Burned(3)

“Yeah.” She’d stood by him and Sophie when the gossip about him swelled, which seemed to happen when new people moved into town. Understanding him because of her own losses, she occasionally told him people were wrong about him, that he was wrong about himself. She’d told him a few times before he wasn’t tainted, and a woman wasn’t doomed to tragic death just because she fell for him.

“Then it’s settled.” With one short, steady nod, Byron slapped the table.

“What’s settled?”

“You and Vic will work together to find the talent for the festival.” Byron swallowed the last of his rum and tossed some money on the bar. “And while you’re with her, you can make her see she and Sean aren’t a good fit.”

“It’s not my place to interfere in Vic’s love life.” Love life. The earlier discomfort reared up along with an image of her in his arms. The words snapped like angry lobsters, rubbing him the wrong way. He shook his head. He’d never—okay, rarely—thought of her as more than a friend, so what was his problem all of a sudden?

“It’s always a friend’s place to warn another when they’re getting into a bad situation. Just think how different your life would be if someone had warned you.”

I was warned. I have thought about it. “I wouldn’t change anything that gave me Sophie.”

“You can’t be okay knowing Vic will leave you and Sophie tonight and head to another man’s bed. To know the love your daughter is bathed in could drain as quickly as murky bathwater when Vic finds a man who can give her a child of her own.” Byron shook his head and snorted. “If you are, you’re not the man I thought you were.”

Without giving Hauk time to respond, Byron hustled out the door as fast as his spry old legs would carry him.

Something felt wrong about the codger’s take on Vic, though Hauk couldn’t have formulated the right questions to figure out what if he’d been given the chance. Byron had tossed a lot at him. Had prodded sore spots best left…unprodded.

Vic had tried to tell him Krista was changing, that she had a hatred growing inside. He’d been so blinded by desire he’d ignored the warning. He’d ignored Vic until he’d been able to see the truth for himself. After he’d apologized for the unkindness he’d shown her back then, he and Vic had settled into a relationship where they had fun as friends. They talked about almost everything, but there were clear lines they never crossed. The most clear one being the line into the intricacies of the other’s personal life.

Yet somehow, Byron’s mention of Vic going to Sean’s bed had Hauk wanting to cross that line. Trouble was, he had no real reason she shouldn’t be with Sean, other than to say she deserved a man who would have an easier time dealing with her independence.

Sean wanted his women on the more subservient side. He’d said before that whoever he married could work outside the home, but in a predictable, nine-to-five, low-stress job, because he wanted her attention when work hours were over. Vic worked hard from early in the morning until late in the evening running her own business, and she had an active group of friends who kept her busy after hours. She wasn’t the woman Sean described.

Then there was the other side of trouble Hauk could get into if he crossed the line with Vic. Maybe she would take his advice and stop seeing Sean. It would open her up for the right man sooner, and Byron’s prediction of Sophie losing another woman in her life could come true faster, because when the time came that she did find her Mr. Right, she would dedicate herself to him. Sophie would likely get set aside more often. And Hauk could lose his best friend, as few men were okay with their women hanging out with other men.

“Damn it.” The discomfort in his throat shifted and sank until there was a mass of tension gripping his spine. He couldn’t deny his body’s message. Though he couldn’t act on them, he had underestimated his feelings for Vic.

“Something wrong, boss?” Aimee asked as she unloaded empty glasses from her tray.

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” Still unsure of what he would say to Vic, if anything, Hauk scrubbed his face. “Listen, I’m heading upstairs. Will you close up?”

“Sure, but…” Aimee glanced around the bar and back to him with worry. “I don’t… I haven’t…”

“You’ll be fine. Trust me.” The benefit of the small town was that everyone who frequented his place knew Sophie had seen Dr. Dani earlier, just as they’d know the rest of his staff was in the middle of or coming down with the flu. “No one will give you any trouble if you tell them I’ve gone up to take care of Sophie.”