Conclusion of Sneak Peak

   This concludes the first scene

in my book, Out Of The Ashes. If you haven’t read the first two entries that I blogged depicting this opening scene, you can scroll down to find them, beginning with Out Of The Ashes (sneak peak), then Sneak Peak Continues. This is the third and final blog of this opening scene, where Gabriel Hart first sees the object of his desire, Sarah McKinney. Read on and enjoy!

 The bartender returned to say,

“Sorry to disappear on you like that, but things are hummin’ in here tonight. Let me know if I can get you anything else.”

“Huh? Oh, I’m good thanks,” Gabe replied without turning his barstool back. He was watching the girls settle into a corner table in the back of the room.

“You uh, ………Ok there my friend?” the bartender asked.

Gabriel realized he was rude and momentarily lost concentration. He had to almost shake his head in order to look away from the green-eyed girl.

“Sorry, man. No, I’m just fine, thanks,” Gabe smiled somewhat embarrassed.

“It’s understandable. I’m guilty of the same distractions,” the bartender said while staring in the girl’s direction himself. Suddenly, Gabriel looked at the guy and saw a dark shadow fall over the face of the otherwise cheerful bartender. “If you will excuse me, I need to grab some stuff, but I will be back.” and the bartender disappeared down the hallway.

When Gabriel turned his attention back to the girls, he saw a waitress over taking their orders. He didn’t want to seem too obvious with his intrigue, so Gabriel turned his barstool sideways to watch the TV screen and pretend to be interested in the game. Gabe hadn’t dated or even thought of dating anyone since Shelly. He just didn’t have the heart to let go of the past yet, despite all Shelly’s and his friends trying to set him up. He insisted it was too soon and he wasn’t ready to even think about it. They respected his wishes and left it alone. So that’s exactly what Gabe was getting use to. Being alone.

A strange feeling came over him though, sitting in that bar, and her quiet solitary mood, drew Gabe to look at her again. She looked like he felt, when HE was with is friends. Distracted, and uncomfortable, but trying to go along with the façade of the evening, she sipped her wine and looked around the room.

Suddenly, the girl locked eyes with Gabe and he felt a rush of heat flush is chest and face! She’d caught him looking with fixated eyes on her. Gabe tried to slowly, casually turn his barstool back towards the TV.

“Be careful with that one,” it was the bartender. He was back.

“What are you talking about?” Gabe pretended. He wasn’t ready to admit to himself that he felt interested in a woman, much less admit it to anyone else.

“She’s fragile. Don’t give it a thought unless you can respect that about her.”

Gabe looked into the bartender’s eyes. He was dead serious and had a somewhat cautionary look on his face.

“Not that I’m interested, but I take it you know her.”

“Everyone does,” he said. “She’s as local as it gets. But she’s had her fair share of hard knocks so, that’s why the warning.”

“Broken heart or?…….” Gabe’s question was left hanging in the air as the bartender stared at her pondering a response.

“Let’s just say it was shattered. She’s not recovered. Oh, she puts on a brave face, but her soul itself was battered. It will take a very special guy for her to ever trust or love again,” and the bartender turned and started washing dishes.

Gabe drank more of his beer and turned his stool back to look towards the girl’s table. The green eyed girl was shyly glancing towards Gabe periodically but then turned her chair to face her friends more directly. Gabe got the hint.

“Must have been some stupid guy to hurt a girl like that,” Gabe said in the bartender’s direction. “I know heart break man, and I can tell you, I have never been the player some guys are. I know something real when I have it. That’s just not something to mess around with. Don’t have time for it, ya know?” and he finished off the last of his fries.

The friendly bartender turned and gave a small smile to Gabe, as he took the empty plate away and wiped the counter. “If everyone had that same outlook on relationships, the world wouldn’t be so full of despair, and hate. Truth is my friend, that most folks are always looking for the next best thing. Nobody is ever quite satisfied with what they have. Especially if things get rough, that’s when the weak give up.”

“So that’s what happened? Some guy left her in hard times?” Gabe asked.

The face of the bartender seemed pained at the question and soon Gabriel was sorry he asked. It was beginning to look like there was more to this story than the bartender had first let on and Gabe immediately felt like he should retract any further questioning.

“Hey, I don’t mean to pry, you don’t need to answer that. It’s really none of my business,” Gabe offered.

The bartender gave a forced laugh, “No, no! It’s quite alright. It’s just that they were kind of local royalty, ya know. Everyone knew them. And the story has a crazy turn. The guy ended up dying in an accident too. So she was slammed twice!” the bartender waved his arms as if to brush away smoke and memories from right in front of him. “Anyway, what are ya gonna do, right? We all move on and so will she, but everyone here kind of watches out for her. Just so you know,” and he winked at Gabriel then walked back into the kitchen with the plate.

He knew he shouldn’t be, but Gabe was now more intrigued than ever about this green eyed beauty. It seemed so unfair that something as gentle as she could have gone through such trauma. And even though he was always missing Shelly, Gabriel had a yearning to get to know this girl. Approaching her in a bar was NOT the thing to do though, and Gabe knew it! She’d only think he was some slime ball trying to get her into bed. Some, out-of-towner looking for a one night stand. That couldn’t be further from the truth, so he dismissed the idea entirely.

Terrible timing! In the three years since Shelly was gone, nobody and nothing had pulled his heartstrings. Now here he was, just yards away from a fragile bird of a girl that he’d love to meet, and he couldn’t even go say hello for fear of her misunderstanding his intentions.

Gabe thought to order one last beer, just for a reason to stick around, but he was truly full to his eyeballs and there wasn’t going to be an opportunity to speak with this girl tonight without seeming forward anyway. Defeated, he decided to ask for the bill.

When the bartender came back he was carrying one more tray of clean glasses and set them behind the counter.

“Hey man, I think I’m ready to settle up,” Gabe said.

“Sure thing. Gonna turn in already?” he asked as he pulled the bill from his apron.

Gabe smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “Yea, I know it’s Friday night, but the week has been long and I think I will just fall asleep to the TV.”

“Big partier huh?” the bartender laughed. “I know, I’m pretty much the same. I can’t remember the last time I really tore it up. But I suppose we will be running into each other periodically since you are here awhile.”

“Yea, that would be great. I’m Gabe, by the way,” and he extended a hand to the bartender.

“Wiping his hand off on his apron, he reached to shake Gabe’s hand, “Max, and it’s great you guys are here to clean up so folks can rebuild.”

As he stood to go, Gabriel leaned in to ask one last question of Max, even though he wasn’t sure what he’d do with the information.

“Hey, Max? I don’t know why I’m asking, but………..what’s her name?”

Max eyes sparkled as he smiled at Gabe, letting him know it was ok that he asked. “Sarah. Her name is Sarah,” and he winked and disappeared back into the kitchen.

Thanks for following along! Keep looking for more to come in future blog posts.