“I like to make a name for myself.” I shrugged, but I had a feeling people were doing more than finding it funny.
“Go to Bell’s Brews. It’s down the road.” She pointed to one of the buildings on the square with neon signs advertising beer. The sun was getting low in the sky, and I knew I could either go do nothing in my hotel room or I could have a drink.
The second sounded less awful.
“All right, but don’t get on me if you regret this.”
“Yeah, yeah. At least you’re not working on electrical while tired.” She waved before she left the worksite.
I put on my hat and a smile, nodding at the random people who passed by. When I entered the bar, a few people were scattered around. Hugh was in a corner with a pint glass, watching something on his phone. A lone bartender was behind the counter cleaning a cup. I approached him.
“Hey, man.”
“Hey,” he said. “You’re new here. Welcome in.”
I ignored the ripple of tension that tried to make its way into my chest. The bars in Nashville were so busy that no one could keep track of anyone. Sometimes, that was nice.
“Yeah, I am. I’m working with Wren on the coffee shop.”
“I heard about that.” He leaned in. “Can you hurry it up? We’ve been waiting for good coffee for what feels like ages.”
Despite myself, I laughed. “I tried. Wren is the one who called it for the night. She said we need ‘rest.’” I put air quotes around it.
“Well, none of us are gonna stop her. She nearly killedherself getting that library done.” He sighed. “Naming it after her wasn’t enough.”
My eyebrows rose. I hadn’t been over to it yet since my thoughts had been on work and Grace. “That wasn’t in the show.”
“Screw the damn show. We did it to be nice. We love Wren.”
I slowly nodded. “Well, she’s pretty awesome.”
“Her boyfriend thinks the same.” I wasn’t sure if he meant it as a gentle reminder or not. I hated not knowing what had gotten out about me. I knew that I hadn’t hit on anyone in town, but I wouldn’t put it above Wren to warn people that I didn’t stick around.
“I just work for her,” I rushed to say. If word had gotten out, most people were going to assume I slept with anything that breathed. That had certainly happened in Shady Acres.
But I only slept with people who were single and wanted a fun time.
“I’m not a fool. No one’s getting her away from Henry.” He put the glass down. “What are you having?”
“Whatever you have.”
The bartender laughed. “We have everything those big bars in Nashville have. Gotta be a bit more specific.”
I spouted off a local beer brand from right outside of Knoxville. He nodded and grabbed me a bottle.
“Thanks, uh ...” I looked for a name tag.
“Mark,” he said. “I keep forgetting we have people around here who don’t know me. So many newbies. It’s weird.”
I was about to take a sip, but then I remembered I would need to pay. “Let me go ahead and open a tab.”
“A tab? How much are you having?”
“Probably just the one.”
He waved his hand. “It’s on the house.”
I blinked in shock. “What? Why?”