Read Online Love After All by Celeste O. Norfleet - Free Book Online Page A

lounge and looked around. Several businessmen were seated at the bar talking among themselves, as were two women in the corner. There was a man offering a drink to a woman seated alone by the window, and there were three or four others apparently also traveling alone, sitting around, sipping drinks or speaking quietly on cell phones, one talking loudly about a failed business deal. Tired and ragged, he was midway through a forty-eight-hour coast-to-coast turnaround.
    Jackson had taken the red-eye from Los Angeles to New York, then the first available flight back, taking him through Chicago with a two-hour layover. His flight had just landed, and with hours to kill he decided to grab a drink and a bite to eat.
    Jackson walked down the length of the bar and took a seat on the last stool. He glanced around again just in time to witness a man slam away angrily after apparently approaching the woman by the window.
    The bartender walked over and placed a small square napkin on the glossy polished counter in front of him. The man nodded briefly in a combined gesture of greeting and asking for his drink order.
    Jackson acknowledged with a nod and ordered a beer on tap and a menu. As the bartender grabbed a chilled glass and pulled the level down, nearly foam-free dark amber liquid poured out and filled the glass. He glanced up briefly, then back at the brew just topping the mug. Smiling and shaking his head, the bartender released the lever and set the beer in front of Jackson, picking up the twenty-dollar bill sitting on the counter beside the napkin.
    He walked away, headed for the cash register, but paused long enough to take an order and fill a long-stemmed wineglass with a dark burgundy wine.
    As he brought the change back to Jackson he leaned over the bar, smiling while nodding his head across the room. Jackson turned slightly toward the direction the bartender nodded. The man he’d seen and heard earlier was still talking loudly on the phone. Then he ordered a glass of burgundy and walked over to a woman sitting alone by the glass window.
    â€œWatch this,” the bartender said, chuckling to himself.
    There was a brief interaction as the man placed a third drink on the small table, then uninvited sat down in the empty seat across from her.
    Jackson couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it was obvious that the man was interested and the woman wasn’t. Seemingly stuck-up or haughty, she smiled politely, then shook her head and turned back to the window. Apparently undaunted, the man got louder as the woman’s demeanor remained steadily aloof.
    â€œShe’s been shooting them down ever since she walked in here,” the bartender quipped quietly. Jackson shifted the change back across the counter and nodded.
    Understanding, and accepting the generous tip, the bartender smiled happily. “Thanks,” he collected the change and dropped it into the tip jar behind him, then headed back to the other end of the bar as a loud group of travelers walked in.
    Jackson took a few sips of his beer and casually looked around the now crowded room. He turned, seeing that the bartender continued to watch across the room. The man still trying to talk to the woman at the window gulped the last of his beer and became more adamant about his intentions. The woman never turned back to him. Then he reached across the table and roughly grabbed her. She resisted, jerking away.
    In an instant, Jackson got up and walked over.
    He gently touched the woman on the shoulder and leaned down to her ear and spoke loud enough for the man across the table to hear. “Sorry I’m late, sweetheart, traffic is miserable out there.” Then he looked up questioningly to the apparently intoxicated man across the table as he quickly let go of her arm.
    â€œThat’s okay, darling,” she said, instantly going along with Jackson’s ploy. “This gentleman was kind enough to keep me company until you got here. Thank