Page 64 of Never and Always
Chapter 14
“Can I get something strong, please?”Mia asked the rough-looking bartender who approached her from behind thebar.
“Tough day?” he asked with a smile that highlighted the dimples in hischeeks.
“Yeah, something like that.” She nodded, trying to bepleasant.
“Okay, I’ll fix you something to take the edge off.” He nodded with a halfsmile.
“Thank you.” That sounded like the very thing she needed. Something to take the edge off, and hopefully that same thing could erase the last month ofhell.
She couldn’t believe it had been a whole month since she last saw Nick. How had the time flown by so quickly? And why hadn’t it made her feelbetter?
Time was supposed to heal, right? So why wasn’t it doing its job andhealing?
She’d gone from feeling distressed, to feeling angry, to feeling sorry for herself. That was why she was here sitting in Sam’s Bar ordering somethingstrong.
Mia didn’t drink alcohol. She didn’t like the taste and smell. She knew it did bad things to your skin and liver, and being the astute beauty therapist that she was she believed in having wholesome foods and wholesomeeverything.
But not today. Today she would drink. She’d heard it helped you forget, and like her bartender friend said, take the edge offthings.
She started her new job and it was great. It would definitely keep her in the field of what she wanted to do and help her prepare to set up the spa retreat. Planning that had taken her mind off what was going on. She worked out that she’d need about a half a million to get things going. If she worked hard for the next two to three years, factor in what she had gotten back from the inheritance, and get a business loan, she’d be able to do it. Depending on the location. The startup cost would definitely change withthat.
There was a chance she could have gotten the funds she needed from her parents as she was back in their good books with the return of most of the inheritance and the paintings, but she wasn’t going to. She was still determined to do this by herself, and rise from the flames of distress like aphoenix.
She didn’t know if she should move across state again, and it hurt every time she considered it because it meant leaving Nickhere.
But she had to forget him. It was best to pretend that nothing had ever happened and forget that she lovedhim.
Glenn told her that Nick had gotten some elaborate job that would take up all his time. He also said that Nick planned to move out long ago and it was easier for him to do so with his line of work. Glenn didn’t seem worried or anything so she hadn’t insisted on talking, and she definitely didn’t tell him that she and Nick were together before heleft.
Several times she had to talk herself out of calling Nick. It was so many she lost count and it didn’t help that Claire keptinsisting.
The way she figured it was, there was no point in chasing him for him to hurt her more by asserting that he didn’t want to be with her. If he’d changed his mind she thought he would call her, but clearly he didn’t or else she wouldn’t behere.
The bartender returned with a tall glass filled with a pink-and-yellow mixture. There was an umbrella placed neatly to the side and blue syrup squiggled over therim.
“That’s for you. I call ithappiness on the beach.” He smiled ather.
“Thanks, it looks cool.” She returned thesmile.
“Call me if you need anything else,” he said, and sauntered away to serve the nextcustomer.
Mia definitely would be calling him again because she planned to be here allnight.
She glanced about her, feeling eyes on her back. There were several men looking at her. She recognized the looks and was sure that one of them would offer to buy her a drink and start talking to her within the nexthour.
She didn’t do bars but knew what mostly happened after people had a few drinks. Most people hooked up and went off together. She wasn’t here for that, so she’d be turning away any offer of drinks that came herway.
Mia returned her focus to her drink and sipped it slowly through the straw. She tasted the syrup first, but then the alcohol hit her and she had to stop. It tastedvile.
She couldn’t have it. she was just about to signal the bartender over again and ask for something less strong when something caught hereye.
She turned. It wasn’t something. It wassomeone.
Nick.
He’d just come through the doors with that uptight, badass attitude she’d foundsexy.
