Chapter 4

Harry entered the Backwoods Bar & Grill BBQ and walked over to the bar. It was only about five-thirty and Toby Campbell was behind the bar as normal. Toby motioned he’d be right over to get Harry’s drink order in a moment. He was flirting with some blonde.

Harry couldn’t think of a time in the past three years when he’d come to the Backwoods and not seen Toby behind the Bar, well, unless he was in the back minding one of the stills used for making the Backwoods signature flavored moonshines. Since he’d gotten out of the Marines, it seemed all Toby cared about was his family business or his fully restored 1949 Indian motorcycle. He’d done all the work himself and the black on black paint job looked amazing.

Toby finally sauntered over to Harry. “Harry, my man, what can I get ya?”

“Better just make it a light beer. I got that meeting over at City Hall in a bit. And can you let Sheri know I’m taking the six top in the corner. Glenna Schumacher’s gonna be here soon and we’re going to look over the plans for my reno.”

Toby leaned on the bar and smiled. “You gettin’ friendly with the enemy buddy? What’ll Mayor Hal say if he hears you took Glenna out on a date?”

Harry sighed and wiped his hand over his hair. “What is with people tonight? Glenna and I don’t even like each other. She can help me get Hal to approve my plans, but she wants to see them first.”

Toby grabbed a Coors Light from the fridge under the bar and sat the cold bottle in front of Harry before raising his hands, in the don’t shoot pose. “Woah, ease up there kemosabe, didn’t mean to touch a nerve. Glenna usually drinks a white wine spritzer. I’ll send one to the table with Sheri when she comes to get your order. But Harry, I gotta say, I think you protest too much on the dislike between you and the pretty councilwoman. Tension like you two spray at each other can make for some fun dates, buddy.”

“Not happening, Toby.”

Toby raised his hands in surrender again with a half-smile “Just saying, buddy. You two could have some fun, relieve all that tension, and tweak Hal’s beak all at the same time.”

Harry picked up his beer, shook his head, and headed for the empty large booth. He’d just gotten the plans laid out when Glenna slid in across from him. “Sorry, gave your cousin a ride home and picked up some tea I’ll need after the meeting. So, show me your big plans for this inn. How much of an expansion and renovation are we talking about?”

Harry took a long pull on his beer to get the smell of beer in his head instead of that intoxicating smell that was all Glenna. Why did his brain stop around her?

“It will triple the size of the House by adding 50 guest rooms, and a full fine-dining restaurant.”

“So, fifty rooms more? You’ll end up with 70 rooms then?”

“No, sixty, see.” He flipped to the reno plans of the original house. “The original rooms on the second and third floor will be turned into king sized luxury suites. Two bedrooms and a sitting room, with a small bath for the double full-size bedroom and a spa-like master ensuite for the king with soaker tub and glass rain shower.”

Harry’s heart raced as Glenna leaned close to look at the blue print. The intense look on her face, as she bit her lower lip, almost made him reconsider what he’d told Toby. He wanted nothing more right now than to capture that lip between his teeth and tug just a little ‘til she opened her mouth for his. Glenna looked up at him. She’d asked him a question, and he’d missed it.

He was saved from looking like a fool when Sheri Spencer came up and sat a white wine spritzer in front of Glenna. “Y’all ready to order?”

Harry sat up. “Give me the Bacon Mushroom Burger and fries.”

Glenna groaned in pleasure. “I’ll have the same.”

“Uh-huh, should I bring ya both another drink then, too?”

Harry smiled. “Just a sweet tea for me. Got to deal with Hal tonight. Best be sober for that.”

Glenna looked up, “Just a water with lemon for me, please.”

“Okay be up in a few. Hey, answer me a question. When did you two start dating? Everybody’s been asking me.”

Glenna choked on a sip of wine. “We aren’t dating. This is a work meeting.”

“Uh-huh.”

Harry glared at Sheri. “She’s telling you the truth. We have a City Council meeting in less than an hour, and this is a strategy session before we face Hal and the Good Ole Boys.”

Sheri looked back and forth between them. “Whatever you say.” She walked away but not before both Harry and Glenna heard her say, “Council meeting was last week, you two ain’t fooling no one.”

“Great, just what we both need. You know someone will call Hal about our date, right?”

Glenna stared at him. “Oh, come on, Hal knows that’s never going to happen.”

“Right, because you hate me.”

Glenna looked shocked and a bit hurt. “I don’t hate you. Why would you think that? You said something like that to Mysti today, too.”

“It’s true, isn’t it? Ever since senior year debate, you’ve had it out for me. You talk about me like something your cat dropped in the litter box. What am I supposed to think?”

Glenna’s eyes filled with tears. “You thought I had it out for you? I thought you didn’t like me. Do you even know why I joined debate club?”

“Because it would look good on your college applications? That’s why I joined. Mrs. Fields told me all my extracurricular activities were sporty and I should have one or two that showed I wasn’t just a jock.”

“Harry, I was an honors student, I had all the academic extracurricular requirements I needed by tenth grade. I joined, because you had.”

“What? Why?”

“Why do you think, genius? You didn’t even know I existed ‘til I whipped your ass in that first debate.”

“Oh, I knew who you were. Trust me, I knew.”

Glenna bit her lip again. “What do you mean by that?’

Harry leaned forward to whisper to her when Sheri arrived with their food. “Go ahead and tell me how this isn’t a date, again, while you’re leaning forward to kiss her.”

Harry jumped up. “Fine, you’re right, everyone’s right, it’s a date.” He walked around the table to stand in front of Glenna and pulled her to her feet, before she could react, he did what he’d resisted doing all evening. He pressed his lips against the one she’d been nibbling on. At first, she was stiff in his arms and her lips were firm and resistant, and then, just when he’d thought he’d been wrong about what she’d been saying earlier, she melted into his arms, and her mouth gave as good as it was getting. Then, just as his tongue snuck out to taste her lips, she pulled back and stomped on his foot as hard as she could.

“Harry Gladstone, if you’re going to kiss me like that you’d better mean it, and not do it just to spite the waitress.” She grabbed her plate and stormed over to the bar where she had Toby put her food in a to-go box. She left without even looking back.

Sheri looked at him with something like pity, mixed with humor. “I guess you’re right, it wasn’t a date.”

Harry sighed and sat back down. He quickly ate, dropped thirty dollars on the table, and grabbed his blueprints to leave. He stopped when he reached the bar. He wasn’t in any mood to face Glenna after the mess he’d just made. So, he decided to skip the council meeting. He reached into his pocket and turned his phone off. He knew Hal, and when he wasn’t there he’d have Josephine call him.

Well, too bad! Hal needed to learn that Harry was a grown man and didn’t have to listen to every word his father said anymore. He had no say at those meetings, and truth be told, he didn’t ever want any say at those meetings. He wasn’t going to become Mayor and tonight he was going to do something else he’d never done before. He was going to drink ‘til he couldn’t remember what a mess he’d made of his one shot at convincing Glenna that he really, honestly cared about her.

Toby came up to him. “Thought you had a meeting to get to?”

Harry shook his head. “Nope, only meeting I got tonight is with your strongest shine. Make it cold and strong and keep them coming ‘til either my money runs out, or I pass out.”

Toby looked like he was going to say something, but just shook his head. Soon he sat a highball with ice and a mason Jar that said Backwoods Moonshine on the label in front of Harry. “It’s the strongest proof we can legally brew, Harry, but be careful with it. You don’t drink much and it kicks a subtle punch.”

Harry glared at him as he poured the glass full and then slammed the drink back and poured another.

Toby shook his head. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”