Tinsel (Lark Cove #4)(14)

The annoyance in his tone was too much to take. I spun, my chin no longer quivering now that my temper was on the rise. “Do you mind? Can I just have a few minutes to feel sorry for myself? Or am I not doing that right either?”

His stoic and stern expression cracked. His eyes softened, and he shied back a step. “Sorry.”

“I’m sure my tears are silly to you.” I swiped at them and sniffled. “I know I’ve been an inconvenience today. But I’m not going to apologize anymore. Working here wasn’t my idea, okay? I don’t know what I’m doing. With anything. It’s all a mess. My life is a mess!”

My overdramatic outburst earned me a frown, one I recognized from the countless times my father had sent a matching one my way.

Before Dakota could speak, I held up my hand. “Don’t say it. I already know what you’re thinking. Spoiled little rich girl is having a bad day because she’s had to work for a change. That’s not what this is about. This is about me realizing that I’ve spent thirty-two years on this planet and have nothing to show for myself other than a no-limit Amex. I am nothing.”

The frown on Dakota’s face disappeared as the tears kept falling.

I hated them at the moment. Later tonight, when I was alone and vulnerable, I’d savor a good cry and the chance to let it all out. But at the moment, I didn’t want to be a crier, not anymore.

Not in front of Dakota.

He took a step forward, coming right into my space. And just like he’d done in the bar earlier, he slid his hand up the curve of my jaw to cup my cheek. “Don’t say that.”

“But it’s true,” I whispered.

The magazine article had called me out as frivolous and petty. It had taken just over twenty-four hours for me to realize, despite all my efforts to change, there was truth behind that reporter’s words. What did it mean that in only a day I’d realized she was right?

Maybe I’d been living in denial about myself for too long. Maybe I’d been ignoring the criticisms and advice from my family because making a change was so hard.

Maybe I’d just been playing the role everyone had put me in.

The reason didn’t matter. My world had been turned on its head, and I could not get my bearings.

Yet with Dakota’s warm skin touching mine, not all was lost.

With his dark eyes holding mine steady, the tears just stopped. It was like he’d commanded them to cease and they obeyed.

“I’ve never had a job before,” I whispered.

“I know.”

“I don’t know how to do anything that means something. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.” He dropped his hand. “It does.”

“What should I do?”

“Come on.” He jerked his chin to the door. “Let me pour you a drink and get you something to eat. Then I’ll teach you something else.”

“What’s that?”

“Bartenders are good listeners.”

Whether it was setting some of the tears free or Dakota’s comforting touch, I felt lighter as I came back out to the bar. Wayne sent me another smile as I returned to the seat at his side.

Then Dakota made good on his promise to pour me a drink. As he made me a vodka tonic, I memorized his steps, from pouring the alcohol to adding the tonic and squeezing in the lemon. Had I ever really paid attention to the people making my drinks before? Had I ever thanked them?

“Thank you.”

Dakota nodded as he put the drink in front of me. “Welcome.”

I sipped my cocktail, keeping Wayne company as he finished his beer. When he was done, he shook my hand good night and promised to come back tomorrow. Then he left, nearly the moment the other pair in the bar paid their tab and left too.

Which left me and Dakota alone, sharing the pepperoni pizza he’d made after our customers had gone.

The bar was quiet and the darkness had settled outside hours ago, but the clock behind the bar read only seven o’clock. I’d been here for over eight hours and we weren’t even close to the closing time listed on the front window.

“Do you always work this long?” I asked Dakota before taking my last bite of pizza. I didn’t allow myself dairy or carbohydrates during the weekdays, but I’d earned some extra calories tonight.

“Usually. Me and Jackson and Thea split the hours. But since both of them are gone, I’ll cover the place from open to close.”

I did the math and the number I came up with nearly made me choke. “That’s fifteen hours.”

The corner of his mouth ticked up in an almost smile. “Not every day. When it’s dead like this, we close up early. We’ll finish eating, give it another hour as we close things down, then call it.”

My shoulders sagged. “Good. I don’t think I can make it past midnight.”

“You did good today.”

“Don’t lie. I was a train wreck.”

He shrugged. “Could have been worse.”

“True. I could have burned the place down.”

Dakota’s entire demeanor had shifted after my crying jag in the kitchen. I hadn’t really felt like talking about my problems, so we’d sat there and let the television in the corner fill the silence with some sports newscaster show. And even though I hadn’t confessed all of my problems, he’d been right about being a good listener.