“That’s the way the job market is right now,” I said.
“But you shouldn’t take the first thing that comes along if it’s all wrong for you.”
“Or I take it and then figure out a contingency plan later.” I tossed another piece of popcorn into my mouth. “It’s always easier to find a job when youhavea job.”
“I guess.” I knew my sister, and I could hear the doubt in her voice as if she were screaming it. “I just know how hard you worked to get to where you were. I hate the thought of you backsliding.”
The movie that I had honestly forgotten about paused.
“Why did you pause it?” Mattie asked.
Giles looked between the two of us. “I thought you two were talking.”
“I was watching,” Mattie insisted.
“Same,” I agreed.
He raised a skeptical eyebrow but pressed play.
“And I’m not backsliding,” I continued.
“That’s what it sounds like,” Mattie argued.
Giles let out an audible sigh but didn’t attempt to press pause on the movie again.
“Look, I don’t even know if I made it to the next step yet. At the very least, it was practice. Stop being overbearing.”
I had been waiting for Mattie to overstep like this. Justbecause she had her life all figured out, she felt like she could impose some sisterly wisdom on me.
She shot me a disapproving look. “You’re beating yourself up trying to find something. I want you to know that it’s okay to take time for yourself.”
Easy for her to say. When her life had imploded, she’d moved to Key Ridge right away and ended up falling in love and finding this whole new idyllic life. Not all of us were living in a fantasy.
“Chill, Mattie. Frankie will figure it out.” Giles’s words were so soft I almost didn’t hear them. I flashed him a grateful smile, and he acknowledged it with a small nod.
Mattie glared between the two of us as if we had committed some sort of betrayal. “Okay, fine. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
“I’m sure that resolution will last all of one day,” I joked, feeling vindicated when Giles let out a small chuckle.
Mattie held up her hands in defeat. “Alright, if you two start ganging up on me, I’m moving out.”
“Didyou send that table a whiskey and Coke?” Bev asked, holding up a brown beverage in a small glass.
“Yes?” I said it like a question as I toweled off the bar. While I was getting a little bit better at making drinks and multitasking behind the bar, I think it was safe to say I wasnotmeant for the service industry.
It was too damn hard.
“Taste this,” Bev insisted, grabbing a straw off the bar and inserting it into the drink.
I took a sip and winced. “Yuck,” I said as soon as the sharp taste of tequila mixed with Coke hit my tongue.
Bev raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “I know I haven’t been bartending much longer than you have, but I can’t say I’ve poured a lot of tequila Cokes in my time.”
She was the most chill boss I’d ever had. She never berated me for making mistakes or threatened to fire me over my obvious lack of skills. She was no pushover, but she took everything in stride. It made the fact that the rest of my life wasn’t going so great right now feel a little less sucky.
“My bad,” I said, hurriedly grabbing a new glass and double-checking that the bottle I picked up was indeed whiskey before pouring the drink. “I’m having an off day.”
Bev gave me a gentle, understanding smile, the corners of her eyes creasing a little. Bev had quickly made me feel right at home here. Even though it was Mattie who’d married into her family and not me, I still felt like she was my extended aunt or something.
