Mac sighed as he pulled the last red heart from the display on the wall. He knew his work was only half done, but he needed a break. Valentine’s Day was hard enough for a single guy to get through, but St. Patrick’s Day was his personal worst. With green eyes, red hair, and a last name like O’Neill, everyone knew he was Irish, and wanted to be friends with him.

Usually that was a good thing, but when the world expected you to be someone you weren’t, and tried to be just like you, it could really grate on your nerves. Everyone thought he would love St. Patrick’s Day, but it just didn’t do anything for him.

Except remind him of everything he’d lost.

Mac pushed the dark thoughts away and chugged his bottle of water. He’d rather have a hot cup of coffee, but there wasn’t a 24 hour coffee shop around so he settled for water when he worked at 3 am. Maybe someone would bring him a cup.

When his bottle was drained, Mac tossed it aside and resumed his task, filling the previously pink wall with more green than he thought his stomach could handle. He stepped back and admired his work. Even though he hated it, Mac knew the wall looked good. The decorations and novelties would be flying off the wall in no time, filling the town with green for the next four weeks.

Mac dumped the pink and red paraphernalia into the clearance bin at the front of the store for those shoppers who liked to pick up the good deal, then headed back to the break room. He was starting to fade, but he had a few more things to do before he could leave. It’d been a long night, like it always was when he worked the bar then headed into the store, but Mac liked to stay busy. Busy meant he didn’t have time to worry about the past, or the future. He knew he didn’t have much of a life, but he was okay with that. He didn’t like people relying on him. He always disappointed them when they counted on him. It was just easier to not let them start.

Then no one could get hurt.