Page 103 of The Last Dance You Saved
Fallon and I waited outside until Parker reemerged with keys to a tiny sedan in hand. He tossed his canvas bag into the back seat, and she threw her arms around him, hugging him tight. He hesitated for a second before squeezing her back and then setting her carefully aside.
He tapped her on the nose and said, “You take care of yourself, Fallon,” before turning and giving me a chin nod. “I hope I see you again soon, Sadie.”
Then, he got in the car and drove away.
Fallon watched him until his car was out of sight, and I swore the ache in her heart mimicked my own. It hurt to watch the person you cared most about driving away.
“I need to stop by the bar this morning and pay some bills. Can I bribe you into coming with me by offering up a latte and one of Tillie’s world-famous fritters?” I asked.
“I thought you didn’t want me at the bar,” she responded with a frown burrowing between eyes that looked just like Rafe’s.
“Not at night. It can get pretty rowdy, and I promised your dad I’d keep you safe, not throw you to the wolves.” I smiled. “No one will be there at eight in the morning but us.”
She seemed to perk up a bit as we drove down the few blocks to the bar, taking in the restaurants and shops with interest. I parked in the back lot and headed for the rear door, stopping only when Fallon’s feet stalled, looking at the apartment building across the street. The roof had fallen in in places, and the ‘For Sale’ sign was so old it was now hanging off its hinges.
It was an eyesore. Thinking about tearing it down and building something in its place had been what had given me the idea for the performing arts center. McKenna had lived some of her worst nightmares in that building. Replacing it with something good, something beautiful and uplifting would be a gift, not only for our community but for her.
When Fallon continued to stare, the hair on the back of my neck went up. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head and then started toward me. “Nothing. Just imagining ghosts.”
I scoured the dying vegetation and boarded-up windows but saw no movement. Nothing out of the ordinary. “Let’s go inside, and I’ll beg Tillie to send someone over with our order.”
I unlocked the back door, punched in the mile-long code Gia changed once a week, and then locked up behind us. As we made our way down the hall lined with green wallpaper, dark paneling, and dozens of frames with images of my McFlannigan ancestors, Fallon stopped to take in each one.
Some of the pictures showed our family in Ireland before they’d come to America, and others were the bar as it was being built. But the one that had gotten to me the most, ever since finding out the jewels were real, was the one of Great-grandma Carolyn holding Grandma Sarah in a white baptismal gown. Great-grandpa Harry had his arms around them both, and he was beaming like a loon. Carolyn was more reserved, but her lips were turned upward at the corners. I wished I could ask her what had happened—whether she’d stolen the jewels on purpose, or if she’d run from her family without ever knowing the diamonds were in the trunk. It shouldn’t matter either way, but it did to me. I wanted to think the best of her.
“How long has the bar been here?” Fallon asked as we made our way into the office.
“Opened its doors in 1912,” I told her proudly.
As I placed a call to Tillie’s, Fallon wandered around, taking everything in with those old-soul eyes of hers. The place didn’t quite smell like Phil anymore, but it still held the scent of years of alcohol and sweat and old wood.
After I hung up, she turned and asked, “What can I do?”
I set my phone and bag down on the large desk with its claw feet that matched the pillars on the bar and headed out of the office into the bar itself. “Let’s see how Ted left things last night.”
The man was a good bartender, and he’d been here almost as long as Phil, but he’d told me repeatedly he didn’t want to manage the bar. He said he was happy mixing drinks, offering an ear to those who needed it, and going home to his small house on a few acres of land where he kept emus that probably brought in more money than he made as a bartender.
Fallon took in the old vinyl booths that needed updating, the floor that needed rebuffing, and the huge carved expanse of polished mahogany that was the centerpiece of the bar. Carved in old-world style elegance, it had been much too fancy for Willow Creek in its inception, but it had aged well. It needed refinishing, and it was on my list of things to do with the money I’d been saving, but then I’d gotten sidetracked with diamonds and bigger dreams.
I did a quick check of the tubs in the small refrigerator behind the bar and asked, “How would you feel about cutting up lemons and limes while I pay bills?” I asked. “Or you could just play a little pool while you wait.”
Fallon took in the pool table at the back shoved in by the small stage. “I actually don’t know how to play pool, and I’d rather do something that helped.”
“Okay, let me go into the kitchen and pull out what you need from the big fridge,” I said just as a knock came from the back door. “Saved from work by fritters!”
And then I did the dumbest thing I’d ever done in my life. I opened the door without a second thought.
Chapter Thirty-four
Sadie
CAN’T HIDE LIGHT
Performed by Max McNown
The gun that pointed in myface had every ounce of breath leaving my body. Ugly memories rooted my feet to the ground as I stared at the woman and the weapon she pointed at me.
