Like most small towns, she was used to her guests being locals and couldn’t give a coherent direction to save her life. When Tess asked where the best place was to get a drink, the answer was full of “down the street”, “at the light”, “past the tree” and, her personal favorite, “don’t fall into the gulch”.
It was pure dumb luck that led her to stumble upon Thirsty’s—mainly because it was the only building in town she passed that had more than two vehicles in the lot. A sorry crowd by the standards she was used to, when she finally got up enough nerve to walk inside she saw that were about twenty others filling the room.
Though a couple of tables were occupied, the majority of the crowd was seated at a long countertop that ran the length of the place. The local watering hole, she figured. She made a point to take a table as hidden as possible. She wanted to be the one to observe for once.
It took a few minutes before a waitress noticed her. It was obvious that the woman was surprised to find an unknown face visiting the establishment but a table was a table and she got over her shock quick enough to bring Tess a menu and a glass of water.
After waving off food, Tess ordered a simple gin and tonic. If that drink passed her test, maybe she would indulge in something else. Until then she contented herself with watching the other patrons. She didn’t think she could manage to completely banish her guilt. Since she had already abandoned Jack, she decided she owed it to him to give it a try.
It was a shame she hadn’t been able to convince him to leave the hotel room. Her husband would have felt right at home at Thirsty’s.
There was an honest to God jukebox in one corner of the bar and whoever stocked it had the same taste in music as Jack. The first time Cinderella’s “Don’t Know What You Got (‘Til It’s Gone)” played, she cringed. The second time, she flagged down her waitress again. When the opening chords to Whitesnake’s “Is This Love” echoed through the room, she tilted her head back and swallowed the rest of her drink whole.
Her mood perked up a little when the music did. Still firmly lost in the eighties, someone put on Def Leppard. Just as the singer demanded someone pour some sugar on them, a movement by the bar caught her eye.
Tess watched as a woman stood up on her stool before pressing a booted heel onto the countertop. As she marched down the bar, all of the nearby patrons hooted and hollered, laughing as they moved their drinks in order to give her a clear path. Once she didn’t have to worry about tripping over someone’s beer, she started to dance.
Tess couldn’t tell if the woman was pretty
but she sure was wild. Dressed in jeans that seemed to be painted on and a button-down shirt that was buttoned up just enough not to be obscene, the dancer had long red hair that spilled down her back and rippled like a flame in the neon lights surrounding the bar. A cowboy hat was placed smartly on her head, an odd accessory considering they were still on the East Coast. Amazingly, no matter how she threw her head or how she moved, the hat stayed in place.
As she swirled the straw in her latest drink, Tess was mesmerized.
So mesmerized, in fact, that she didn’t notice it when a shadow fell on her table.
“Hello.”
Tess jumped, her hand slipping off her straw and knocking into the rim of her glass. Amber-colored drink splashed her skin and the table in front of her. With a shaky hand, she just managed to steady the glass before the whole thing toppled over.
As she reached for a cocktail napkin and started to sop up the spill, she glanced up to see who had startled her.
It was a man, about her age or maybe a year or two older than her twenty-five. There was something almost babyish remaining in his chiseled features, a softness that said while he’d seen a lot in this world, it still held some wonder for him.
It was his eyes, she decided. A warm sort of cocoa brown, they were big and wide and utterly adorable. Tiny lines framed them. Laugh lines.
He was smiling at her. She was used to bar crawlers smiling at her but there was something kind in his grin. It could’ve been pervy. It wasn’t. And that made her a little bit wary.
“Sorry about that, miss. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t.” Her thundering heart called her a liar. “Something I can do for you?”
He must have just come in from the outside. For one, she was pretty sure she would have noticed him during her perusal of the other patrons. For another, his cropped hair glistened with the raindrops that clung to the short strands. His coat was buttoned up to his chin. She could see that his shoulders were dotted with big wet, splotches. Ran in from his car, she guessed.
“You can answer a question for me.”
“Sure.”
He nodded at the empty seat across from her. “You waiting on someone?” His offer was left unsaid. If she gave him the go sign, the seat wouldn’t be empty for long.
Tess could tell that he was hitting on her, but he did it in such a transparent way, she wasn’t offended. The curious stares and open leers from some of the other men in the bar had rubbed her the wrong way. This guy was cute. It was almost a shame that she had to turn him down.
Picking up her glass, she made sure to use her left hand. If he missed the wedding ring on her finger, then he was blind. “My husband wasn’t feeling well. I left him to get some rest back at the inn. If anything, he’s waiting on me.”
The handsome stranger never lost his smile. He took the rejection incredibly well. “Have a nice evening, miss. Enjoy your time in Hamlet.”
“Thank you. I am so far.”
With a friendly wave, the man shook his head once before he backed away from her table and turned to search the rest of the bar. Because she was married but could still appreciate a good looking man, she sipped her drink and watched him go.