Teague (The Family Simon 4)

He had to agree with her. “Nothing a pint of Guinness won’t cure.”

“Here, let me do that,” she said, pushing Tucker out of the way. She grabbed a large mug and filled it expertly, before sliding it across the bar to Teague.

He took a long drink. Damn but he needed this.

“We’ll be with you in a bit,” Abby said. “My brother Mitch has two servers running late, so Tucker volunteered us to help out.”

Teague’s eyebrows lifted. “How’s that going?”

Tucker laughed. “About as good as you’d imagine.” He nodded behind Teague. “We’ve got a table in the corner if you want to stow your gear.”

Someone elbowed him and that pretty much made up his mind. Teague grabbed his draft. “I’ll see you over there.”

He wove his way through several large groups of people, catching half conversations filled with excited chatter about hookups, the Rangers, and the Yankees hopes for another pennant. He avoided a few pointed glances and more than a few aggressive women, before settling his ass in the booth and stowing his gear.

Without thinking, he pulled out his cell phone, doing the same thing he did multiple times, every day.

There was no call. No text message. No Sabrina.

Teague stared down at the phone, trying to clamp down the anger that pulsed inside him. Had he screwed up this bad?

“You okay?”

He shrugged as his brother slid into the booth across from him, and accepted another pint. “About as okay as I get.”

“You look like shit,” Tucker said.

“So your woman says.”

“Anything I can do?”

He shook his head and made a dent in the mug of Guinness. “Nah. A couple days of R&R should help.” He always gave the same answer because it was easier to lie. Truth was, everything about right now felt off. He’d just got home, for Christ sake, and yet he was as restless as ever.

All he could think about was…

“Have you talked to Sabrina at all?” he asked, before he could stop himself.

Tucker set his mug on the table and sank back into the seat. His eyes were thoughtful as he gazed across the table at his brother.

“I haven’t spoken to her myself, but Mom mentioned her the other day.”

“Mom?” Surprised, Teague sat up a bit higher.

Tucker nodded. “Yeah. She’s getting ready to sell the cottage or something. Apparently she’s living in town now and can’t keep two places running.”

“She loves that place. Hell, Harry and Morgan love it more than she does.” Frowning, Teague glanced at his phone again.

“Well, she’s a single mom and I can’t imagine how tough it would be to keep one place going, let alone two.”

“I guess.” But the thought of strangers in that house, living in the rooms that belonged to Sabrina and the kids, didn’t sit right with Teague and he scowled at the thought.

“Are you going to tell me what exactly happened between the two of you?”

He didn’t feel like discussing any part of his personal life with anyone, and that included Tucker.

“What did Jack tell you?” he asked instead.

“He didn’t say anything.”