Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

Barrett

" W hy are you in such a good mood tonight?" Vaughn asks as the two of us sit at Monroe's waiting for everyone else to join.

"Maybe I had a good day? Maybe some things I've been worried about are finally starting to work out? Maybe I'm just happy that I'm back at the bar with my friends and I get to shake my ass. The question is why are you in such a bad one?" I tip my bottle toward him. "You've got everything going for you, and you're sittin' here with a sour look on your face."

He sighs heavily, leaning so that his elbows rest in the middle of the table before he reaches over and grabs a handful of peanuts. "I'm just tired. Last week was crazy, I ended up putting in over eighty hours, helping with storm damage. I just got back into town this morning, I should be sleeping, but I didn't want to be by myself. Although I'm exhausted, I decided to come and hang out with y'all because you're my best friends."

As a lineman, he's gone a lot. While most of us are comfortable in our house when it's storming, he's usually out in the elements, working crazy long hours, and he'll even deploy to other parts of the country to help when things get bad. Last week a large storm complex moved through the north of us. I think I read somewhere that three tornados touched down, and there was extensive damage. "Northern Virginia?" I pop a few peanuts myself.

"Yeah, it was bad, but at the same time they're lucky. It's hard seeing all that devastation over and over again. Every once in a while I think about looking for something else to do, but I don't know how to do anything else. I wonder when enough will be enough." His voice is full of resignation, and haunted by the memory of things he saw. "Fuck I gotta get some happiness in my goddamn life. Gotta find me a girlfriend, or fuck buddy." He rubs his hands down his face.

I feel for him, I'm not sure how he does it. It takes an emotional toll that I'm not sure the rest of us understand. He perks up, and I look behind me. Here comes the rest of our crew. Abel grabs a chair, turning it around and sitting in it so that he can rest his forearms on the back. "It has been the longest fucking day."

Aren't we a bunch of rays of sunshine tonight? We're worse than a group of depressed teenagers.

"Says you, who left at noon and didn't come back." I throw a peanut at him. He bats it away, laughing when it falls to the ground. "Fuck you by the way. I had to hang that drywall by myself."

"Whine a little more for me." He throws one back at me. "When did 'running errands' become so tedious."

"When did you get to use 'running errands' as an excuse to miss work? Oh right, your dad's the boss." I smirk over at Abel, waiting for what's coming my way.

"Ya know what?" He takes the beer that Nolan brings over, as he has a seat at the table. "I'm too tired to even argue with you."

"Sounds about right. What did you even do today?" I needle at him, waiting for what's about to come my way. Either he'll explode or he'll give me a ton of shit about what he normally does on a normal day.

Immediately Abel clams up, like he's scared of what I've asked. "It's not important."

"Obviously it is." Vaughn lowers his eyebrows, leaning in so that they're on the same level. "You missed work, and I can't remember the last time you did that."

The music gets louder as more people come into the bar, and everyone starts talking. All I want is to get up and shake my ass. It's the way I take care of the stress that eats at me every single day I've spent without Gabby.

He throws back his head, groaning loudly. "Fuck it. Kara really wants to get married in a church, and for us to do it at the one she insists on getting married at, we have to do counseling. Today was our first day. We had to fill out a metric shit ton of questionnaires, tell our whole goddamn life story, and then we went to and pick out wedding rings. I am done making decisions today."

"Poor, baby." Alexis brings him a shot, putting it down in front of him with a loud thud. "I heard about it from Kara."

He gladly takes it before smiling. "Thanks, bonus mom."

"I hate when you call me that." She scowls, before laughing. "Anyway, I'm helping back there tonight. I'll see y'all later. Just raise a hand if you need a refill."

"I thought Boone didn't want her behind that bar as much," I muse as I watch her take her spot and start pouring drinks.

"Boone cannot want her to do things, and she can still do them while they have an agreement." Vaughn purses his lips. He's about to say something super smart ass, and I'm not sure if I'm going to like it or not. "That's how Boone's married, and you're still pining over Gabby."

Nolan groans, shaking his head back and forth. "What a fucking little shit you are, but you're honest. Damn, man, truth hurts."

Should I tell them Gabby and I are giving it another shot, or should I just leave well enough alone? This is the question as I drain my beer and slam it on the table. Getting up, as the song changes to one I love to dance to, I give them both the finger. "Whatever, I'm going to shake my ass."

All my life I've always loved dancing. I've never been talented at singing, but I could always pick up any dance that anyone was doing. I've gone through phases, and I've done it all, but my favorite by far is line dancing, especially since it's gotten so popular on social media lately. For a while I was going to a bar in Morgantown where every song they played had their own line dance. I got pretty popular on social media because people would post videos of me online, but I didn't like for my personal life to be out there for everyone to see. Kara loves it, but it's just not me.

I take my spot on the floor in the line, and when the song comes on, I start dancing, clapping my hands, and lose myself to the beat. It's the one thing that's saved me throughout my life, and what got me through losing Gabby, but as I look at the entrance, and who's walking in, I have a feeling it might help me get her back.

If there's one thing the two of us loved when we were together, it was flirting on the dance floor. I'd give her a wink, and she'd answer back with a sexy little grin. If I play my cards right, tonight, she'll see me out here, she'll answer my call, and I'll work toward us getting back together.