Page 6 of Waiting for Sunshine

“Okay, I think that’s enough catching up for tonight. Let’s let our poor girl sleep.” Leah says, patting my head. “We will have plenty of time for girls’ nights now that she’s back.” Everyone stands to clean the coffee table off, throwing away empty containers and taking wine glasses to the sink.

“Yeah, I guess I better hit the sheets. I have to start looking for a job tomorrow.” I say optimistically. We all finish cleaning up the living room and hug Leah and Lauren goodbye. Before I make my way back to my room I run up to Taylor, throwing my arms around her neck. “Thank you, for being the best friend I could ever ask for. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” Her curly red hair tickles my face, but I don’t move until she does. She takes a step back looking at me, her grayish-blue eyes, locking with my own.

“Sisters forever.” She kisses my cheek and leans back again. I squeeze her arms, scrunching my nose to try and fight back tears.

“Sisters forever.” I let her go and walk back to my room and strip my joggers off, leaving me in only my sweatshirt and underwear. I turn on the fan, plug up my phone, and crawl under the big down comforter. Burrowing into bed I can’t help but think about how this was probably going to be the best sleep I’ve had in ages.

CHAPTER3

MAX

Closingdown the bar last night has me absolutely dragging this morning. When I opened Chattahoochies a couple of years ago, I didn’t plan to just open it and hire a crew to run it. I wanted to be there, serving the locals who made this place what it was. A place of solitude for the misfits and outcasts in this crazy town, who others seemed to turn away or flat-out ignore.

I put my heart and soul into this place to make it different, and everyone knew it. When I got out of the Navy a few years back, I was in a pretty awful place. Serving for 12 years really leaves you with some scars, both mental and physical. I decided after a while that I needed something to keep me busy. Something to give me a purpose and get me up and out of the house every day. The bar has proven to do just that, as I spend most of my days and nights there.

I try to keep a healthy balance in my life outside of the bar. I will go to the shooting range or the gym with my best friend, Tucker, or get other shit done that needs doing. Sometimes I like to take Riley to our special place for a run, but besides that, I’m more of a home-body.

Being a bar owner myself I don’t really have the desire to go out to someone else’s bar when I’m off. So most of my downtime I spent at home with my girl Riley. Riley is a Belgian Malinois and was my service dog when I was a Navy SEAL, and she is the best one I could have asked for. She’s been the only constant in my life through all the good shit and the worst shit. Well, except for Tucker, but I prefer Riley’s company most days. Though I wouldn’t tell him that.

Today, I decided to drag my ass out of bed and hit the gym with Tuck before going in to look over the books at the bar. The less exciting part of the job, but it still needs to be done. I make my way to Brüman’s, the coffee shop that is just a few doors down from the gym, because there is no way I am getting through a workout without some caffeine.I’m getting too old for this shit.

After grabbing my coffee from Clara, the overzealous barista who is always much too chipper this early in the morning. I head out the door towards the gym.

I make my way down the sidewalk while trying to set my workout goal for the day on my smartwatch when suddenly my coffee is spilled all over me.

“Shit!” I mutter as the hot coffee pours over my arm and hand. I look up and notice I have run directly into a woman standing outside the empty building on the strip, not just any woman, but probably the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” she asks, before looking down at her own shirt a few moments later. “Dammit,” she whispers as she wipes the coffee off of her shirt.

“I am so sorry, I was just looking in the window and I didn’t even see you coming,” she says quickly before bending down to grab my empty cup. I shake the coffee off my hand and arm before grabbing the cup from her.

“Yeah, it’s fine, don’t worry about it.” I grump and toss the cup in a nearby trash can.

She finishes dabbing the coffee spots from her sweatshirt and tosses her hair behind her. She has blonde hair that is set in loose waves, it falls down her back, stopping just at her waist. She’s wearing a white sweatshirtthat is now stained thanks to me,ripped blue jeans that hug her curves just right, and a pair of tan and white sneakers.

She looks up at me, as I stand over a head taller than her, and when I look down to meet her gaze, the first thing I notice is her eyes. The sun hits her insanely blue eyes just right and I am drawn to them immediately. They have a line of darker blue surrounding a much lighter, sky blue. Strokes of dark blue swirled in like lighting through the lighter blue parts, and dammit if I couldn’t pull my attention away from them.

“You owe me a new sweatshirt.” She raises a brow but her voice is all tease.

“Is that so?” I say as I clear my throat. Hoping the way I was just staring at her eyes wasn’t completely obvious. She gives me a puzzled look.

“Umm, I’d say so.” She waves her hands up and down her torso, pointing out the rather large coffee stain on her otherwise pristinely white sweatshirt.

“Well. Itwasan accident, so I’m not sure why I’m suddenly in charge of replacing your clothes.” I argue back. “Maybe you shouldn’t absentmindedly stand right in the middle of the sidewalk.”

I’m not sure why I am arguing with this woman. Even I know that I sound like an asshole right now; I think I would stand here arguing with her all day if it meant I got to be around her a little longer, her presence is intoxicating. I wouldn’t even mind replacing her freaking sweatshirt if I knew what the hell a CCA was. But here I am, arguing. She stands there staring at me, but her ocean eyes suddenly have a fire behind them.

“Are you seriously blamingmefor not paying attention?” she lowers her sunglasses onto her face, clearly done with this conversation. Fine by me.

“Maybeyoushould take your head out of your ass and pay attention to where you’re going.” She walks past me and struts towards the coffee shop. I turn around to watch her go, the crease in her jeans from her perfectly round ass has my mind somewhere it shouldnotbe. When my eyes make their way back up to hers, I catch her looking back at me. I wink at her, making her narrow her gaze at me right before she walks through the door of the coffee shop. When I look down at my watch, I realize I am now late to meet Tucker at the gym.

* * *

“Bout time your ass showed up. Where have you been? You usually beat me here.” Tucker hassles me as soon as I step in the door.

Tucker has been my best friend since middle school. I had been getting bullied every day by some of the older kids and one day Tucker saw it happening and stepped in. He was the only person that ever stood up for me. I guess his brotherly instinct kicked in formethat day.

He was very protective over his younger brother, Tank, so his instincts to stand up for others were strong. We’ve been friends ever since. When I told him I was going into the Navy, after spending two very unfulfilling years in college, he shocked the hell out of me and enlisted with me. We went through hell and back together, and he’d become more like a brother to me with each passing day.

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