he just opened himself up. She bit back the sarcastic remark that came to mind. “Such as?”
“I don’t wanna talk to you about it when you’re in this kind of mood. You’ll just be negative and give me attitude.” He continued on to the back room.
She slipped around and followed him. “You knew I had to study, and you promised you’d cover this afternoon. Now you’re gonna explain what was so damn important that you screwed me over.”
Tommy sighed and turned to meet her gaze. He was clean shaven, not a regular occurrence, and he’d tamed his curly hair. “Can you keep an open mind?”
She glanced at his wrinkle-free shirt, a button-down, not his usual ragged T-shirt. Maybe he was telling her the truth. “Yes, I can.”
“I met with the attorney about the gaming commission. If things go well with the background checks, we could have the license by November.”
“Are you kidding me?” Had he not listened to a word she’d said? The Gold Strike was in no position to consider gaming.
“See, there you go with the attitude.”
“I thought you were joking about this. Even if you could get the license you can’t afford to pay someone to keep the place open twenty-four hours.”
“Do you know how much money those machines pull in? We’ll be able to hire three more people if we want. Put in a kitchen and serve food instead of watching customers bring in pizzas and hot wings. This place could be so much better.”
“Look...it’s not—” Cassie got a false start, breathed in deeply and tried again. She didn’t want to crush his enthusiasm, just inject a dose of reality. “I’m not against making improvements or expanding. It simply won’t happen in the near future. Tommy, the license is a half-million dollars.”
He shrugged and his face flushed. “Len has some ideas about that.”
“What kind of ideas?” She moved closer. “You didn’t have enough in the account to cover the electric bill. I had to dig into my own pocket.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She stared at him in mute frustration, waiting for him to remember that she had told him. But his personal coffers had also been bare.
Shame burning in his hazel eyes, he looked away. “We can find a way to make it work. We just have to be creative.”
Cassie didn’t bother to argue, or to point out there would be no “we.” Sad for both of them, she watched him walk toward the men’s room, his shoulders slumped. He scared her when he got like this.
Whoever this attorney was, he was outright stealing from Tommy if he was telling him they were in any position to get a license. At least now she knew why Tommy never had a nickel in the bank. The right thing to do would be to track this shyster down and file a complaint against him. Which might save the bar, but could destroy her brother.
Maybe he needed to hit bottom before he’d start living in the real world again. But she wasn’t strong enough to watch him fall.
4
AFTER SUFFERING THROUGH bumper-to-bumper traffic for three blocks, John finally turned on Flamingo. Another minute and he merged onto I-15, glad to be away from the Strip and the tourists. He hadn’t minded leaving Rick and the other two men behind, either.
Dinner with the guys was supposed to have boosted his spirits, remind him of the camaraderie he enjoyed in the air force. Not depress him. Halfway through the meal he knew he wouldn’t be joining them afterward at the Palms for drinks and hunting. Maybe he shouldn’t have left so early. A beautiful woman in his bed might be just the distraction he needed. On the other hand, the mood he was in, he doubted he’d want anyone that close.
It was Troy, the pilot he hadn’t met before, who’d sent John into a funk. In the middle of their discussion about the F-35, he’d gotten a call from his wife. She’d put their two kids on the phone so he could say good-night to them, then Troy told her he loved her and missed her. Seconds after Troy disconnected he asked Rick where they were going clubbing.
No one at the table had batted an eye. Not even John. None of his business, and it wasn’t as if he didn’t know that kind of crap went on all the time, but Jesus, the guy had just talked to his wife and kids. How did a man run cold to hot that fast after