into Ryan as he fled his spot at the bar.
Ryan smiled at me before raising his glass to take a sip of his drink. I flashed my eyes between Ryan and the open seat, hoping that he would
get the hint. He didn’t disappoint.
“Can I refresh your drink for you, sir?” I said in a proper yet joking tone as I snatched his glass off the bar.
He laughed slightly and nodded his head. I set his glass in the sink and tapped him a fresh beer in a new glass.
“Can I also interest you in doing a shot of one of the smoothest tequilas you’ll ever have?” I set his new beer in front of him.
“Definitely interested,” he stated directly, his piercing eyes locked on mine.
I reached up to the top shelf behind the bar and wrapped my fingers around a clear bottle with a round, silver stopper.
“What is that?” he asked, trying to read the bottle.
“Gran Patrón Platinum tequila.” I poured two shots.
“Here’s to… psychotic fans!” I cheered, raising my shot glass in the air.
He tapped his glass into mine and we both tossed the shots back into our mouths.
Ryan reached in his pocket and pulled a wad of money out, but I shook my head at him.
“No. Put your money away,” I whispered as I collected the empty shot glasses.
He frowned at me. Instinctively I scowled back at him. Then, like a two-year-old, he stuck his tongue out at me! I casually rubbed my middle
finger across my eyebrow. We both started laughing.
When I glanced back up at him again, Suzanne Strass, the other actress who followed him into the bar, was hovering around him. She
whispered something in his ear; whatever she said made him roll his eyes and purse his lips. He didn’t look happy with whatever she said.
Without saying a word, he got up and moved back to the table with his original group, where he stayed for the rest of the night. They had several
additional rounds of drinks and seemed to all have a good time. I noticed Suzanne trying to hide as she swayed back and forth to the music. Ryan
sat facing in my direction, and every once and a while he’d stare at me until our eyes met.
Ryan’s blue eyes were hypnotic and I couldn’t help but smile every time one of us was caught staring. He was extremely handsome, but there
was something else. He didn’t hold himself in high regard; he just wanted to blend.
Ryan’s eyes held mine for an extra moment. He smiled at me, tilted his head slightly, and then proceeded to unbutton his top shirt. I was curious
as to why he was undressing in my pub. I couldn’t look away.
He patted his hand on his chest and stretched back. That’s when I noticed he was wearing my blue T-shirt under everything else.
I chuckled to myself; no longer could I contain my big grin. He raised his eyebrows a couple of times and winked at me.
It was almost one o’clock in the morning when his group got up to leave. Ryan stood there staring at me while he put his jacket on. He left out a
sigh then turned and headed for the door. And just like that, with no words, no goodbye, he was gone.
Fortunately when the celebrities left so did most of the crowd. The pub was trashed. We went through most of the bottles of beer I had stocked in
the coolers as well as most of my liquor reserves. Bottles, glasses, and empty pitchers covered most of the tables.
“How freaking crazy was that?” Pete shouted as he helped collect the garbage.
Marie had tray after tray of dirty glasses lined up on the bar top, but despite the huge mess that awaited clean-up, she was still smiling from her
celebrity encounter.
“I cannot believe that they came here!” she giggled. “I’m still jittery!”
I smiled at her. Ryan and his friends were just people who wanted to have a good time tonight too.
“One thing is for sure - Ryan Christensen couldn’t take his eyes off of you!” she teased me.
I groaned at her for pointing that out.
“And don’t you roll your eyes at me either!” she reprimanded.
I let out a big sigh while visions of Ryan flashed through my mind. We did stare at each other a lot tonight.
Why did he try to protect me? I started washing dirty glasses trying not to think about it, but I was failing miserably.
Chapter 4 - Games
“You made the paper,” Tammy announced, tossing the Monday local section of the Seaport Times newspaper in front of me. My dear friend
Pete was holding Tammy’s other hand. He pulled out a chair so Tammy could join me at the big, round table in the middle of the pub.
I was so glad when Pete put that engagement ring on Tammy’s finger. He loved her so much and she surely made him happy. Tammy was a
sweetheart and a great friend.
“We did?” I asked as I paged through the newspaper to find the article.
“Yep, you’re on page two,” she replied.
“Where?” I didn’t see an article.
“There, the picture.” Tammy pointed.
I studied the photo of people standing outside my front door. The caption read “Local night spot Mitchell’s Pub had a long waiting line Saturday
as visiting celebrities were reported to be inside.”
“That’s it?” Marie asked as she read over my shoulder. “No story?”
“Whatever. I’ll take the free advertising,” I joked. “And speaking of long lines… here, this is for you.” I pulled two envelopes from my pocket and
slid one to both Pete and Marie.
“What’s this?” Pete asked, peering inside the envelope. He counted it out. “This is five hundred bucks!”
“Well, we had a monumental Saturday night and I wanted to share the profits with you. You both worked very hard and I wanted to say Thank You
in more than words.”
“Thanks!” they both said in unison.
Marie’s husband Gary tried to grab the envelope from her.
“Hands off, mister!” she yelled, smacking his hand. “I busted my ass for this!”
“Yeah, Gary! Keep your hands off that money!” I scolded him. “Marie needs all of that. Maybe that way she’ll be able to stay in the game longer
tonight.”
“Oh, I see!” Pete bellowed. “You think you’re going to win this money back tonight, do you?” He grinned at me.
“That’s right! We’re upping tonight’s bets from quarters to dollars. And the sooner you shuffle the cards, the sooner I’ll be rich,” I teased him.
“Marie… while you are over there, can you grab a bowl for the pretzels, pretty please?”
“So we’re not playing for quarters?” Pete’s face fell.
Tammy nudged him in the arm. “I’m pretty sure Taryn is joking.”
Marie was digging in one of the cabinets behind the bar when the telephone rang. “Good evening, Mitchell’s Pub.”
I looked over at her, confused by her actions. “Don’t answer that. We’re closed, remember?”
“No, I’m sorry. We aren’t open tonight. The pub will be open tomorrow at one o’clock. Sure, hold on a minute.” Marie held the phone to her
shoulder. “Taryn, phone call.”
“Who is it?” I whispered at her.
She shrugged her shoulders, not bothering to ask. ”I dunno.”
“Hello?” I answered.
“Taryn? Hi, it’s Ryan. How are you?”
“Good! And you?” Why is he calling me?
“I’m good. I was just wondering if you were open. Cal and I were looking for something to do and I thought about shooting pool,” Ryan rambled.
“Well, actually I’m closed on Mondays,” I said regrettably.
“Oh, what are you up to then?” he asked.
“I’m just hanging out with a few friends. On Mondays we play poker.”
“Did you say poker?” It sounded like he didn’t believe me.
“Yeah,” I laughed nervously. “We play every Monday.”
“That sounds like fun!” Ryan stated.
I could hear another male voice in the background asking Ryan to explain.
“Playing poker,” Ryan spoke to someone else.
“Oh hell yeah!” the voice in the background replied loudly and enthusiastically.