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"You had words with hi out his rery with me?"

"No" I’m not entirely sure what I a on each other I see the ugly results of it at work all the tiht now, it’sRiver all the more attractive to me He must have watched the security tapes as soon as his brother told hih the trash can to find it "You could have kept the ht? And just blamed the thief"

"But then that would make me a thief, wouldn’t it?" A curious look flickers across his face that I can’t read "Is that what you think of ular people would have pocketed it"

"I guess I’ular people then"

You ain--red and swollen "You’re not going to get into trouble, are you?"

"Trouble?" He frowns "Trouble ho?"

"I don’t know With the police With your boss?" I don’t knolot outside Roadside after a fight broke out back home All it takes is one call from the bartender

But, in this case, that’s River

A soft chuckle escapes hi about his face or his stance says he’s sorry for whatever he did He’s definitely not afraid Is he afraid of anything?

Yes, he is, I remind myself He’s afraid of whoever set that boardai because he stole your wallet And Ma and Da aren’t gonna fire their son for giving someone what they were owed"

Ma and Da"Your parents own the bar?"

"They do Rowen and I keep it going for them"

Huh "River Delaney?"

He nods So as a bartender in a dive bar different Like, if I were to tell my friends about him, and they asked what he did, my ansouldn’t be, "He’s a bartender" It would be, "He runs his family’s pub" It sounds better in my head I knoould sound better to the Sheriff’s ears Not a lot better, but still

With a slow, cal exhale, I turn back to study the seven statues--six people and one dog--looaunt, their lanky bronze forms in tattered, dirty clothes It took half an hour for h to find "So you live nearby?"