A Reason to Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

his name, Liam gave the burgers one more pointed look and walked away.
    Spence ate another fry and then picked up his burger with both hands and took a huge bite. Melanie cut her own hamburger in half before trying it. She’d been expecting it to be barely edible, but it was one of the best burgers she’d had in ages. “This is delicious!”
    Spence merely grunted but kept eating, alternating bites with sips of his drink. Obviously he’d believed Liam when he said eating something was the price of getting more to drink. At the rate Spence was downing the beer, she doubted the food would do much to slow down his determined efforts to get drunk.
    Maybe if she knew him better it would have been possible to talk him into taking it easy. But somewhere along the way, the boy she’d known had morphed into the angry man sitting across from her. Earlier in the cemetery, there had been a few recognizable flashes of the old Spence. Something in the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled.
    But there was a hardness about him now that hadn’t been there before. Yeah, he’d acted out as a teen, especially after he lost both his parents, yet he’d never been known for getting into fights. But back at the wedding, the sense of barely controlled violence simmering just below the surface had been all too clear.
    When he finished off the last of his fries, he lurched up out of the booth and started toward the bar. After going only a few steps, he turned back. “You ready for another one?”
    One of them needed a clear head. “I’d prefer coffee with cream and sugar.”
    He was already on his way. She watched as he tossed his empty basket on the bar. Liam looked past Spence toward Melanie. She wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to know, but she nodded anyway. As soon as she did, he popped the top on two more beers and set them on the bar. Spence pulled out his wallet and dropped a credit card on the counter before snagging the two beers and heading back to their booth. Maybe they didn’t serve coffee here.
    Spence set both beers on his side of the table. “Your bartender friend said he was brewing a fresh pot. He’ll bring your coffee when it’s done.”
    Liam wasn’t her friend, but she wasn’t going to argue the point. “Thanks.”
    “Why aren’t you leaving, Mel? I don’t need a babysitter. And besides, won’t Callie be hurt if you don’t show up at the reception?”
    “I doubt that she’ll even notice.” Although that same thought had crossed her mind more than once. Glancing at her watch, she decided it was too late now anyway. If she did show up at the reception now, she’d have to explain where she’d been and why. It was that last part that she had no easy answer for, so she stayed right where she was.
    Besides, right now Callie and her new husband were surrounded by friends and family.
    In contrast, Spence was painfully alone. Even if he preferred it that way, she wasn’t in the mood for a big party, either. She’d rather sit here in this dingy bar with an angry Spence than hang out with her friends, the odd girl out.
    “Believe me, she’ll notice, Mel. You’re one of her best friends, or at least you used to be.” Spence was like a dog with an old bone.
    “The same could be said about you.” She stopped and looked at their surroundings. “And yet here we are.”
    Her coffee arrived. Liam set it down in front of her along with a carafe in case she wanted more. He walked away without a word.
    Spence winced as if her words had hurt him.
    “Sorry, Spence. I know all of this has to be hard for you. Them, too.”
    “Fuck that and fuck them.” His fist came down on the table hard enough to cause her coffee to splash over the rim of her cup.
    Okay, so maybe they’d both be better off if she just kept her mouth shut. Spence lapsed into a sullen silence as he made steady inroads into his beer. When he started on the last bottle, Melanie went up to the bar and ordered two more. Liam didn’t