Page 98 of Hopeless Romantic
“By the time I got there . . .” He stopped short, jaw clenching. “The bar was robbed.”
She covered her mouth with both hands, eyes wide, stomach sick. “Oh my God.”
“Several cases of beer and wine are missing. The cash from tonight’s sales. Vanished.”
“I don’t know how this happened. I went through everything with Seth. But I promise you, I’ll fix this. Even if I refund you the lost money.”
“It was over six grand,” he said, and Beckett felt the blood leave her face. That was two months’ salary for her, easy. “And I already talked to Seth. He didn’t know where the safe was—I purposely hadn’t told him, because I still don’t have a clue as to who’s been slowly ripping me off—so he put the cash and receipts in a bank bag and left it on my desk, thinking locking the office door would suffice.”
“Shit.” Tears crept into her eyes. She couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Oh, and the best part. A set of gold-leaf champagne goblets my yiayia brought with her from Greece, then passed down to my mom as a wedding present, are missing.”
“The ones in your office?” she asked, remembering the beautiful antique wedding glasses prominently displayed in the locked glass case behind his desk. “Are they valuable?”
“Maybe a couple hundred bucks at a pawn shop. To my family?” He shook his head and kicked at the ground. “My mom’s going to be devastated.”
“I’ll fix it.”
“That’s not the point. Seth is a kid. If I wanted a kid closing up my bar, I wouldn’t have hired you.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I thought everything was covered, and when Annie called—”
“Stop. This isn’t about your dad or Tommy. This is about you. Christ, Beck. Don’t you see that you’re so busy helping everyone, you’re not helping anyone.”
“I told you upfront how crazy my life is,” she said, slow and even. “You walked in with your eyes wide open.”
“I’m not asking you to pick me over your family. I’d never do that. But when you put yourself in a position where you have to choose between two people who are counting on you, we all lose.” He looked at her for a long, agonizing moment, then shook his head—as if shaking her off. “You knew how hard it was for me to leave the bar—my dad’s place—to anyone, but I trusted you. Trust doesn’t come easy for me. You knew that. I trusted you, and you fucking bailed.”
That was a direct hit. Guilt and disappointment pushed at her chest. But also, a good dose of anger. She was mad at herself, but she was mad at Levi, too.
“That’s not fair!” She bit the inside of her lip to keep the tears at bay. “I didn’t bail. I walked into a shit show. An honest-to-god shit show. The only employee who could find his head from his ass was Seth. The rest of them floundered without you at the helm to micromanage. But I stuck it out. I worked my ass off for hours before I left. Then I gave one of yoursenioremployees all the information he needed to lock up right. I called and checked in to make sure everything was okay. Considering the mess I walked into, I’d say I handled myself pretty darn well.” Her voice cracked with emotion. “And for the record, this is why I said we’d never work.”
“You never gave it a chance, Beck,” he whispered.
“Maybe not, but that’s because for this to work, you’d have to give up so much. And you would, because that’s who you are.” She clutched her arms around her stomach as if it would hold back the pain. “And I can’t ask you to do that.”
“No, you wouldn’t ask. That’s the real problem. You just make up your mind and go. Love is a two-way street, Beck. You have to take a stand; you can’t just walk the line.” He moved a step closer, and she could see the snowflakes clinging to his lashes. “Do you do this because you don’t think you deserve to be happy? Or because you don’t think you deserve to be loved?”
“Both,” she whispered, her emotions burning so high, tears pooled on her lids.
“You know the crazy thing? I’m pretty sure I love you, but I don’t know if you’re brave enough to step into the ring with me.”
Her heart ached at how easily he said those words. It ached even more because he deserved someone who could believe them.
“Rule number six,” she said, the pain slowly spilling down her cheeks. “We agreed, love was never on the table.”
“We never had a rule six.” He shoved his ball cap back on. “But clearly, you did. So I’m calling rule five—this isn’t making me happy.” He opened his truck door and gave her one last look. “Bye, Beck.”
Chapter 20
Levi sat on the couch in his office, staring at his parents’ wedding picture and the empty case next to it. Nothing left but two circles on a dusty shelf.
He rested his head on the couch back, wondering how in the hell he was going to explain to his mom that he’d lost her dowry. Even worse, how he was going to explain that, between planning a wedding and the bachelor party, he’d lost the woman he wanted to bring home to meet his family.
He and Beckett had gone about things ass-backward, but for them, it had worked. Until it hadn’t. And now he had a gaping hole in his chest and ironclad proof that his family’s tradition of finding true love had skipped him over.
He believed that Beckett could have been his great love. All she had to do was meet him partway.
