the problem. Seeing Saige brought back a part of my life I had long tried to forget. Not that she was something I regretted, but that whole time was bad news.
“Now you’ve got me curious. Spill.”
I noticed the last customers had left and the employees had disappeared. The bar was closed. It was just me and him. “I was married, and it did not end well. It didn’t start well either, but the ending was especially bad.”
“You and this tax lady were married?”
“No, no. I was married to someone else.”
He looked confused. “So, the tax lady is just a tax lady? Not your ex?”
That was a tricky question. “No.”
He shook his head. “Are you purposely being cagey? Do you want me to know or what? You want to tell me. I can feel it. Spit it out.”
“My marriage was a fucking joke,” I blurted out. “A cruel joke. I don’t like to admit I’ve made a mistake very often, but that was the biggest mistake of my life.”
“What happened?”
I held up my empty glass. “I’m going to need another. Just thinking about those days makes me want to drink a bottle.”
I got up at the same time he did.
“I’ll get it,” he said.
“No, you’re off the clock.”
He laughed. “Cheapskate. You don’t want to pay me.”
“I’m grabbing the bottle,” I told him as I moved behind the bar. I quickly found the bottle and carried it back to the table.
“That bad, huh?” he asked as I filled my glass.
“It was worse than bad.”
“Did she cheat on you?” he asked.
“Probably. I don’t know. I don’t care. It wasn’t like I loved her.”
“Damn,” he hissed. “Why’d you marry her?”
“Because she was pretty and very social. I thought I needed a wife on my arm to impress people. I was trying to prove to the rich pricks that were running the business scene in the city that I was just like them. They all had their trophy wives and golfed on the weekends while the wives did the charity stuff. I was trying to fit in and ended up making myself miserable.”
“Harsh,” he said with a grimace. “What about her?”
“What about her?”
“Did you dump her?” he asked.
“She wasn’t married to me because she loved me. By the end of the marriage, she didn’t even like me. I didn’t much care for her either. We didn’t share a room. We were barely in the same city. She traveled and lived like a queen on my dime. I have no doubt in my mind I was supporting a series of lovers for her as well.”
“Damn, that is really rough,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“Fuck it. I’m over it. It’s in the past. It’s just not something I think about. She got her money and now she’s out of my life. I rarely think about her. Seeing Saige just kind of stirred up those old memories.”
“Saige, huh?” he said. “Weird name.”
I shrugged. I never really thought about whether it was weird or not. “I guess.”
“I’m picking up on some animosity there,” he said.
“Where?”
“Between you and Saige. Did she dump you or the other way around?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t say there was a relationship.”
He grinned. “You didn’t have to. Is she good?”
I almost choked. “What? What the fuck? We’re not in a locker room.”
He burst into laughter. “I guess we know where your mind was. I was asking if she is good at the job. Can you afford to have her quit? Can you make the company the best without her help if you have to fire her?”
“I’m not firing her.”
“You certainly seem bothered by the idea of working with her,” he said.
“It isn’t that. She’s good at what she does but there are some things I want changed to make the company better.”
He slowly nodded as he sipped the beer. “But you’re afraid of her.”
I scowled at him. “What the hell is wrong with you? What are you even talking about?”
“You’re all out of sorts and I have to believe it is because you saw her again.”
He wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. “I’m sure she’ll be able to adjust to the changes I want made.”
“You don’t sound very confident,” he said with a laugh.
“She’s strong-willed,” I muttered.
“Sounds to me like you’re going to be spending a lot of time with this Saige woman.”
“Why do you say that?”
He shrugged. “Because she’s been doing the job for a long time and you want to make changes. In my experience, when someone has been