Page 17

You are better off without him.

"Well in that case, you need to buy me out as soon as possible."

"Um, yeah, you see..."

Colleen clenched her jaw. She could picture him, running his hand through his dark hair—or what was left of it, she thought spitefully. She knew him, knew his tone. Knew he was about to feed her some bullshit excuse.

"Things are kind of tight right now, and with the money we spent on the wedding, I can't put together enough to pay you outright."

What. The. Ever. Living. Fuck. Did he actually just tell her he couldn't pay her what she was owed from HER house because he had spent it all on his wedding?

If she hadn't already accepted that Gregory was one of the most cluelessly, carelessly, selfish people on the planet, this sure as hell would have opened her eyes.

"I want the money by the end of the month."

"I can't agree to that right now."

"Then you'll hear from my lawyer." Which would be another big bill she would barely be able to afford, even with the extra income from bartending a couple nights a week.

She ended the call. Unable to contain herself, she stomped her foot and shouted "fuck you," at her phone, then gave it the finger for good measure.

She looked up to meet the curious stares of a couple as they walked by. Whatever. She was too mad to care. Besides, they weren't people she recognized.

She shoved her phone back in her pocket, closed her eyes, and, using a technique her therapist had taught her, silently chanted the word 'peace' over and over. Within a couple of minutes, she felt not exactly better, but less likely to go back behind the bar and smash every glass she could get her hands on.

As she walked back through the door, she heard JT calling her name. Though the last thing she wanted to do was talk to anyone right now, she pasted a smile on her face and went over to his table.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Sure, why?" she said tightly.

"If everything's okay, why were you flipping your phone the bird?"

Embarrassment set in as she realized her entire phone call had taken place in front of the restaurant's huge window.

"Don't worry, I don't think many people noticed," Paulina chimed in. "But since we're sitting right here, we kind of have a front row seat.

"I'm really sorry you had to see that. I was on a phone call with my ex and sometimes my temper gets the best of me."

"I've never known you to have a temper," JT said. "But it looks good on you." The smile he flashed made the angry heat in her belly fade a little into something warmer. And a hell of a lot more pleasurable.

"Oh, man, are you going to tell her she's beautiful when she's angry? Because that's seriously the stupidest line in the world," Paulina said.

"Shut up, Paulina," JT retorted, but there was no missing the dark color heating his chiseled cheekbones.

Colleen excused herself to go back to work. Was it just her, or was JT flirting with her? She knew it was stupid, given everything else she had going on, but the idea made what was turning out to be a terrible evening not so terrible after all.

Shoving thoughts of Gregory and his happily-ever-fucking-after with Angela out of her head, she thanked Molly for covering for her.

"Hope it wasn't too bad," Molly said sympathetically.

"It was a disaster, actually." Colleen walked away to take a customer's order before Molly could ask more. She wasn't ready to talk to anyone about this yet. Especially not Molly, who had no idea why the news of the pregnancy would be especially devastating.

Only her brother and Sarah, Colleen's best friend from college, had any idea what Colleen had been going through when she and Gregory split. They were the only ones who knew that behind Colleen's seemingly charmed life, things weren't so perfect after all.

She had just served a pint of beer to Chris Sutherland, who owned the local hardware store, when she heard JT once again call her name. He stood at the end of the bar. She didn't see Paulina, who was probably in the restroom.

"I uh, wanted to ask you something," he said. "I was just thinking—I mean, you'll probably say no..."