An Endless Summer(29)

“It is massive,” Sean agreed. “Undeniably it’s tough and unrelenting and monotonous and endless.” Each word was like a nail in the coffin, cementing my decision.

Sean grabbed my elbow and forced me to look into his serious eyes.

“And if it was anyone else they wouldn’t stand a chance, but it’s not anyone else; it’s you.”

I shook my head, the only thing I could do to show him how wrong he was.

“It’s you, Amy. You know this place, you are this place. The Onslow stands because the Hendersons built it, made it. And although it seems like it’s going to be a miserable, endless summer …”

He stood up. “Just hold on, okay? You can do this, Amy.”

Our eyes locked and something passed between us, as a long, lingering silence washed over us. The intense silence was quickly shattered by a high-pitched voice.

“Woooo, I got stollies, babe.”

Sean turned and caught the stumbling blonde girl.

Any moment shared and all meaningful words spoken now seemed null and void, as Sean looked at me, embarrassed.

“You going to be all right?”

“Yeah, I think so.” I tried my best to smile. “Thanks, Sean.”

He opened his mouth to reply, but the blonde pulled him away.

They peeled away into the darkness, their silhouettes swallowed up by the night. Just when I thought Sean’s kind words had soothed me into rising above my situation, somehow, as I stared off after them, I had never felt more miserable.





Chapter Fourteen



I couldn’t bear to look at him.

I was lucky if I mumbled two words to Matt for the rest of the night. Come time to close up, I gave him the task of ushering people out and was fast to close the door behind him.

He stared at me from the other side of the glass and looked at me like I was an alien.

“Don’t you want help cleaning up?”

“No. I’ll do it.”

“So, no staff drinks then?”

“No.” And with that, I deadbolted the door and pressed my back against it with a relieved sigh. I should have really made him stay, made him earn his keep, but I just couldn’t stand being in the same room as him.

I pushed myself wearily off the door and trudged around the bar, lowering all the blinds and collecting empty pints, shots, cocktail, and pot glasses along the way. Dumping my stack on the bar, I worked on rolling up the damp beer mats and emptying ashtrays into the bottom foot tray near the stools.

A loud series of knocks pounded on the front door and my mood darkened. It was either some drunk begging for a last-minute takeaway slab of VB or, worse, Matt had come back. I was betting on the latter. They pounded on the door again, this time harder. I was not in the mood for this. I stomped to the front door, unbolted the deadbolts in a rage and whipped open the door.

“I said no …”

My words cut off; I stared like a stunned mullet as my eyes flicked from a wall of chest up to meet the bemused smirk of Sean.

“What’s that you were saying?”

“What are you doing here?”

I looked around him, waiting for the shrill voice of his earlier companion, but she was nowhere in sight.

He was alone. Maybe he’d forgot something. My weary eyes looked back up at him.

“Can I come in?”

I stepped aside, allowing him to brush past me. I deadbolted the door after him and turned off the main outside light.

I tried to keep my voice even and matter-of-fact as I returned to cleaning up. “Where’s your date?”

Sean pulled up a stool and watched me with interest. “Date?”

I rolled my eyes as I unloaded a new stack of glasses onto the bar next to him. “The pouty blonde who was admiring your handiwork, amongst other things I’m sure,” I mumbled under my breath.

I couldn’t stop the snarky words that tended to fall out of my mouth around him. I shouldn’t have even acknowledged anything; I mean, what did I care who he was with? I started loading the dirty pots onto the dishwashing rack.

“Oh, Lisa.” He smiled. “Yeah, she’s a handful all right.”

I fought not to slam down each glass on the tray.

I forced a smile. “She sounds like a riot.”

I could feel Sean’s eyes on me, judging my expression, waiting for me to elaborate. Why should I? I didn’t care who he was with or what he did with his free time. Or who. I loaded the tray into the washer, slammed the door, and pushed the power on. I straightened up and met his eyes.

“So where’s Lisa now? Waiting for you to grab more booze? Is that why you’re here? You know we’re closed, right?”

Sean’s eyes narrowed. “If you must know, I kissed her goodnight and sent her on her merry way home.”