On occasion, he also had to fake a smile for his mom. He never wanted her to feel bad. When it came to holiday festivities, he usually had to pretend like he cared—which he didn’t; at least, if it had to do with his father. With Christmas so close, she hounded him about this Christmas thing and that Christmas thing.

He didn’t care.

Not if it involved his father.

He wasn’t into any Christmas thing if he was there. He had no problem with Christmas. He only had a problem with one person in particular who liked to force things on him he didn’t want to be involved in. And he loved to do it during the holidays, like it would soften him up or something.

Seriously, though. He didn’t want to think about his father at a time like this. So, he wiped his mind clear of any disturbing thoughts and stopped in front of his new customer.

“James. Welcome back to town,” Stu said, meaning the sentiment. Surprisingly.

He had to give James credit. He had worked hard to turn his life around. Stopped the drinking, stopped getting in trouble with the law. Stopped being an asshole. He had found love and a new sense on life. That wasn’t always easy to do. Although James had given him a hard time—quite a bit—back then, he had apologized for his behavior and Stu wasn’t the kind of guy to hold grudges. He had to admit, he was curious why James was here. In his bar. Especially when he didn’t drink anymore.

“Good to see you, Stu.” James grinned. His eyes trailed to a few bottles behind the counter.

“You ordering something?”

He didn’t want to hear the answer to that question. Because then Stu would be forced to make a decision. Serve him alcohol and help him break his sobriety or deny him any drink and help him keep his sobriety.

Well, it wasn’t a hard decision to make—he’d say no and help James keep his sobriety—but how would James react? He wasn’t in the mood to get into a fight tonight.

James’s grin dimmed. “No. Well, yeah, I’ll take some water.”

Thank goodness for that. Stu nodded and grabbed a glass, popping a few cubes in and then poured water to the top.

“You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here.” James chuckled. “I’m clean and sober. Haven’t had a drop in three years.”

“Good for you. You should be proud.” Stu leaned back against the counter and matched James’s light chuckle. “I am a bit curious why you’re here. Where’s Erin? How are you guys doing in Florida?”

This was one of the parts Stu loved best about owning and working in a bar—talking to people, getting to know them, letting them share their woes on occasion. Connecting and being real with people. There was nothing better. He had always been a people person. Probably why his father continually tried to suck him into a dream he didn’t want to follow.

“Florida is heaven compared to this cold.” James laughed as he shook his head. “We’re happy there. She’s at my sister’s right now. They’re baking cookies and other shit with Lynn and Emma, and I needed to get out of the house. I didn’t know where to go and…” He shrugged. “I saw the place was open and stopped.”

That all made sense. A house full of women, chatting girl talk, baking, and no other guys to talk with, Stu would’ve wanted to leave as well. Except, James didn’t have any friends in town. He burned a lot of bridges back in the day when he was drunk all the time. The one guy he always hung out with was a loser of the worst kind. James had cut him out of his life. And who wouldn’t? The guy tried to hurt James’s sister Theresa.

James glanced around. “Kind of dead for a Monday night.”

Besides James, less than ten people were in the bar. Everyone was scattered around. His regulars were playing pool in the corner. A group of locals, Drew, Tom, and Sam, guys in their mid-thirties, not married, no kids, and they enjoyed playing pool. A usual ritual for them every Monday. Stu liked the quiet nights. Monday through Wednesday generally were.

“Yeah, the quiet is nice. Come back this weekend and it’ll be rowdier.” Not that Stu wanted to tempt James. He already felt like James was tempting fate right now. “Well, maybe not this weekend as it’ll be Christmas. Most weekends are busy.”

He honestly didn’t want to know how James would react if he changed his mind and asked for a drink that would ruin his sobriety—and Stu told him no. It wasn’t his job to stop him from making mistakes. But he was damn proud of James, so he also wanted to make sure he didn’t make the wrong mistake.

“There’s a lot going on this weekend. Erin’s sister Aria is coming here for Christmas and we’re going to show her around and stuff.” James shrugged again. “Not that Mulberry has much to see, but you know. Show her a good time.”

“I hope you all have a great time.”

He knew he wouldn’t. He always tried for his mother, but it usually didn’t work. Christmas always brought bad memories back in full force. Not that they were truly terrible memories, but memories just the same. Memories he didn’t care to relive. He always worked to dispel the memories and to have a good excuse when his mother came around badgering him to join them for the holidays. Nope. He wasn’t having any of that. So, he worked.

He had three other employees who helped him on the weekends. The closer it got to Christmas, he usually made sure they had off to spend time with their families. Being a small town, the bar didn’t get too busy around Christmas. Everyone liked to be at home with their families—well, most everyone. In the past few years, he debated closing the bar on Christmas Eve due to how slow it could get, but there were a few locals who enjoyed coming in. He hated to ruin their holiday routine. He always closed the bar on Christmas Day, which gave him no excuse to use with his mother. He didn’t want to be considered a heartless son, so he always showed up to give his mother a present, but he never stayed. He hated the sadness in her eyes every time, but the faster he made the visit, the better it was for everyone involved.

Christmas was one week away.

It couldn’t come fast enough and move right on past New Year’s.

He decorated the bar for New Year’s, but not Christmas. No one ever asked why not. They all knew his uncle never decorated for the holidays, and when the bar was turned over to him, he just kept up the odd tradition.

He didn’t play Christmas music either. His playlist varied from country to pop to rock, but never holiday music. Sometimes a rare Christmas song popped up into the playlist. He always had to suffer through it because changing the song would incite questions, and he liked to avoid questions if possible. Because sometimes people couldn’t help themselves. They had to ask the questions he wanted to ignore.

“If I had my way, I would whisk Erin away to Terry’s cabin and spend Christmas with just the two of us.”

“Well, you could always spend a day or two there before or after Christmas. How long you guys in town for?”

“We leave two days after Christmas. I’m not sure we’ll be able to sneak away for some alone time. We got in late last night and Erin has been nonstop visiting everyone around town. She missed this place.”

Stu couldn’t hold in his chuckle. “I’m guessing you don’t.”

With the bad memories James had, Stu wouldn’t blame him.

He had his own bad memories, different from James’s but not enough where he wanted to leave the only home he’d ever known. He had too many friends here he’d miss. Plus, he owned a bar. He had roots here.

James cocked his brow in a disbelieving look. “The only thing I miss is my sister.” Then he took a sip of water and stood up. “I should get back. It was nice chatting, Stu.”

He nodded, surprised how much he agreed. When James wasn’t acting like a drunken asshole, he was nice to converse with.

“Have a great visit.”

James eyed him funny, probably wondering why he didn’t say have a great Christmas or something. But Stu rarely said anything to that effect unless someone initiated it first. Even then, he responded with “you, too.”

Hell, he wasn’t a complete Grinch. He handed out a few presents to his friends. Joined parties when he was invited—as long as his father wouldn’t be in attendance. Which was rare.

He didn’t hate the holiday.

He honestly didn’t. But he’d gotten so used to pretending he disliked the holiday because of him it was natural to keep up the act.

Stu smiled when James finally nodded. Then he turned. Stu couldn’t hold in an internal groan this time. A full-blown, annoyed groan escaped when he saw Dusty stop James in his tracks.

“Well, well, look what kind of trash blew in here. Can’t believe you let this asshole in here,” Dusty said, slightly slurred.

Just. Great.

He was the last person he wanted to deal with on a genuinely nice, peaceful night. And he was already drunk to boot.

“How much have you already had, Dusty?” Stu usually liked to keep the peace with everyone, even a jackass like Dusty. But sometimes, enough was enough.

“A little.” Dusty took a step forward. James didn’t move. His stance looked rigid. “I’ll take a beer. You want a beer, James?”

“I thought you were in prison. For burning down my sister’s house,” James said, leaning closer. His words came out clipped and harsh.

Shit.

If he didn’t do something, these two would break out in a fight, and that’s the last thing he wanted to deal with. Bar fights were never fun—or clean.

“Got out a few months ago. Good behavior,” Dusty sneered. “My beer, Stu!”

“You can leave, Dusty. I’m not serving you anything when you sound like you’ve already had enough.”

Dusty shoved past James, nudging him hard shoulder to shoulder and slammed his hands on the bar. “I want a damn beer. You can’t kick me out for no damn reason.”

Stu crossed his arms, praying for patience.

But it was the holidays.

He never had patience during the holidays.

“My bar, my rules. You need to leave.”

“Yet, you’ll serve this piece of shit,” Dusty hollered, throwing a hand in James’s direction.

“You’re the piece—”

“James, leave this to me, please.” Stu cut him off before he could finish a sentence he wholeheartedly agreed with. Dusty was a piece of shit.

While James had made mistakes in life, he made amends. He worked hard to turn his life around.

Dusty, on the other hand, since he had been released from prison for arson, still caused problems wherever he went. Not enough to get himself arrested, considering he was on parole and needed to maintain good behavior, but enough to be the Grade A jackass he always was.

“Yeah, James, leave it to Stu. You’re nothing but a needle dick coward.” Dusty smirked. “How’s your sister Theresa? She is one fine piece of ass. I always wanted to tap that.” James’s jaw clenched, a muscle ticking in his cheek. “Stu asked you to leave. I suggest you do that.”

“What you gonna do if I don’t?”

“I’ll call the cops, Dusty. Just leave so I don’t have to do that. You are on parole,” Stu replied before James could say anything. He honestly didn’t want to see James get into a fight, even though he’d have every right to let loose his anger for the shit Dusty was saying. Stu wanted to kick his ass for saying such things about Theresa—one of the sweetest women in town.

Dusty slammed his fist against the bar again. It took everything in Stu not to jump. “I want a damn beer.”

“Yo, man, Stu asked you to leave. Just go,” Drew, one of the guys playing pool, said from across the bar.

“No one asked you, asshole,” Dusty said right before he picked up a barstool and threw it in his direction. Then he turned toward James and threw a punch.

All hell broke loose.

Stu vaulted over the counter as James delivered a punch in return.

“Run Rudolph Run” suddenly popped over the speaker as Dusty came at him with a fist. Unlike the song that shouldn’t be playing, he wasn’t going to run.

This was his bar. His rules.

With the Christmas song blaring in his ears, it fueled his ire.

Dusty wanted a bar fight? He’d give him a bar fight.

Copyright © 2020 Amanda Siegrist.

***

To keep reading, click on your favorite retailer below.