Chapter Text
He comes in almost every day, and almost every day she greets him with a smile and a drink. If he weren't an alcoholic, the town would probably do what it always does and start rumors that he comes more for her than for the beer. In the close-knit area, rumors spread fast, like Haley and Alex dating, Caroline cheating on Pierre, and the farmer saying something about Marnie and Lewis, but no one would ever believe that. No one would ever believe that the town's grumpy, male alcoholic could ever take a liking to anyone. Let alone the bubbly, always dancing bartender who pours his beers.
The only person with any suspicion is Gus, the man always worries over Emily because of how kind she is to everyone. No matter what anyone does, she always seems to keep a smile on her face. Even with the town's blacksmith eyeing her at every moment, the smile is strained, but it still stays plastered on her face. Gus notices the way people look at her, and in his own mind, he's kind of deemed himself almost a father figure to her. Gus never did get to have kids of his own, but having Emily around made the Stardrop Saloon feel more like a family business than his lonely bar.
Most people are just friendly with Emily, although Pam can find her a bit too chatty when just trying to get a drink. Clint, however, always lets his eyes linger on her for too long, has an unsavory look in his eye that makes Gus watch him a little more than he would any other customer. Gus has considered banning Clint from the Saloon, but with the Saloon being such an important spot in the town and Clint having done no action other than looking at places other than Emily's face, there's not much he feels that he can do. Besides, Clint brings so much business for him, the money is worth it as long as he doesn't step over the line. For the other main regular, however, Shane treats Emily differently.
He won't attempt to smile back at her or keep up a conversation, but he respects her. Maintains eye contact with her while she rants on and on about whatever is going on in her day. He stays beside the bar for the most part, and if Emily is bored, she'll go up to him and chat with him, mostly talking about herself, as Shane is not really the sharing type. She'll ask about Jas or how his day was at Jojamart. He tends to keep things brief but seems to at least partially enjoy the attention he gets from her. Gus watches the way the two interact. Shane never seems bothered by how much Emily talks to him, and Emily seems to love how much he listens. Part of it reminds Gus of his younger days working in restaurants and bars and talking with the young lads coming in sometimes just to talk with him. Gus has tried to bring it up to Emily around close, although subtly, and Emily is either oblivious to what Gus is implying or pretending to be.
Today is a Saturday, Emily clocks into her shift around 3:30. She doesn't change much about herself; there's no uniform to work at Gus’s, and maybe she'd put her hair up if she had enough hair to work with, but after cutting it short almost a year ago, she didn't have much to work with. She just tucks the ends behind her ears and checks to make sure everything is stocked by the time most customers come in. While the Saloon is open much earlier, people will only really stop by for a quick bite, which Gus handles better in the kitchen than Emily ever could. Yesterday, a bird flew into Emily's window and injured itself. The parrot seemed to be okay at first, but he hasn't flown since. While Emily has been prepping for a pet bird for some time, and in fact had everything ready, she worries something might be more wrong than she's equipped for. There's not really any vet nearby; the closest would be out of town, but with the bus down and no car, it's hard to get out that far. She's considering asking Sebastian for a ride on his motorcycle, but they aren't very close, and she worries this might be a step overboard. The closest thing to a vet in town would be Marnie, although farm animals are more her expertise than wild parrots. Lost in thought, Emily lifts her head a little faster than usual and hits her head on one of the shelves. Gus rushes over from the pool room.
“I heard that crack from the other room! Are you alright?”
She whips around, holding her head and holding a big smile
“Yep! Sorry, Gus, I was just a little distracted”
“I care more about the state of your noggin than anything else. What has you so distracted? Stress? A particular person?”
“No, no, nothing like that! I just happened to rescue a bird yesterday! It smashed its little head into Haley’s and my window yesterday, and I'm just so worried. I've been meaning to get a bird, but not like this. I just want to make sure I'm doing it right.”
While the woman worries there gently twisting a rag between her hands as if the rags herself and she's wringing out this anxiety from it. Gus makes his way over to the bar with her, trying to find an ice pack.
“You should ask Shane about that; he'd know a thing or two”
Emily tilts her head at Gus before beginning to wipe down the counters.
“Shane? I mean, I'd love to get more opinions either way, and I know he helps Marnie out with her farming stuff occasionally, but would he know anything about parrots?”
Gus laughs
“Think? The boy was studying them for years! I'd be concerned if he didn't know a thing or two.”
“He studied them!? Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this!?”
She looks at Gus, surprised, but he doesn't return the surprised appearance and instead has a soft smile before walking over and gently placing an ice pack onto her forehead.
“Eh, he doesn't like to talk about his past much. I talked to Marnie and heard about his old bird knowledge days. You should ask him, maybe he'd be more comfortable talking with you about it than old Gus”
He smiles, Emily not exactly picking up on the implications but nodding.
“Good to know.”
Saturday is generally a quiet night for the Saloon, mostly just the regulars, sometimes a few more friendly faces. Pam arrives just as Emily finishes pouring her beer and adding it to Pam’s long tab. About an hour later, Shane joins the usual Saturday group; he's not in the best mood as he usually always is, but strolls up to the bar. Emily's already finishing pouring his beer when she sets it down in front of him and opens her mouth.
“Gus recommended I pick your mind about something.”
“Did he? What does the old man think I know? I promise you it's not that much, I'm not exactly known for my wits.”
“Birds-”
Emily's not one to stop talking easily, but the way Shane set the mug of beer down and lifted his head to stare at her with a wide-eyed expression caught her off guard.
“What about birds?”
“Well, this bird yesterday, uh, flew into my window-”
“Is it alright?”
“Seems like it, little guy got up after I got him inside, seemed surprisingly low stress, although he hasn't flown since”
“Could be a concussion”
Emily's eyebrows immediately tilt together and up a wide eyed worried expression. Emily’s only ever had a concussion once, but that injury from such a little thing sounds bad.
“A concussion!? How bad could it be!?”
“Well, if he's up and about, that's okay, however an injury like that and no flying either means he's still recovering or could be something neurological.”
He looks at her for a moment, her clear distress and anxiety spike from the words he's saying are evident. His eyes soften ever so slightly.
“If you want, I could take a look”
Emily partially snaps out of the spiral her mind has entered.
“I feel like I should take them to a vet.”
“Do you have a car?”
“No, I never actually got my license. Haley used to drive us around before we moved here. Everything's so walkable, we thought it would just be easier to sell the car than to have it sit unused.”
“Look, I understand your concerns. Let me take a look at the guy, and I'll see if I can borrow Marnie’s truck if things seem worse. Most birds don't tend to need vaccines or anything, but I will do a routine check-up anyway and recommend some if necessary.”
Emily blinks. Maybe Gus was right; he did know a thing or two about birds.
“You know how to do a routine check-up?”
Shane nods before finally taking a sip from his beer. Emily laughs a little, put more at ease by Shane's declaration of help.
“Why would you, of all people, know how to do that!?”
She laughs, although the laughing quickly fades when Shane looks up at her with a slightly sorrowful expression on his face and sets his beer down, shifting the mug between his hands.
“Uh. Well. I used to be a vet technician for a bird rescue. I was studying to be an ornithologist and had plans to continue working at the rescue. Maybe even become a proper vet to be able to take over when their vet at the time retired.”
He sighs, and her curiosity cannot hold back much.
“What happened?”
“I started drinking, I started declining, and stopped showing up for classes or shifts. Got kicked out of university, my boss was worried and tried to come check on me. I'm not sure what happened, but she called me the next day and told me never to come back to the rescue. Marnie found out I was going to lose my apartment and offered to let me stay with her.”
“Oh, I'm so sorry.”
“Eh. You win some, you lose some. Sometimes you lose more than you could ever bargain for.”
Shane picks up his mug of beer and goes to stand by the fireplace. Emily keeps her eyes on him for the rest of the night, bothering Clint as he can't keep her attention for long. As Shane comes up at the end of his time, like always on Saturday, he pays his tab off for the week. He hands Emily his card as he watches her.
“When do you want me to check up on your bird friend?”
“In all honesty, sooner rather than later.”
Emily sighs softly, handing him back his card, keeping her eyes close to the bar as she feels a bit guilty about pushing too much on his past.
“I have some time tonight, I'm just doing some work for Marnie tomorrow. I don't have a set time I need to be up by.”
Emily looks at him, debating the idea of inviting him over tonight. He's just helping her out after all, and it's not like Haley's never brought someone over, especially when it comes to men, to their apartments in the past, or Alex on occasion for a hangout. It's not like anyone would mind something about it, but it just seems a bit taboo. If Emily looked past Shane for a moment, she'd notice the glare from the blacksmith across the room, but she had her eyes stuck on Shane as she made a decision.
“I mean, if you don't mind waiting until after close, I'd love to have you do the check-up tonight.”
He shrugs
“I've got nothing else planned.”
He takes a seat at the bar as Emily finishes up her shift, closing Clint out at the last second as he always does to make sure he gets a chance to talk with her. As she hands him back his card, he lets his hand linger on hers.
“Eh. Emily. Keep yourself clean, okay? For my sanity.”
Emily laughs, leaving the card in his hand and pulling hers back.
“I don't plan on falling into any mud anytime soon, your tab is closed, and the Saloon’s about to walk home safe!”
She smiles and waves him off, letting out a soft sigh as the shift is finally over. Shane looks at her.
“Does he always talk to you like that?”
She turns to him.
“Like what?”
“Like. Never mind. Hand me that mop, I'll help clean up a bit.”
Gus checks the inventory but keeps an eye over his shoulder, watching the two birds as they clean up the Saloon together. He can sense something pulling the two together, a feeling he's felt a number of times. He tries to hide the slight smile on his face as he continues his job. The two finish up close to 12:30 and leave together, Shane walking out first, Emily turning to wave goodbye to Gus.
“Bye Gus!!”