Last Call at the Local by Sarah Grunder Ruiz

Author:Sarah Grunder Ruiz [Ruiz, Sarah Grunder]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2024-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

Raine

Jack makes it through most of the band’s set before he disappears. Once the pub closes and everyone else has gone home, I sit at the bar and stare at my phone, contemplating whether or not I should text him.

“I should, right?” I say to the empty bar. But by the time I’ve finished my sentence, I’ve typed out my text and sent it.

Raine

You okay?

“I’m okay.”

I nearly drop my phone at the sound of Jack’s voice. When I look up, I find him at the door to the kitchen.

“I thought you went home,” I say.

“Nah.” He stands behind the bar, directly opposite of where I’m sitting. When he rests his elbows on the bar, I drop my gaze to his hands and think about how it felt to hold his hand in mine. He must be thinking the same thing, because he leans a little closer and his hand brushes against mine and lingers there.

“Are you really okay?” I ask.

“I’m really okay,” he says. “How’d the rest of the set go? Sounded like a success from where I was hiding out in my office.”

I run through everything he missed, but I’m not sure either of us is actually paying attention to the conversation. I’m not, at least. Because when he slips his fingers through mine, something neither of us acknowledges, the only thing I can think about is how I don’t want him to leave.

“Sebastian misses you, you know,” I say when Jack glances at the door, even though Sebastian spent most of the evening at Jack’s side and is presently curled up on the barstool beside me.

Jack eyes the cat. “Does he?”

I shouldn’t be doing this. It’s late. “You should come visit him in the flat. If you want, that is,” I say.

Jack looks at the door, then back at me, then at Sebastian. “He’s probably wondering why I never come up there anymore.”

I have no idea if he really believes that, but I’ll run with it. “Oh, definitely.”

“Well, then, I have no choice, do I?”

We grab our coats and Sebastian follows us when we step outside. Nervous energy courses through me as I watch Jack lock up the pub, and then when I unlock the door beside the pub that leads up to the flat.

“I love your place,” Jack says when he follows me inside the flat. “Very tasteful.”

“The previous tenant had a great eye,” I say, shooting him a grin as I push off my boots. I scan the flat and cringe. It’s a mess in here. My new MIDI controller and laptop are on the coffee table. A pair of socks is beside the couch. My hair brush and a package of hair elastics are on one of the bookcases for some reason. My foot tambourine and a half-empty glass of water are on the side table next to the couch. Actually, now that I scan the flat, I realize I’ve got half-empty glasses of water everywhere. Jack has been up here a few times, and it’s never perfectly tidy, but it’s not usually this bad.

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