Coming Home(126)

Leah made her way to the bar, resting her elbows on top of it as she glanced around the familiar space.

“What can I get you, hon?”

She looked up just in time to see the bartender’s face light up with recognition.

“Leah! Sweetheart! How are ya?”

“I’m good, Sammy. You?”

“Oh you know, same old, same old,” he said, leaning on the bar in front of her. “God, it’s been a while. You look good, kiddo!”

Leah smiled. Sammy was the sweetest old man she’d ever met; he had been the bartender at Paddy’s for as long as she’d been going there, and he seemed to remember every face, every name, every story that crossed his path.

“Thank you. You’re looking pretty good yourself.”

“Bah,” he said, standing up and waving his hand at her. “Quit makin’ an old man blush.”

Leah laughed, and he smiled. “So what can I get ya?”

“Can I get a pitcher? Whatever you have on special is fine.”

“You got it, sweetheart.”

Just as Sammy turned away from her, Leah felt two arms wrap around her waist, and she leaned back into his embrace.

“No open tables?” she asked, turning her head to look up at him.

And then her heart stopped.

“Hey beautiful,” he said, rubbing his thumbs over her stomach through the fabric of her shirt.

After a stunned second she turned in his arms, using her hand on his chest to push him away. He took a step back, relinquishing his hold on her, but he smiled.

“You look incredible,” he said, and she shook her head.

“Scott, don’t—”

“We need to talk,” he said, his face growing serious.

“I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“Fine. Don’t talk then. Just listen.”

“I don’t want to do this now,” she said, stepping to the side in an attempt to walk around him, but he picked up on it immediately, stepping forward and putting his hands on the bar on either side of her.

“You won’t do it anywhere else,” he said smoothly. “I’ve tried.”

She looked down at his arms, caging her in, and then she lifted her eyes to his, her expression steely.

“Just let me say this. She meant nothing to me, Leah,” he said, and she scoffed before rolling her eyes. “I mean, we worked together, and she was constantly flirting with me, and I just…I was under a lot of stress, and she was always there, right in front of me. I mean, shit, a man can only take so much temptation. I had to get it out of my system. But it didn’t mean anything. She didn’t mean anything.”

As Scott spoke, she stared over his shoulder, her expression disinterested as she searched the bar for any sign of her sister and Kyle.

“I know you’re mad because I didn’t come out after you, but I knew you needed some time to calm down—”

Leah whipped her head toward him, her expression incredulous as a tiny laugh escaped her lips. “So, what? You figured you’d just finish f*cking her while I cooled off?” She laughed outright then, shaking her head. “You know, for all the time you’ve had to plan this speech, you’d think it would be a little less pathetic.” She pushed his arm off the bar and took a step past him.

Scott stepped back and to the side in one swift movement, blocking her path. “I know you’re still upset—”

“Actually, I’m not. I’m over this whole thing. Which is why I want to be left alone,” she said, stepping to the other side.