Free Blackbird by Jessica MacIntyre Page B

“Robert I…”
                  “Did you know that Chelle went home early two nights ago? I suspect not because you’d be singing a different song about the shirts if you had. She can’t wear them. She’s…”
                  “She’s just being difficult,” Billie interjected, cutting him off.
                  Right then and there he decided it might be best if he kept the reason why to himself. Even though the whole bar had seen, and it wasn’t exactly a secret, if Billie lacked the sensitivity to ask why, he wasn’t going to waste his breath explaining it to her. “She’s not. She’s right. And I’ve already switched back to the tee shirts. That’s that, Billie. When it comes to Cole’s and all the other bars there can only be one boss, and that’s me.”
                  Angry and embarrassed Billie looked like she was about to cry. He had only meant to straighten things out, not humiliate her. Now he was wondering if he’d been too harsh. This was the woman he was going to marry after all. “Hey,” he said, “I’m sorry if that come out wrong. It’s just that my father built these places from the ground up. He ran things a certain way and I want to keep running things that way.”
                  Billie didn’t look up. “It’s fine, Robert. At least now I know. You’ve got every right to run things the way you see fit.”
                  He reached across the table for her hand, intending to ease some of the tension, but she pulled away, placing it on her lap. “Hey, you want to go look at the house after this? I know you’ve been dying to show me what you did to the bedroom. We could swing by there on our way back.”
                  Billie looked up at him, smiling finally. A smile that Robert could see was forced. “Tomorrow ok? I promised my sister I’d watch a movie with her later. It’s the last of our sisterly nights at home, you know?”
                  It was. They hadn’t lived together at all in the time they’d dated. Robert had asked but Billie had explained she didn’t want to live with someone until after they were married. Robert secretly thought she simply had it too good at home and was not in a hurry to grow up, but he bit his tongue and went along to make her happy. He decided tonight she needed some space, and frankly, so did he. He didn’t care about the house anyway, and there was somewhere else he wanted an excuse to go back to. “Ok,” he said.
     
    ***
                  The car ride back to Billie’s place had been mostly spent in deathly cold silence. Robert found he didn’t care. He dropped her off and headed straight back to the bar, and to the one thing that had occupied his thoughts all day. Chelle.
                  It was after closing time and all the patrons were long since gone, having stumbled out into the night. Chelle and Rick were putting up chairs and cleaning glasses. “Hey boss man,” Rick said noticing him. “What are you doing back here?”
                  Rick was jovial little fella. No more than five foot four he had a wit and a charm that women seemed to enjoy. He had become a fixture behind the bar in the last year. So much so that if he wasn’t present the patrons, especially the female ones, asked about him. His lack of height never translated into lack of a girlfriend, despite his unconventional appearance.
                  “I just had something to pick up in the office,” he said taking a seat at the bar so he could chat with them while they worked. “How’d things go tonight?”
                  “Well, put it this way.” Rick took a deep breath and began shouting, “Slap! Shot! Shoot! Score! You just can’t stop the moose!” The words had become the battle cry of the Halifax Mooseheads.
                  Robert had been so wrapped up in the whole drama