a little weird to think about them going at it in the coat closet at their own wedding.
Drew laughed. “I guess that explains the stupid grin he wore all night.”
David shrugged. “That was part of it.”
Sean dropped his hand to David’s shoulder. “I have a whole new respect for you, Dave.”
David just laughed and went back to his cards.
“I don’t think I’ll get the chance to bang my wife in a closet,” Sean said.
Drew, David, and I looked up at him, wearing matching confused expressions.
“What do you mean?” Drew said. “There something you need to tell us?”
Sean shrugged. “Madison doesn’t want to get married.”
“You asked her?” I was pissed he hadn’t mentioned this to me before.
“No, but we talked about it. She said she doesn’t want to get married again…ever.”
“And you’re okay with that?” David asked.
Sean threw his cards down on the table and ran his hand over his face. “Fuck, man, I don’t know. I get where she’s coming from. If I’d been married to someone like her ex, then I’d probably give up on the whole thing too, but this is us. We’re different. I’m different.”
“Do you want to marry her?” I asked.
“I mean, I’ve thought about it, yeah. She’s my world,” he said, looking a little sad.
“Have you told her what you want?” David asked him.
Sean shook his head.
“You got to talk to her, man. If this is something you want, she needs to know.”
“Goddamn it!” Sean said. “I’m doing it again. I’m the fucking chick.”
Drew chuckled.
“Son of a bitch, why does this keep happening to me?” Sean asked. “I’m sitting here bitching because my girlfriend doesn’t want to get married.”
Sean stood up, knocking his chair over in the process. “Quick,” he said. “Someone punch me in the stomach.”
“Sit down, man,” I said. “She’ll come around.”
“I don’t know, she seemed pretty adamant.” Sean righted his chair and took his seat.
“She hasn’t really been exposed to the best examples of married life. I mean, our parents for one. They fucking hate each other.”
Sean nodded his agreement.
“Give it time,” I said.
“Marriage advice from the only single guy at the table,” Drew said.
My jaw tensed and Drew realized his mistake. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”
“It’s fine,” I said, tossing my cards on the table. I got to my feet and took one last swig from my beer.
“You leaving?” David asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Got to get back to the bar.”
“Come on, man, don’t go,” Drew said.
“I have to get back. I’ll see you Saturday.”
Sean and David waved goodbye and Drew watched me leave, guilt flooding his face.
This week had been hell. Images of Gwen kissing that guy filled my head the second I closed my eyes. I was running on anger, Red Bull, and zero sleep, but I had to keep going, keep moving forward. If I stopped for even one second, the loss of her would consume me and I would lose my mind for sure. Now, the only way to move on was to focus on my work.
***
The next day I took advantage of a lull to rotate the bottles in the beer fridge, when the bell above the door jingled.
“Be with you in a sec,” I called over my shoulder as I finished with the last couple bottles.
I turned around and locked eyes with Gwen’s stepmother. “Mrs. Stevens,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“Please call me Allison,” she said, taking a seat on the stool in front of me.
“Can I get you something?”
“White wine,” she said. I nodded and pulled a bottle from the fridge to pour her a glass and set it on the bar between us.
“Thank you.” She smiled, but didn’t touch the glass.
“So what brings you here?”
“I was hoping to talk to you, actually.”
I raised an eyebrow. “About what?’
“About Gwen,” she said.
“Oh.” I dropped my head at the sound of her name.
“She’s been staying with us,” she said. “I thought you would like to know she’s okay.”
I leaned against the back bar, my hands gripping the edge so tight my knuckles turned white. I nodded. “Good to know.”
“She’s a wreck, Liam.” Allison said. “She misses you.”
“No disrespect to you, ma’am, but she should’ve thought about that before she decided to fu…to cheat.”
“That’s just it,” she said. “She didn’t cheat.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I saw her. I saw her in that club with some guy’s tongue down her throat. I may not have finished law school, but there is some pretty good evidence to the contrary.”
“There is an explanation, if you are willing to hear her out.”
“What explanation could there possibly be?” I said, my voice louder than I intended. Allison shrank back a bit at my outburst and I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.
“I know you’re trying to help, but this is not something I can easily forgive.”
She nodded her head. “She loves you, Liam. Just give her the chance to explain. I think you owe it to yourself to hear her out.”
“Thanks for coming, but I don’t…”
Alison held up her hand, stopping me mid-sentence. “Just think about it.”
I nodded.
She smiled and reached into her purse, handing me a twenty. I waved it away. “Please,” I said. “It’s on me.”
She nodded and smiled as she got up from her stool and headed toward the door. When she reached the door, she turned and took a long look around the room. “This is a nice place, Liam,” she said. “You should be proud of what you’ve done here.”
“Thanks,” I said.
She smiled and disappeared out the door.
I watched her walk up the street and get into her car. Then I turned to Floyd, who watched me from the end of the bar, shaking his head.
“What?” I asked him.
“You’re a damn fool,” he said.
“What?”
“You heard me,” the old man said, turning his attention back to the game.
“And why is that? Because I’m not going to let her walk all over me?”
“No,” he said. “Because you’ve found the love of your life and you’re going to let her slip through your fingers ’cause of your damn pride.”
“My pride?” I asked. “You were here, Floyd. You knocked the guy out.”
The old man turned and looked me dead in the eye. “Maybe I ought to knock some sense into you too, kid. Then maybe you’ll realize that a girl like that doesn’t come around every day.”
Having made his point, Floyd turned his attention back to the TV and took a long drink from his beer. Maybe the old man was right. A woman like Gwen comes along once in a lifetime if you’re lucky, but I just wasn’t sure if I had it in me to forgive her.