“Care if I take a few minutes?” she asked Eric when the walkups slowed a short time later. Although it was still early, Tessa had been running solo for the last hour, and they were busier than usual.

“Take all the time you need,” he grinned and she could’ve sworn she heard several sighs from a few of the ladies seated at the bar.

“Thanks.” Tessa pulled off her short apron and tossed it onto the shelf beneath the bar before sneaking out. She made a beeline for the back door, hoping for some fresh air before the place filled to capacity as was to be expected tonight. In fact, she had called in extra backup to man the doors because she was pretty sure there would be a line of people waiting to get in even after they hit maximum capacity. Thankfully, she had a family full of cousins who weren’t too proud to help out when needed.

Before the solid steel door could slam behind her, Tessa was inhaling the humid September night air, letting the warm breeze slide over her overheated skin. It wasn’t long before some of the tension in her shoulders eased.

Her brother Adam gave her a hard time about wanting to be outside rather than upstairs in the private office that they rarely used. Tessa couldn’t explain it, but she’d rather be inhaling the country night air than the stale, bittersweet fumes that lingered on the inside.

At least out here she could think. Inside, with the whoops and hollers of the crowd, she could barely pay attention, much less focus on anything other than serving drinks to her customers. The sheer volume of people overwhelmed her, even if she did enjoy the interaction most of the time. Tonight, it seemed that her feet were already pissed off at her, and her shift had only just begun.

Leaning back against the corrugated metal, she gave one foot a rest by propping it flat against the wall at her back before alternating to the other. It was on nights like tonight that Tessa wondered why she hadn’t become an accountant. Sure, it might be stressful in its own right, but at least she’d be able to sit down. Then again, that would probably make her crazy too.

At twenty-nine, she should’ve been used to the constant hustle, smelling like beer, and her aching feet. She and Adam had acquired the bar from their late father – a man neither of them knew all that well – six years ago, and after some careful consideration and a long talk with her husband, Richie, she’d opted to give it a go.

It could safely be said that a twenty-three year old did not come equipped with all that much wisdom when it came to running her own business, but no one would’ve been able to tell her that at the time. Hell, for years before that, no one could tell her anything at all, so it wouldn’t have mattered much then either.

Just the thought of her late husband made her heart ache. Seemed life had taken a turn some years ago, and Richie’s death was only part of the heartache Tessa had experienced. To this day, she missed him dearly. He had been a police officer, killed in the line of duty when he was only twenty-six years old. She had been twenty-five, and they’d just settled into life together, married only fifteen months when he was taken from her.

Here she was, four years later, slinging beers and dodging more than a few wandering hands night after night in the place she’d come to feel was her second home. The Rusty Nail was nothing more than an eight thousand square foot, remodeled old barn that had at one point been a feed store years and years ago. At that time, it had received an enormous overhaul which included an exterior facelift of metal walls and reinforced steel beams on the inside to support the roof as well as bear the weight of the two hundred square foot office upstairs. Not much had changed after her father had purchased the place and converted it into a bar until Adam came along and set up the stage.

Speaking of the stage, she could only hope the band showed up soon because there was an excellent chance things were going to go from bad to worse if they didn’t. If Adam left her to handle the fallout like he had the last time, she was going to give him a piece of her mind, followed by a good swift kick in the ass.

Glancing down at her watch, Tessa realized she had a few more minutes to spare, so she pushed off the wall and headed back inside. She disappeared into the restroom, using the free minutes to take care of business before washing her hands and pulling her hair up into a ponytail. While she was standing in front of the mirror, two women slammed in through the door in a flurry of giggles followed by “Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Ohmigod!”

Tessa didn’t turn to face them, but she could see them through the reflection in the mirror. Since they were effectively blocking the door, she waited for the ladies to move on so she could sneak out and get back to work. She smiled at her reflection, trying not to laugh at their giddy excitement.

“Ohmigod! Did you see him? He winked at me! Winked!” one of the ladies squealed, the other jumping up and down by her side as though this were the biggest news to hit Devil’s Bend since Jessica Sanderson told the Devil’s Bend Gazette that she was having triplets.

“He’s going home with me tonight if I have anything to say about it!”

“Oh, he will. Maybe we’ll just surprise him. You know, tag team,” the blonde woman exclaimed, giggling between words like a school girl.

Figuring she wasn’t going to be able to outlast their elation over meeting another famous singer, Tessa turned around, smiled at the ladies before squeezing past them and out the door. Once she was in the dark, narrow hallway, the familiar noises and the perfume-slash-cologne mixture assaulted her senses, and she pasted on another smile as she turned the corner.

“Holy crap,” she muttered to herself, pushing through the wall of bodies as she tried to finagle her way back to the bar.

An influx of women had descended upon them during her short reprieve. Tessa sighed as she wove through the commotion, realizing that tonight was going to be one of those nights. If anyone ever thought men were high maintenance in a small country bar, they clearly hadn’t met the women Tessa had. Especially when there was supposed to be a hunky, big time country music star in their presence.

With her back to the stage, she made her way through the throng of people to the bar on the other side of the room, smiling at Eric as she approached. “What the hell happened while I was gone?” she asked, not expecting a response.

“You have him to thank,” Eric said, nodding his head in the direction of the stage. Due to the sheer volume of people filling every available inch of floor space, not to mention her height deficiency, Tessa couldn’t see who he was referring to, but she could pretty much guess.