I slid into one of the chairs opposite the ancient desk. “I’m here.” Our gazes locked. A silent standoff. “Look, I’m sorry this got dropped on you—”

Bell held up a hand to cut me off, her eyes boring into mine. “Your parents, Hunter, they’re everything to me. If they want you home, great. They want you to run the bar for a few months? Fine. You and I? We can pretend we’ve never met before today. Fresh start for both of us.”

I stared at her, not blinking, eyes going dry. It was what I’d always wanted, wasn’t it? To pretend like the past hadn’t happened. To bury it so deep that it couldn’t rear up unexpectedly and sucker punch me. So why did it twist something deep in my gut to have Bell want to erase every memory we’d shared?

I’d gotten so damn good at wiping the slate clean, at building an imaginary past so intricate that I almost believed it was real. My life in LA had been full, happy. I had a job I loved. A great house in the Hollywood Hills. Amazing friends who had become family. But that family had no idea what had brought me there. They had no idea what I’d lost, and everything I’d thrown away. To them, I was the life of the party, the one always ready with a joke or a helping hand, but I never opened up my past for discussion.

I cleared my throat. “Whatever you want.”

She gave me a quick nod. “I’ve been managing the place, so I just need to know what you want to tackle, and what you want me to keep running.”

My eyes widened. I’d thought she’d simply been bartending here, maybe placing orders. I had no idea she was running the whole show. “Why don’t you walk me through what you think is working and what isn’t? We can figure out the best ways to divide and conquer after that.”

Surprise and a healthy dose of skepticism flashed in those moss-green eyes. “You don’t just want to implement whatever it is you do at your fancy Hollywood clubs?”

I couldn’t fight the twitch of my lips. “I don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach for my bars. And even if I did, it would be incredibly short-sighted of me not to listen to the person who’s been running this place for the past few years, the woman who knows the community way better than I do.”

Bell straightened in her chair, a lock of hair falling out of her haphazard bun. “Well, that’s good to hear.”

“I’m not here to take over and make your life miserable. I’m just here to help.”

Bell’s gaze hardened. She opened her mouth to say something and then snapped it shut, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.