Tuna Tango by Steven Becker Read Free Book Online

the crowd like a running back, a tray full of drinks hoisted above her head, her free hand extended in front to clear space. He knew she would be upset. They’d already had the talk about him hanging out at the bar while she worked, and he knew he was only supposed to pick her up when she got off.
    But after the beers, he knew if he went home, he would crash and probably not hear the phone. 
    A small space by the brass rail separating the wait staff from the customers opened, and he slid into it. The bartender working the service bar spotted him and nodded, bringing a beer on his next trip. Will stood and watched the crowd; the packed dance floor was indistinguishable from the rest of the place, as everyone seemed to be moving to the beat of the band playing on the far side of the building.
    Sheryl spotted him on her next trip to the bar, her face gleaming with sweat and her look exasperated. In line behind another server at the bar, she took a minute to talk before collecting her drinks and heading back out. “Will, what are you doing here?”
    “I had a few at a bar by the job. Figured if I went home I would crash, so I came down here.” No harm in the truth; she had a way of finding things out, anyway.
    She threw a look at him, her green eyes that he loved so much now dark with anger. “You shouldn’t be here.” 
    The waitress in front of her moved away, her tray full of drinks, and Sheryl filled in her spot. The bartender leaned over and took her order. 
    “Please don’t get drunk. Last time I almost got fired.”
    He knew he had been out of line before, but she had been right there with him. It was the night the bank had finally foreclosed on his house in the Keys. The end of all the last-ditch efforts to save it had started him on a binge that he was just emerging from. That night had been the worst. He had come to pick her up from a day shift, and they’d stayed late into the night drinking. He couldn’t really remember much more than being escorted out. 
    Will turned away from her, thinking about leaving, but she would be off work in an hour. He could nurse the beer until then, probably have to listen to a rant on the way home, and then it would be over. Maybe he could use some of the money in his pocket to buy her a car. That would take a lot of the stress off their relationship. That word again stuck in his head, he turned away from the bar, contorting his body to avoid the guy behind him and lifting the beer over his head. 
    The guy moved forward to take his spot at the bar, and knocked Will off balance. 
    “Shit, you asshole!” screamed the girl next to him as he grabbed her to stop his fall, his beer splashing her face and dripping into her cleavage. “What the fuck are you doing?”
    Some guy, maybe her boyfriend stepped between them and pushed Will towards a waitress just leaving the bar who spilt her tray of drinks and screamed loud enough to attract the attention of one of the bartenders, who made a motion toward a bouncer. Inside of thirty seconds, Will had his arm cocked behind his back and was being paraded out the front door. He walked quickly from the bar, hoping that Sheryl hadn’t seen him, but a second later she was on the sidewalk yelling his name. 
    He didn’t turn around.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
    Chapter 6
     
    Will’s eyes hurt as he forced them open. The sun glared through the windshield of the truck and glinted off the empty pint of tequila in his lap. His phone, long ago turned off, sat on the seat next to him. He wiped his face with his shirt sleeve and tried to put some reality on his situation. 
    The texts had started an hour after he left the bar—a stream of How could you turned into You asshole after he didn’t answer. Finally, he had just turned it off. The truck was parked in front of the fish house. He had nowhere else to go, and thought he might get in some work today, laying out piers and framing. If he kept the noise down, he hoped that the