Darkness Torn Asunder Read Online Free Page B

the bar. “I’ll wait a couple of minutes before I come in. That way people won’t think we were together.”
    She immediately hooked her arm through his. “And why would I care about that? Now, let’s go in before Dan has my head for keeping you out here so long.”
    Emmett let her tug him through the door. As he walked behind the bar to resume his duties, he watched Jana greet several people in the bar before perching herself on one of the stools at the bar right in front of Dan.
    His boss wiped the counter in front of her. “The usual, Jana?”
    She sighed dramatically. “I try to stay away, Dan, but I can hear your evil burgers calling my name every night as I walk to my car. Even knowing they’re bad for my arteries, sometimes I just can’t resist. It’s a weakness.”
    Dan laughed. “And I tell you every time you complain about my cooking that you could order a single burger wrapped in lettuce with no cheese and have a salad instead of the fries.”
    Jana looked horrified. “And destroy the perfection of the thing?”
    “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t offer you the healthier side of my cuisine.” As he spoke, he popped the cap on a local microbrew and set it front of her. “This is on the house. It’s a new one I just started stocking, and I’d like your opinion.”
    Emmett watched as she took a long drink before setting the bottle back down on the bar. She made the simple act of drinking a beer appear almost sensuous. As if sensing his attention, she glanced in his direction and smiled. “Hey, boss man. One more thing. If Emmett was late getting back from his break, blame it on me. When we ran into each other outside, I conned him into carrying some heavy boxes from the clinic to my car for me.”
    Dan’s gaze bounced from Jana to Emmett and back again. “No problem. It’s about time you let someone give you a helping hand. We all know you work too hard. Now I’ll go fix that burger for you.”
    “Thanks, Dan.”
    Emmett waited until his boss was back in the kitchen before approaching Jana himself. “You didn’t have to cover for me. If he had problems with me being gone a few extra minutes, I would have handled it.”
    “I would have done the same for anyone, Emmett. Don’t sweat it.”
    Before he could respond, Meg, the waitress on duty, brought him a stack of orders to fill. While he made a couple of frou-frou drinks and stuck some of those stupid umbrellas in them, Jana left her spot at the bar to talk with a few people in the place. Most seemed glad to see her, but a few ducked their heads and looked guilty. If he had to guess, they were more of her patients who hadn’t checked in lately. Even they ended up chatting with her. Okay, so maybe she was right, and he was overreacting. He hadn’t known her well enough to realize she treated everyone with the same warmth and friendliness, so she wasn’t singling him out for special attention.
    He should be relieved. Instead, it pissed him off. He looked away from her and drew a couple of draft beers for some regulars who’d come in and sat at their usual spot at the far end of the bar. When he finished delivering the drinks, Dan had returned with Jana’s order. In fact, he was carrying two baskets filled with huge burgers and piled high with fries. He shoved one at Emmett. “Take your dinner break.”
    What the hell? “I just got back from break. My dinner isn’t for another hour.”
    “I know what the schedule says, but Meg needs to cut out early tonight for some event at her kid’s school. We’ll have to cover her tables after she leaves.”
    Emmett glanced toward the waitress in the back corner of the bar. It had to be hard to work evenings when she had kids at home, although he’d never heard her complain about it. He fixed himself a soft drink and took his basket to the back corner of the bar where he usually sat. Most nights people him left alone to eat his meal in peace, but evidently this wasn’t most nights. No sooner had