“Was it because you weren’t perfect?”
He rose. “That’s enough. Leave my study.”
She stalked over the threshold, her paper clutched in her hand. “You are so intent on making me perfect because you know you’re not. You are trying to fix in me what you can’t fix in yourself!”
He moved toward the door, staring at her with a mixture of anger and pain, and then without another word closed the door in her face.
Anger churned in her, and she stood outside the door debating whether or not to storm in. And then she heard a sound she’d never heard before.
Her father was weeping.
Needing a distraction from the memory, Angie sat straighter and glanced in the mirror behind the bar. She spotted Kier in a booth. “I see only half of the dynamic duo. Where’s Garrison?”
The mention of Garrison darkened Eva’s eyes. “I’m not so sure he’ll be coming around for a while.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “I broke up with him.”
Angie blinked. “You did what? Why?”
“I kind of freaked out. He wanted to know what was going on with me, and I felt backed into a corner. You know I can dig my heels in when I feel trapped.”
Angie blew out a breath. “You have got to talk to him. Now.”
“I know. I know. I just haven’t found the right words.”
“You’ve got an IQ of a million, and you can’t find the right words?”
“Math and computers I get. The rest is just as confusing to me as the rest of the world.”
The door to the pub opened and shut with a rush of energy. Eva’s gaze rose. She paled. “Crap.”
Angie glanced over her shoulder. Garrison stood in the doorway. He didn’t look angry, but a grim determination deepened the lines on his face.
Her respect for Garrison grew by leaps and bounds. “He’s not so easy to get rid of, and looks like you might be having that talk now.”
She raised her chin. “What if I’m not ready?”
It would be easier to stop a freight train than Deacon Garrison. “I don’t think that much matters.”
As Garrison approached, his gaze remained locked on Eva. “Angie, can you give us a moment?”
She didn’t feel snubbed, understanding that he was focused like a laser.
Angie rose. “Detective Kier looks lonely and could use the company. Excuse me.”
She didn’t bother to glance back as she moved across the bar and took the seat across from Kier. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to hassle you. I just need a place to park while Garrison and Eva talk.”
He kept his gaze on her, not bothering with a fleeting look toward the bar. “I doubt he’ll leave here this evening without answers.”
“Good. Eva needs him to be the rock and tell her it will be all right.”
“What’s wrong?”
She pushed Olivia’s wine aside. “Not wrong as much as there is a bit of a complication. Nothing that can’t be worked out.”
“Complication. Is she sick?”
“No. Don’t worry.They’ll be fine.” She looked toward the bar and saw Garrison leading Eva to the kitchen. Seconds later King appeared to tend bar. “So whom does the wine belong to? Hot date?”
“Olivia. My girlfriend.”
She glanced at the glass. “Is she hiding in the bathroom?”
“Funny you should put it that way. She just broke up with me and left.”
Angie stared at him, wondering if this was one of his jokes. His lips didn’t rise to a grin, nor did his eyes spark as they did when he was jerking her chain. Damn. She kinda felt sorry for him.
Brenda arrived with Kier’s order and Olivia’s salad. “Will there be anything else?”
Angie smiled. “Soda, twist of lime. And a roast beef sandwich.”
Brenda frowned as if the dots just connected. “Where’s the other lady?”
“Won’t be coming back,” Kier said. He reached for the mustard and loaded it on his sandwich.
Brenda looked at the salad. “Want me to take that?”
“I’ll eat it,” Angie said.
Brenda nodded and left.
Kier raised a brow. “Why does it not surprise me that you like red meat?”
She grinned and drove a fork into the green, crunchy lettuce. “I never know how anyone can make a meal out of food meant for a rabbit.” She enjoyed the taste of the salad. “You don’t look that torn up.”
“I probably will be tomorrow. She’s a great gal.”
“But.” The word dangled in the air like laundry from a clothesline.
“She wants to get married.”
“It’s not unreasonable.”
“It’s not. But I can’t right now.”
Angie nodded, accepted the soda that Brenda brought, and finished her salad while he ate his sandwich in silence. “I’ve officially sworn off the institution of marriage.”
“Because of Donovan?”
“In part. Hard to get your guts ripped out and not worry that it could happen again.”
“You’re stronger than him.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t. In fact, I’m a good bit wiser because of him. All I’m saying is I understand why you don’t want to get married.”
“Olivia is not like Donovan. She’s a great gal. I have a lot of respect for her. Any man would be a fool to let her go.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Did you just call yourself a fool?”
“I did. Shit. I know that I am.”
He was anything but a fool. Malcolm Kier was many things. He was domineering, stubborn, and pigheaded. But he was no fool. He knew his own mind. “So why don’t you go after her? Do what your partner is doing with my sister right now.”
“Garrison is different. He knows Eva is the one for him.”
She could read between the lines. “And you know Oliv
ia is not for you.”
He shook his head and rested his hands in his lap. “She should be. She really should be. I want kids. She wants kids. She’d be a great wife and mother.”
Kids. Natural that he’d want children. Most men did. She’d never be able to give any man a child. The lightness in her mood plummeted as if someone had dropped an anvil.
“So what did I just say?” Malcolm said.
She refocused on him and realized she’d drifted. “What?”
He was totally focused on her. “I feel like I just said something that hurt you.”
“No. No, you didn’t.” It amazed her when she heard herself say, “Talk of kids always hits hard.”
“Why?”
She traced her fingertip in circles on the table. “I had cancer seven years ago. I can’t have children.” Nervous laughter bubbled. “And why I just told you that I have no idea.”
Genuine concern, something he’d never directed her way, darkened his eyes. “You’re cancer free?”
“I am. In fact, I just got the annual all clear. Doc thinks the chances are one in a billion that I’ll ever relapse. But the price is no kids.” She traced her finger over the rim of her glass. “In the long run, I come out ahead.”
“How about a beer?”
Angie laughed. “I don’t drink. Had an issue with that as well.” She sat back, just amazed that she’d just told Kier her two darkest secrets. “Let’s face it, Kier, I am nobody’s rose.”
He grunted and then chuckled. “Join the club.”
Chapter 18
Friday, October 7, 8:45 P.M.
“You can’t just drag me away from the bar like a caveman,” Eva said through gritted teeth.
Garrison didn’t break stride. “Sure, I can.”
He shoved open the door to the back room off the kitchen. “King said he’d cover the bar.”
“We do not need to chat,” Eva countered. “I need to work so King can cook.”
“That’s why he told you to lance whatever is festering and me to let him know what it was when I figured it out.”
Eva raised a hand. “Yeah, well I never got a vote.”
“Tough.”
Alone in the back room there was only the hum of a large refrigerator and the distant murmur of conversation and music from the bar. Her skin had paled more since they’d spoken two days ago. As tough as Eva talked, whatever was happening between them was taking its toll. “Tell me what’s eating you.”