Becks nodded in agreement. “I was going to try the Morning Wood next.”
Ranger hung his head. “I need earplugs around you two. I am not asking my brother-in-law to get me the Morning Wood for my sister.”
Toni and Becks giggled like two schoolgirls. “Well, good thing for you I have my own delivery service,” Becks said, holding up her remote. “Now scoot. I am declaring this section women only. No penises allowed.”
“I am seriously questioning if those drinks are actually non-alcoholic,” Ranger quipped, though truly happy to see his sisterhaving such a good time. Bending, he kissed Toni. “I’ll be back to check on you in a bit, and I’ll send one of the servers over with your iced tea. The only lip service you’re getting tonight is from me.”
Toni smiled saucily up at him. “Sounds good to me.”
On his way up to the bar, Ranger shook hands with several people he knew from town, carefully dodging questions about where he’d been or why they hadn’t seen him around in a while. Making it up to the bar, a loudbeepsounded as Ranger stepped behind the counter. Ghost gave him a nod as he poured a lager into a frosted glass stein.
“It’s good to see you back here again,” Ghost called over the crowd.
“Good to see it standing again,” Ranger parried. “Hard to believe it’s back up and running.” He reached for a glass to make Toni’s iced tea in. “I’m sorry you had to rebuild it on your own.”
“Trust me when I say I’m not,” Ghost told him, putting the full stein on a tray and grabbing for a second one. “You had more important things to deal with. I’d rather have dealt with all this without you to get you back here sooner than risk your sobriety by putting too much on you.”
Ranger added the iced tea to the tray and informed Marcus to take it to Toni when he delivered the other orders. Leaning against the back bar, Ranger crossed his arms over his chest as he looked around the room. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to work here again.”
Ghost finished the order and sent Marcus on his way. Grabbing a rag, he tossed it at Ranger before nodding to the glasses that still needed to be dried. “We’ve already discussed this. Don’t get all morose on me now just because this place is finally back. Whether you ever work here again, half of it is still yours. That’s never going to change, brother.”
Ranger started drying as ordered. It felt natural, the routine of wiping down the glasses fresh from the dishwasher. “I hate that this is all on you, though.”
“Look,” Ghost came up next to him, resting his ass on the back bar, too. “I understand your reservations. Alcohol was never your vice, though. Even before the heroin, you never abused it. I don’t see how that would change now. Just because you work at a bar doesn’t mean you have to drink, too.”
While that was true, Ranger’s real fear was replacing one vice with another. It was something they warned about in AA, which was why many in the program encouraged full sobriety.
Wanting to keep the atmosphere light, Ranger lifted an eyebrow at his brother-in-law. “Have you ever heard not to trust a skinny chef? I’m sure there’s something in there about not trusting a sober bartender, too.”
Ghost slapped Ranger upside the head. “Not funny. Seriously, I’m not pushing you. If you honestly feel you’re not ready to work here, then you’re not ready. If it takes six months or six years or never, I don’t care.”
Ranger handed him a clean glass. “Let me at least get through my first year. Then I’ll talk to Cross and Rutenberg, and see what they suggest.”
“Did I hear my name?”
Ranger and Ghost looked up to see Cross approach the bar as a young couple moved away. The older man smiled jovially, once again reminding Ranger of a robust version of Santa Claus.
“Hey, man!” Ranger stepped forward to shake his sponsor’s hand. “I’m so glad you could make it.”
“Almost didn’t, but I’m trying to make up for my absence over the past several weeks. Then Loretta texted me a list of what she was making for the celebration, and I am not a fool to turn down your mama’s cooking.”
Ghost offered him his hand, too. “Good to see you. Not sure what your poison is, but we have a new selection of mocktails and alcohol-free beer if you want to try something.”
Cross looked down at the menu Ghost slid in front of him. “Well, this is certainly the selection! I’ll have to try the Heaving Bosom.”
“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask you about the name choices,” Ranger said to Ghost as he started to make Cross’ drink.
“Don’t look at me. The ol’ ladies did the naming at their last meetup,” Ghost told Ranger and Cross. “I’m honestly not sure if it was the sober or drunk ones who came up with the names. They couldn’t stop giggling long enough to tell me.”
Ranger cringed. “Was Cage at that meeting?” A self-proclaimed ol’ lady, Cage wasnota voice of reason when the women got together.
“He was the one who was giggling the loudest,” Ghost retorted as he passed Cross his Heaving Bosom. Complete with two maraschino cherries.
Ranger shook his head.
Cross took a sip and hummed in delight. “Oh, this is very good. Normally I have to get sparkling water or something boring at a bar. I like that you have created so many alcohol free options.”
“They have sparkling water on there, too,” Ghost pointed out. “That’s the Holy Water, and then we just add grenadine if someone wants some flavor.”
