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“It was,” I said, then cringed internally.
“Clearly,” Ava said.
I forced my focus back onto the interview. Going down the small talk route wasn’t going to lead anywhere good.
“By the looks of your application, you are way overqualified for this position. Why did you decide to apply to be a bartender?” I asked.
What I really wanted to ask was when she had gotten back into town and why she was here. She’d left so abruptly, and I hadn’t heard from her since. But I kept those questions to myself. They didn’t matter right now. This was all about our bar needing a bartender and her needing a job.
“My parents need some help,” she said. “My father was in a pretty serious accident recently and won’t be able to work for a long time. I came back here to help my mom take care of him and realized they need more help than just me being there when my mother is at work.”
The explanation made my heart drop and guilt creep around the edges of my mind.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “I hope he heals well.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“So, why don’t you tell me a little bit about what you’ve been doing over the last couple of years. If you have any experience working in a bar?”
Ava looked at me strangely, then seemed to pull herself out of whatever thoughts had sunken into her mind and came back to the interview. We talked for a few more minutes before I gave a nod and reached out to shake her hand. I nearly jumped back at the electricity that still rocketed through my body at her touch. I played it cool but could see that she had also been affected. Fuck, this was going to be a bad idea.
“We’ll be in touch,” I told her. “Thank you for coming in.”
I let her walk out of the office first, then followed her. We waved at each other halfway through the bar, and she left. The door was barely closed before my brothers started bombarding me with questions.
“How did it go?”
“Where has she been?”
“Why did she come back?”
“Did you talk about anything but the position?”
“Why is she applying to be a bartender?”
“Did she know you worked here and that’s why she applied?”
“Are you going to see you again soon?”
“You are going to hire her, right?”
“Was it super awkward?”
I let them get them out of their system before answering. “She’s obviously overqualified for the bartender position. But having an MBA could be really helpful for us. She could help run the business and maybe come up with some ways to increase it. Besides, she was the best interview all day. Even if she didn’t have the MBA, she was up against Daddy’s little pinstriped nonsense and possibly a ghost. Ava wins.”
“How about the two other applications?” Tyler asked.
“Have they returned your call about setting up interviews?” I asked.
“No.”
I shrugged dismissively. “Then they’re out of luck. We want a go-getter.”
“I thought we just wanted someone who could make drinks and add,” Tyler said.
“I’m adding go-getter. But it doesn’t matter, because we found our bartender.”
My brothers exchanged glances, then nodded in agreement.5AvaStephanie and I had plans for a couple of days later, but as soon as I left the bar, I called her.
“Are you busy this afternoon?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “Well, yes. But if you need me, then no.”
“I think I need you,” I said.
“Give me twenty minutes and we can meet up at the coffee shop. Does that work?” she asked.
“Sounds perfect. I definitely need some caffeine. Maybe some hard liquor. Which ties into what I need to talk to you about,” I said.
“Now you have me intrigued,” she said. “I’ll see you soon.”
I hung up feeling better, but only slightly. That definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. Even after the call from Tyler when I thought it was possible this was the Anderson family I had a history with, I didn’t let myself think about it too much. It made me far too nervous to even consider that I could walk into my potential new place of work and see them. The thought of seeing any of the Andersons was challenging enough. When I let myself consider, even briefly, the possibility that Mason could be there, I wanted to throw up and hide under my covers. Not simultaneously, but in close succession.
Then I shoved it all out of my mind. I balled those thoughts up and tossed them away. Then I started thinking about what was next. Which, for me, meant diving headfirst into my job search throughout town. Every available job couldn’t possibly be listed on the site. There had to be some places going for the old-school help wanted sign in the window approach.
At least, I could hope.
I got to the coffee shop before Stephanie and ordered the biggest hazelnut coffee they offered. Usually I pretended just the flavored coffee was enough for me and had it black. But this wasn’t one of those days. Extra sugar and fat be damned, I wanted a healthy glug of heavy cream and a swirl of whipped cream. I deserved it after that disaster of an interview. Before I walked away from the counter, I added a chocolate chip muffin.
