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He sighed. Black Mountain Tavern had a great location and a loyal clientele, but there were only so many problems they could handle at once. “I’m sorry he gave you grief. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble when I took you to the Salty Goat.”
“You didn’t get me into trouble. You got me into a job. A really great job.” Peaches gave him a gleaming smile. “I wouldn’t have stayed here much longer, anyway—it was kind of a rotten job, to tell you the truth. And the pay wasn’t all that good. And I’ve got a feeling this place won’t last much longer. When the chance came to work at the Salty Goat, it just kind of pushed me along a little faster.”
“Good. Glad to hear it.” He started back toward the kitchen door. “Better go check to see if anybody needs any beer.”
“Watch out for Mr. Stanton.”
Fortunately, Stanton wasn’t around when Liam reemerged into the bar. Maybe he was on the prowl for a new cook.
Liam pulled a tray of clean glasses out of the dishwasher and began arranging them on the rack above the bar. He was just about to pick up the second tray when he heard someone clear her throat.
He turned around quickly, ready to serve a customer, only to see Carol seated at the end of the bar again. He closed his eyes, muttering a prayer for patience. “Kid, like I said before, you can’t be in here. Absolutely cannot. Okay? It’s against all kinds of regulations.”
Carol shook her head. “How else was I going to let you know I was here? I need to talk to you. We could go back out in front again.”
Liam sighed. It was probably better to go out front and risk getting yelled at for wasting time than to stay in here and take the risk that Stanton would see him talking to an underage patron. “Okay, come on.”
On the front porch, Carol once again flopped down on one of the dusty chairs.
“What’s up?”
She gave him a considering look. “You did a great job getting rid of Barbara Jean. My mom was humming in the kitchen this morning.”
Liam was ridiculously pleased to hear that Ruth was happy. Her good humor must be based on more than just getting rid of Barbara Jean, though. “I didn’t really get rid of Barbara Jean, kid. You had more to do with that than I did.”
Carol nodded. “That’s true, in a way. But you did have another cook standing by. That was important.”
That had been vital, but also karma. “I’m glad everything worked out. Anything else?”
Carol nodded slowly. “Actually, there is. I need to know what you’re going to do next with my mom.”
Liam blinked. All kinds of answers whipped through his mind, most of them not suitable for sharing with young ladies of twelve. Particularly not when the woman in question was the young lady’s mother. “What do you mean?”
“I mean are you going to take her out, or what? I thought this whole thing with Barbara Jean and Peaches was supposed to be a step toward dating her.”
Liam blew out a breath, feeling the tension in his shoulders subside. “We’re going out on Thursday. I’m taking her to dinner.”
“That’s good, the dinner part. She’ll have to find a sitter, which is kind of a pain because I really don’t need one, but there are lots of high-school girls around who’d like to make a little money. So she’ll probably find someone. What about after that?”
Liam’s head felt as if he’d done a quick three-sixty. Carol had sort of a dizzying effect. “After your mom finds a sitter?”
“No, after you take her out this Thursday. What do you want to do next?”
The innuendos here were getting a little too hard to handle. “Look, kid, I’m on it, okay? If it’s humanly possible, I’ll convince your mom to go out with me again.”
Carol nodded slowly. “Yeah, but you might need my help. She gets hung up on work. You’ll need to convince her she can take time off and still get things done.”
Against his better judgment he was curious. “How would you convince her of that?”
“I’m not sure, but we need to work on it. The thing is, you have to make her like you.”
A lot of different comments floated through his head, including you think she doesn’t like me? Why not? However, he was saved by a sudden onslaught of good sense. “That sounds like a good idea. But I think she likes me already.”
