by Marla Monroe
I need to figure out what our choices are so that when the time comes, I have options to present to her.
If she wanted to stay there and run the bar, Tyler was fine with that, but they were going to take over the entire area above the bar and make it into one large apartment. They’d need more space. If she wanted to travel, he could do that, as well. More than anything, though, Tyler wanted them to make a home somewhere. He wasn’t particular to where but he needed them to be a family.
I still haven’t decided if I’m okay if she doesn’t want to adopt. I’ve always wanted children but if she doesn’t then maybe we need to talk about it before we go any farther with this.
Hell, who was he kidding? They’d already gone as far as they could go without getting married. They really needed to have a talk. He just hated to bring anything up that might cast a shadow over their happiness.
We’ve got to talk about it. I need to know that we both want the same thing.
They’d talk Sunday after cooking and eating. Could he manage to hold back on screwing her brains out long enough to talk? Somehow he’d manage. They couldn’t put the talk off any longer. Yes, they’d progressed super-fast, but when something is right, it doesn’t really matter how long or how short they’d been dating.
I guess dating isn’t the right word either, though. I haven’t taken her anywhere to call it dating. Maybe I should take her somewhere Sunday instead of cooking at home.
She wouldn’t want to do that, though. She’d want to cook the pie and he honestly would rather they did that, as well. It didn’t change the fact that they had to have the talk.
“Tyler? Are you coming?” Celeste’s voice carried from the landing.
“I’m on my way down now.” He threw on the solid black T-shirt and made sure his hair wasn’t too out of sorts.
When he’d made it downstairs, a knock at the back door heralded the arrival of the waitresses. He checked the view screen and made sure it was Velma and Crystal. As soon as he opened the door, they barreled inside.
“Sorry we’re running late, but my kid threw up all over my blouse, so I had to change, so that means Velma is late, too.” Crystal didn’t talk much, but when she did, it was ninety to nothing.
“No problem. We were late getting downstairs. I’ll check the alarms and get the lights. You girls go ahead and set up the tables.”
“Late getting down, huh?” Velma waggled her brows at him then hurried after Crystal.
“What was that all about?” Celeste’s pursed lips told him she was trying hard not to smile. She’d overheard it all, he was sure.
“Huh? Oh, nothing. Crystal’s kid puked on her shirt so she had to change.” He gave her a wide smile showing her his pearly whites.
“Liar. Come on. I need help with this keg. It’s being stubborn.”
For a Saturday night, they were still kicking it. Tyler was spending a lot of his time just watching the door to keep anyone underage from sneaking in. Someone had spread the word there was a party at the bar or something because Celeste told him they’d never been that busy before unless it was a special occasion like a bachelor or bachelorette party.
That should have warned him, but it didn’t. Hell, he’d been so busy just keeping the place going he couldn’t think at all. Celeste had even called in an extra waitress to help cover the tables. She had a steady stream at the bar. If they were this busy most weekends, she needed more help.
“Hey, man. What’s up with the crowd? Never seen it like this before,” a young cowboy asked as he scratched his head.
“Not sure myself. Someone left the gate open and everyone came here I guess.” Tyler clapped the guy on the shoulder then pushed his way back to the door.
He needed to make a round outside but didn’t like leaving the girls alone with the crowd like it was. Something kept him from wandering off too far from Celeste. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was in danger, but Tyler had no idea what kind or where it would come from.
At midnight, the place was still jumping. He’d had to cool down a few near fights and power walk a few hot heads outside but so far, nothing major had gone down. He felt pretty proud of that fact. Now if they could make it till two without anything going wrong, he’d consider it an awesome night.
“Hey, Tyler!” Velma managed to make herself heard over the loud music and louder talking going on around them.
“What is it?” He leaned down to catch what the shorter woman was trying to tell him.
“Celeste needs another keg tapped. She can’t leave the bar and I can’t carry them.”
“I’ve got it. Your tables okay for five if you watch the door for me?”
“I’ve got it. Anyone in particular trying to get in?” she asked, rolling her eyes.
“Naw. Just some random iffys. I’d rather piss them off and err on the side of caution, okay?”
“Gotcha’”
He’d been gone less than five minutes, but when he returned with the tapped keg, all hell had broken loose. It looked like a free for all had broken out. It was as if they’d all been waiting on him to disappear before they went at each other like MMA fighters fighting for the title.
He caught site of Crystal struggling to get past some guys landing some pretty serious blows. If one of them missed and got her, it could do some damage. He pushed and shoved his way through the out of control crowd and worked his way to Crystal. Her wide-eyed stare softened as soon as she saw him moving in her direction. When he reached her, Tyler protected her head and face to maneuver her behind the bar where she’d be safe enough until he could locate Velma.
Just as he thrust her up the steps behind the bar, Celeste climbed on top of the bar holding a sawed-off shotgun in one hand and the famous bat in the other.
“Holy hell. She’s going to shoot a hole in the damn roof.”
He should have stopped her from doing anything, but his boots might as well have been glued to the floor because seeing her all riled up and toting a bat and a serious weapon completely did it for him. He went from flaccid to full on ready in less than a second at the sight of her thick strawberry blond hair pulled loose from the braid framing her furious expression with a growl painted on her face.
She banged the bat on the bar twice and when that only got the attention of about a fourth of the crowd, Celeste racked the shotgun with one hand and pointed it at the front corner celling and pulled the trigger.
To say that it garnered the attention of everyone in that room would be an understatement. The deafening roar of the weapon probably deafened Celeste and anyone within ten feet of her. The room became so silent that a fly could take a piss and everyone would hear it. Someone had put something through the jukebox so there wasn’t even music to break the quiet.
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but it stops right now.” She didn’t look in his direction when she called his name. “Tyler! Man the door. Anyone leaving has to fork over fifty dollars to pay for this mess. That doesn’t include women. They get free passes but their men pay up.”
“I’m on it.” He waded through the sea of bodies to make it to the door before anyone got out without paying.
To his surprise, there were three men blocking the door waiting on him. They each anted up their penalty and lumbered out the door. For the next thirty minutes he handled the front door while Celeste stood guard on top of the bar with her trusty bat and sawed-off. No one balked at paying up and no one started any more shit. Tyler still couldn’t believe she’d shot a couple dozen holes in her own roof. At least she’d aimed away from their rooms. At least there’d been some method to her anger.
Once the last guest had departed, Celeste all but collapsed on the bar. He rushed over just as she sat with her feet dangling and her head down. Had she been hurt and he hadn’t even noticed it? What kind of man was he that he’d let his woman get hurt?
“Celeste? Babe. Are you okay?” He climbed up on the bar next to her, cradling her cheeks between his hands. “Talk to me.”
“I’m fine, Tyler. I’m exhausted. That’s all. It takes a lot of strength to hold a baseball bat in one hand and a shotgun in the other. My arms feel like weighted jelly. Too heavy to pick up and too wobbly to hold onto anything.”
“Don’t scare me like that again. You took twenty years off my life.” He kissed her right there in front of Crystal and Velma.
“I sure as hell hope not. That won’t leave you with more than another twenty or so years to mess around with me.”
He froze. Tyler knew she’d said it in a joking manner, but was she serious somewhere deep down? She expected them to still be together in twenty years? He looked into her eyes and realized she’d caught her comment, as well. Her eyes had grown wide, her mouth slightly open. She appeared as shocked at her statement as he was.
“Celeste, did you want us to drag all the broken furniture to the back door so we can sweep up the glass?” Velma’s voice reminded Tyler that they had an audience.
When she didn’t answer right away, Tyler did. “Yeah, I’ll help you and go ahead and take it out to the garbage bin.”
He reached over and squeezed Celeste’s hand. “You might want to be thinking about who to call in the morning about fixing the roof.”
That seemed to snap her out of whatever she’d been caught in. “I already have it taken care of. I’ll help the girls clean up the floor while you take out the broken furniture.”
For the next hour, they worked in silence until everything was back in order with the exception of two missing tables and another three chairs. Tyler was glad they weren’t going to be open on Sunday. Everyone needed a break.
“That about does it, ladies. Thanks for the help. I’ll let you know if I decide to close Monday or not. We’ll have to see how bad the roof is and when someone can fix it for me.”
Velma’s mouth stretched into a wide smile. “Last time you did that, old Jason Mills put up some sort of metal to stop some of the pellets from tearing a huge hole out up there. Told you to quit shooting the blame shotgun.”
“You’ve done this before?” Tyler asked. His mouth dropped open in surprise. “How often does something like tonight happen?”
Celeste winced and shrugged. “Maybe once every few months. I don’t always have to actually shoot. Sometimes just racking the gun will put a stop to everything.”
Tyler shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever worked or drank in a bar where the place broke out in a full-fledged brawl every few weeks. This isn’t normal, Celeste. Someone is feeding these fights.”
“Lyle. I know, Tyler. I know.” She ran her hand through the loose strands of hair that had escaped the braid during the night. “It got better for a while, but things have escalated in the last month.”
“Girls, plan to take off Monday night. We’ll be closed. Celeste needs some rest, and I want to get to the bottom of all of this.” Tyler knew he was overstepping his place, but Celeste seemed to know that he was right and didn’t contradict him.
“Just let us know when to come back. It may take old Jason a couple of days to get around to fixing that roof anyway. Just hope we don’t get any rain between now and then.” Velma corralled Crystal and the two women headed to the back door.
“Tyler, make sure they get to their cars safe. I’m going to go start the paperwork.” Celeste allowed him to help her down from the bar before he escorted the women to their car.
Once they’d pulled out of the back lot, Tyler checked all of the doors and made sure everything was locked down before joining Celeste in the office.
“You okay, babe?” Tyler massaged her shoulders.
“Yeah. I’m getting tired of all of this, Tyler. I’ve been thinking about closing down and moving on for a while now. I just hate giving into that bastard. I guess I’m just as stubborn as he is.”
“Where would you go, Celeste? You know you never said if you had family somewhere.” Tyler had wanted to ask several times since she never mentioned anyone.
“Don’t have any close family. Got an aunt out in Montana and a few cousins somewhere. Not sure where I’d go. Owning this bar was the only thing I’d ever really cared about doing before. Mostly I wandered around until I stumbled on this place. I worked for the owner for several years until he decided to retire and move back with his kids. I bought it from him, took me almost five years to finally pay him off, but it’s all mine now, and I’m not sure I want it anymore.”
“You have all the time in the world to decide what you want to do and where you want to go. I’ve been on the road off and on most of my life, too. I’ve been thinking about settling down now. I like it here with you and it’s given me a taste of what it would be like to call a place home.” He waited to see how she reacted but when she didn’t indicate that his confession bothered her, Tyler continued. “Why haven’t you ever married, Celeste?”
This time she jerked her head up to stare at him. “Why would I get married? I can’t have kids. What man would want a woman who’s sterile?”
He winced. He never would have dreamed in a million years that would be her answer. He could hear her saying after Burt she didn’t want to risk getting hurt again. But to not get married because she couldn’t have kids? That was wrong.
“Celeste, there are a lot of men out there who are fine with not having children. You can’t lock yourself away out of some misguided belief that you’re not worthy of happiness or love. Because dammit, you are. If you really wanted children, you could always adopt. There are a lot of kids out there desperate for someone to love them and give them a place to call home.”
“I’ve thought of that. Maybe if I settle down somewhere I’ll apply to be a foster parent. I don’t think they’d let me adopt being single, but they might let me foster.” The wistful note in her voice broke his heart.
“I bet they would let you adopt as long as you had a steady job that paid enough for you to afford child care. If you like the idea of adopting, then why give up on love? There are plenty of men in the world who are fine with adopting children. I really think you’re putting too much emphasis on whether your female parts work or not. It’s what’s in your heart and soul that counts, Celeste, not your ovaries.”
The enormous sigh that pushed passed her lips said volumes. She’d thought about it a lot more than she was letting on. Thought about it and dismissed any chance of finding someone who could love her despite being unable to have children. He was pretty damn sure he already did.
Chapter Eleven
Disgust burned a hole in her stomach even as it heated up her esophagus with pain. She’d let him remind her that maybe there was a chance she could have it all and it only served to build hope for a dream she doubted she’d ever have. Why bother? Men wanted children of their own. The only time they consented to adoption was if they were sterile or they’d already fallen so deeply in love with their woman that they were okay with adoption.
She didn’t date so there was no possibility that a man would fall madly, deeply in love with her before they found out her secret. She huffed out a breath.
It’s no secret. Everyone in town knows just about everything about me right down to my bra and panty size. There’s no hiding anything in a small town. My life is an open book for everyone to paw through.
Tyler’s suggestions and heartfelt encouragement got to her. He got to her on some level she’d never experienced before. Everything about him screamed “steer clear, stay way back,” but he didn’t act like a player to her. He’d been kind and gentle and then wild and lusty. He’d pushed every single one of her buttons and made sure she was taken care of before he let himself come. Players were all about themselves then after one night, maybe two, they were out the door and on to the next conquest. Tyler was still there.
So far.
“You okay, babe?” He pushed some of the loose strands of hair back behind her ear.
“Yeah, just tired. I’m ready to put this in the safe and go to bed. I’m not even going to bother to take it to the ban
k tomorrow. I’ll leave it till Monday.” She wanted to bury everything from her childless life to the brawl earlier that night as deep inside her as she could.
“I’ll double check the doors and meet you upstairs.” He strutted out of the office before she could tell him she wanted to be alone.
But it was a lie because she didn’t.
I need to separate myself from him before he decides to move on. I’m getting too attached to him and it’s only been a few days. It has to stop before I’m too far gone to recover.
But that was a lie, too, because she already was.
Celeste shoved the night’s receipts and take into the bank bag and then thrust the bag into the safe. She made sure to spin the dial a dozen times each way before leaving it directly on six. She doubted anyone could crack the old thing since it gave her hell nearly every time she opened it. It seemed to move her code up or back one or two numbers every day. She’d gotten the hang of it, but who else would?
By the time she’d locked the office up, climbed the stairs leading to her apartment, and unlocked her door, Tyler joined her in the doorway.
“You look beat, babe. Why don’t you go run a nice hot bath and I’ll make the bed for you? I don’t think you’re up to anything more than a long soak and a lotion massage to help you rest. Sound good?”
“Yeah. It does. You don’t have to make the bed, Tyler. I’m going to collapse in it as soon as I dry off.” She covered her mouth with the back of her hand as a sneaky yawn slipped her mouth open.
“You’re the one who told me you couldn’t sleep well if you didn’t make up your bed before you got into it. It won’t take but a minute.” He pushed her through the doorway once she’d opened the door. “Go on with you. I’ll be out of your hair before you know it.”
Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.
Celeste stripped as she walked from her bedroom into the bathroom. She turned on the taps and adjusted them until she had the perfect temperature pouring from the faucet. By the time she’d pulled her hair up on top of her head and cleaned her face, the water was at the ideal height for a long leisurely soak.
