Just One Night (Black Alcove #2) (4 page)

Something
about her makes me think that this time I’ll do anything it takes
to keep my foster family. Anything that keeps me near Sara Connelly.

* * *

I didn’t sleep much
last night and when I did, it included a brief dream of the day I met
Sara. That dream was all I needed to tell me what I already knew.

We were brought
together for a reason. I may have been just a kid when I met her, but
we’ve grown up together and learned together. The person she has
grown into is a woman I respect and admire. She’s always wanted to
own her own bar, not just manage the way she does at the BA. I want
to be there for her, but I also can’t stand in her way. We can make
this work. Hundreds of miles between us won’t ruin anything. If
anything, it might help us.

I have a sister out
there somewhere who I might never meet, and not long ago I pushed my
friends, Sara included, away because I was having a hard time dealing
with it. I told her it was because I was leaving for college and
having a girlfriend didn’t sound ideal. That was a lie. The fact no
one could give me information on my sister is what made my decision.
Sara didn’t deserve a guy like me. A guy with no family or
direction. But things are different now. My friends are my family and
this opportunity is setting me in a great direction.

I’d put off finding
my sister after high school, but a few months ago, Tyler hacked into
the child services computer and got me her address. I sent her a
letter. Then, I sent another. Every letter but the first has been
returned to me unopened. It feels like a punch in the gut every time
I find it in the mailbox, but I’m not giving up. With Sara moving,
I might be able to focus on her and my sister separately without it
looking as though I’m neglecting Sara.

Still to this day, I’ve
never told Sara about trying to contact my sister. She doesn’t need
to be bothered with those kinds of problems. I almost cracked and
told her last night, but I only wanted to focus on us and it wasn’t
the right time to bring it up. Thinking clearly this morning, I
should have told her the truth—if we’re going to do this, we
can’t have any secrets.

I step through the
doors into the BA and my phone chirps, notifying me of an incoming
call. Mr. Connelly’s name flashes across the screen. He called
first thing this morning, asking me to meet him here so we could go
over a few things. I can’t imagine what he could tell me that I
don’t already know about this place. At eight in the morning no
less. It’s also a shock that he’s actively doing something with
the BA other than an approval here or a signature there. He hasn’t
taken a part since the day he made Sara manager.

“Logan, perfect
timing, I was just calling you,” Sara’s father greets me as I
stand frozen in the doorway. Now I see who Sara gets her punctuality
from.

“Mr. Connelly.” I
nod, walking toward him.

“Please, call me
Dean,” he says, offering me his hand.

I’ve known this man
for more than a decade and never has he invited me to call him by his
first name. Sara might not see it, but another reason I’m taking
her father’s offer is for her. Not only will the money be good, but
the closer I am with her father, the better our relationship will be.

“Dean,” I say with
confidence and shake his hand. I follow him to the front window and
take the seat across from him at one of the high-top tables.

“So, I’ll just get
right to the point. Ethan spent part of his time as manager searching
for local bands. It was an idea he ran by Sara without telling the
rest of the bar just in case it fell through. Good news is, we will
have live entertainment in this place again. Thanks to Ethan’s
contacts, I’ve scheduled a few bands to rotate each Saturday for
the next couple of months until we can find more.”

I already knew about
the bands, but I let him continue. He hands me some flyers that
advertise the entertainment: Black Cross, Rowdy Roughhousers, and
Mugged. I haven’t heard of any of these, and since I’m judging
the names, they all sound a bit—harsh.

“This sounds like a
great idea. Who, ahh … who picked them?” I ask.

“I did, from a list
Ethan provided.”

I glance back at the
posters. This one flyer must have used all the black ink.
Did
he do any research on them?
Sara is going to freak when
she finds out her dad may have hired a few hardcore bands to play at
the BA. But if the music is good, it won’t matter.

“I would like for you
to be here on the nights they play, of course. To keep the locals in
check.”

I keep my eyes focused
on the flyer. It’s one thing to tell Sara I’m happy leaving the
bar under someone else’s supervision for a night, but her father
might not be as accepting to the idea. If the bands play every
Saturday night, that would mean I have to be here every weekend no
matter what I told Sara last night. I’ll just have to change visits
from the weekend to during the week. I look up to see a satisfied
grin resting on Dean’s lips as he looks over the checklist in front
of him.

Did
he plan this on purpose?

I shake the idea,
because who would do that to their daughter, and nod my head.

“Yeah, I can do that.
I may need to switch a few gig nights to Fridays, but it should
work,” I say. My phone buzzes in my pocket and I resist the urge to
check it in front of him.

“I’ve already
arranged for Saturdays, but when the next eight weeks of rotations
are done, Fridays will be fine.”

Fuck.
Eight
weeks.

“The first band plays
this Saturday. That gives you three days to do some extra
advertising.”

Advertising in three
days—he can’t be serious
.

“The stage needs a
few repairs and I think we need to put some new lights above it as
well.”

The stage looks in
perfect condition to me.

“Storage room B needs
to be cleared and joined with Storage room A”—he checks something
off on the paper in front of him—“the band members will need a
place to relax before and after their sets.”

“You will need to buy
furniture for that room, and it might be a good idea to put the
poster of each band who plays here up in that room as well.”

“May I?” I reach
for the notepad in front of him as he pushes it toward me. I skim
over it quickly.
This is quite
the list.

“Sara and I will be
leaving in the morning. I hope we can cross off most of these tasks
today.”

Tomorrow
morning.
This confirms it. He’s trying to keep me away
from his daughter. And that gives me less than twenty-four hours to
spend with her before she leaves.

“Logan, Dad, what a
surprise to see you here.”

Sara’s voice relaxes
me immediately. I turn and try my best to hide any laughter that
tries to escape. There’s no hiding the fact she ran here, a perk of
living downtown near the bar. And by the sight of her pink slippers,
I think she did it in her pajamas too. She’s wearing a black pair
of too short shorts and a red tank top with her hair looking like a
ratted mess on the top of her head.
Damn,
she looks sexy.

Her eyes sparkle when
she looks at me and when she blushes, I think she just realized she
didn’t get ready. Her hands move quickly, smoothing down her
clothes and fidgeting with her hair.

“You look—”

“Is everything okay,
dear?” her father cuts me off and rushes to her. “I left you a
voicemail where I would be. You look like you ran out for an
emergency.”

Sara rolls her eyes at
me, doing her best to hide her smile.

“Well, isn’t it?
Your voicemail said I’m leaving tomorrow, so the short notice has
to mean there’s something wrong.”

Dean chuckles and takes
his seat again.

She can’t leave
tomorrow.
I know my
facial expression is cool and calm right now, but inside, I’m
freaking out just a little. I just got Sara back from a trip a few
weeks ago. A trip I still have no idea why it was so important she
take—she hasn’t told me much about it. Then again, I haven’t
asked. We haven’t been alone long enough to talk about it.

“I’m sorry to alarm
you, dear, but no. I just wanted to get a head start on getting this
place up and running. The sooner you get there and get started, the
sooner I can make that happen. Now, why don’t you go home, pack,
and possibly shower? Logan and I have a full day today.” He clears
his throat and pins his daughter with a “don’t argue with me”
stare. “We can’t have any distractions.”

Sara

I glance at my phone,
again. It’s been two minutes since the last time I checked. When my
dad said they would be busy all day, he wasn’t joking. I texted
Logan the moment I left and it’s been a solid nine hours with no
response. I wasn’t in my right mind last night, and by giving all
my attention to Logan, I’m behind on making a checklist of
everything I need to do at this new bar before I get there.
Checklists make everything easier.

I stare at the blank
paper. There is nothing written down because I’ve spent most of the
day concerned over whether or not I’m going to see Logan before I
go, and the only conclusion I’ve come to is that this is the
longest day ever.

My other distraction:
watching re-runs of
Drop Dead
Diva
until my motivation to be successful returns in full
force. I hit the power button on the remote before pacing in front of
my couch. I hate this unsettling feeling in my gut. Like if I don’t
see him before I go, I won’t see him ever again.

It almost reminds me of
the summer before our freshman year. I was so paranoid that Logan and
I would end up in different high schools. Wind Valley isn’t a very
big town, but they still have your typical two rival high schools.
Junior high was great for me, but I had weird vibe that if I didn’t
have Logan as my study partner for the next four years, my life
wouldn’t feel right.

At that time, I’d
only known part of his background, and I looked up to the way he
pushed himself and always remained happy. I thought life was rough as
a teenage girl, but life was easy compared to what Logan had been
through. So when I walked through the doorway to social studies that
first day and found him sitting in the room by himself, that was the
moment I knew Logan would forever be important to me. And the way he
smiled when he me saw that day, I knew he felt the same way.

“Knock, knock,”
Kelsey says as she opens the door to my apartment. We used to live
here together, but that changed after my cousin Ethan came to town.
Now she lives on the other side of Wind Valley and I live alone. Some
days it has its perks, but days like today, I’m thankful she’s
here to keep my mind distracted.

Kelsey pokes her head
around the kitchen corner, and I sigh in relief that she’s alone.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my cousin, Ethan, and I love that bundle
of joy, Clara. But I miss having my best friend to myself, and right
now is the perfect moment to make up for lost time. I let my body
fall back into the couch and, with a small bounce, I whine, resting
my head against the back cushion.

“Why do I feel
frustrated?” I complain. “Owning a bar has been my goal for as
long as I can remember, and out of nowhere, leaving feels—different.
I’m still excited, just not as excited as I thought I was would
be.”

“I know. I wish there
was something I could say to make you feel better,” she says,
placing her purse on the kitchen counter and joining me in the living
room. Her hair is pulled up into a messy bun, brown strands falling
around her face, and she doesn’t have makeup on. She’s wearing
jeans and a plain, black t-shirt that has a smudge of some sort at
the bottom—probably a gift from Clara. “You’re going to hate
this,” she says, redirecting my attention back to our conversation.
“But you know it’s not the end of the world. You just have to go
down there, kick ass, and get your butt home as soon as you can.”

She takes a seat next
to me and pats my leg. I know she’s right, but it seems the idea of
Logan and me always stirs this terrifying feeling inside me. A glare
from the diamond on her ring finger shines on the TV, and instantly I
feel a sting in my heart. What if I never get there with Logan? I
mean, it’s way too early to think about that, but you don’t date
someone if you don’t think marriage could be in your future. What
if this changes everything for us?

“I see you’re
wearing your ring today. Does that mean you two finally told the rest
of the world you’ve been married for a month?” I ask.

My vison begins to grow
blurry from stubborn tears so I look out the window, away from her.
This right here, my emotional side, this is exactly why I don’t do
relationships. I’m sitting here worried about Logan and me when I
should be making this damn list I’ve still yet to start.

Kelsey rests her hand
on my arm and waits until I face her again before she says anything.
“This is just another bump in the road, and I know you can handle
it.”

I sigh heavily and
close my eyes.

“My dad has been
working him all day. So much that Logan hasn’t been able to even
text me back. Is this a sign my father doesn’t like him?”

“Hey, stop. Your
father loves Logan. You dad’s even having him run the bar while
you’re gone. That’s
huge.
He would never ask someone he didn’t trust.”

Again, I know she’s
right, but there’s this little voice in the back of my head telling
me my father did this to keep us apart. He’s the one who has always
taught me how relationships ruin everything. Maybe he’s testing me.
I push it away before I get too carried away on the idea. My father
wouldn’t do that me.

“So, tell me what you
have planned so far. Do you have appointments set up or anything?”