Business was steady, but not nuts. Val stopped by.”
“Great.” Mark slipped on an apron and headed out to the bar. Florida law required a person to be twenty-one to serve alcohol, but he did just about everything else around the Hideaway, from washing glasses and replenishing stock, to mopping behind the bar and sweeping the walk in front of the Hideaway. It wasn’t a glamorous job, but then Mark wasn’t qualified for glamorous.
“Anything in particular you want done first?” he asked Rick, who had followed him out front.
“Glasses, then straighten up for the rush. Wipe all the tables and chairs, sweep the floor.”
“You got it, boss.”
Mark worked in silence, his thoughts turning to Tara once more. They’d met shortly after he’d gotten the job at Rick’s. He’d been working; she’d been out partying with her friends. They had looked at each other and something had happened—it had been instant and electrifying.
Love at first sight.
Problem was, she was only seventeen and still in high school. A senior, she would graduate in May. Worse than her age, however, were her friends. She was part of a closely knit group, more a club than simply a clique of friends. They partied, used drugs and were sexually active. They espoused ideas that went against Mark’s upbringing, materialistic ones about the existence of only the here and now, about living for today not tomorrow, about enjoying the moment and all it had to offer.
Once he had learned what she was a part of, he’d told her it was over between them. But she had begged him to see her again. She loved him; she would break away from her friends, distance herself from their beliefs.
So far, she hadn’t been too successful at doing that. But then, it didn’t seem to him that she had tried all that hard.
Is that where she had been all day? he wondered, hoisting a tray of clean glasses onto his shoulder and heading out to the bar. Running around with her friends? Seeing other guys? Partying the way she used to?
Anger rose up in him, swift and white-hot. He fought to get a grip on it. Anger was a powerful, destructive force. One of the seven deadly sins. The one he had to battle often. The one that had gotten him into trouble before—big trouble.
Tara had changed, he told himself. He had to believe in her, he had to trust. He loved her.
Mark sighed. Tara didn’t understand his religious convictions; he didn’t understand her lack of them. Raised in a strict Southern Baptist family, the church had played a major part in his childhood. In fact, in first grade he had announced that when he grew up, he was going to be a preacher. His conviction to do so hadn’t wavered until just months before his high-school graduation.
Suddenly, he had felt called in another direction.
His change of heart had both shocked and dismayed his family. They’d begged him to reconsider, had asked their pastor to intervene. But Mark had held fast to his decision. He had argued that he needed to experience sin firsthand before he preached against it. After all, how could he counsel others on spiritual strength if his had never been tested?
Mark loaded the glasses onto the shelves behind the bar, aware of Rick at the other end, chatting with a pair of tourists about the area’s best bone fishing and where to hire a guide. He swallowed hard and acknowledged the irony of it all: he was knee-deep in sin and spiritual warfare, and most days, not faring so well in the battle.
Glasses done, Mark moved on to the tables and chairs, aware of time passing, and that the trickle of customers entering the bar would soon be a surge. Libby had arrived and was flirting with a pair of guys drinking shots and beer. Locals, Mark recognized. They came in a couple times a week, always together and always wearing matching Miami Dolphins caps.
So, where had Tara been all day? Why hadn’t she returned his pages?
She had been acting strangely of late, jumpy and distracted, crying a lot. She’d lost weight and looked tired all the time, with dark circles under her eyes.
Maybe she didn’t really love him. Maybe she loved her friends and their wild lifestyle more.
Business grew brisk, and Mark managed to put all thoughts of Tara aside until a lull offered him the opportunity to call her.
Using Rick’s office phone, he dialed. At the sound of her voice, twin emotions of relief and anger cascaded over him. “Where have you been?”
“Nowhere,” she answered immediately, tone defensive.
“I paged you five times today. You didn’t call me back.”
“The battery’s dead. Geez.”
A twinge of guilt speared through him. He quashed it by mustering indignation. After all, she could have called him. “Did you do it today? Like you promised? Did you tell your friends you didn’t want to see them anymore?”
“Why are you acting this way!” she cried. “I didn’t do anything wrong! I didn’t even see my friends today.”
He let out a sharp breath, wishing not for the first time that he had broken it off with her when he discovered who her friends were. “You made a promise to me, Tara. You haven’t kept it.”
“It’s not that easy! You don’t understand.”
“Is it me you don’t want to be with anymore, Tara? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
“No! I love you, you know that.” Her voice broke. “But today … I—”
She bit the words back and emotion balled in his chest, part frustration and part despair. Another of her excuses. Why of all the girls in the world, had he fallen in love with her?
“I’m so tired of this conversation, Tara. So tired of you claiming you love me then turning around and—”
“I have to go.”
“Don’t do this to me, Tara. All day I worried and now—”
Rick popped his head into the office. “Need you out front, Mark. Wrap it up.”
Mark nodded and held up one finger, indicating he needed just a moment more.
When the other man had exited the office, he returned to Tara. “Please, babe, talk to me.”
“Meet me later.” He heard her parents in the background calling to her. “Our regular place.”
He fought frustration. “Are you sure you can get away? Last time you didn’t show.”
“I’ll be there. I—” her voice cracked “—I love you, Mark.”
Before he could respond, she had hung up. Mark held the silent receiver to his ear a moment, conflicting emotions roiling inside him. Finally, he hung up and hurried back out to the bar area. Rick looked at him, brow furrowed with concern. “Everything okay?” he asked.
Mark hesitated. Rick was his friend. He was a smart guy. He would be able to help. Offer advice, support.
Mark opened his mouth to respond,
