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Stanton stared at him, then shrugged. “End of the month.”
“End of the month what?”
“That’s how long I let it go on. My lease on the building is up at the end of the month, and Antero Steaks will be open another month after that. The tavern has to limp along until then, but when the month’s up?” He shrugged again. “Sayonara.”
Now it was Liam’s turn to stare. “What does that mean?”
“The tavern closes down so I’m no longer paying rent. The new place is all mine—no rent to worry about. Win-win.”
The winning didn’t seem to extend to the tavern staff, at least the ones who hadn’t already made the jump to someplace better. Stanton would kick them out on the street without any warning. “What about the people who’ll be out of a job?”
“Hey, I’ll be glad to take you on when the steakhouse opens. Like I said, a month or so and we’re up and running. I’m going to need a good bartender. Same thing with the waitresses. But this way, I don’t end up having to renew a lease I was going to drop anyway. We’re making enough to get to the end of the month, and who cares after that?”
Liam wasn’t sure what Stanton thought the tavern staff would live on while they waited for him to get around to rehiring them. He would have been in dire straits himself if he hadn’t had Park City waiting down the road. “A month?” he said slowly.
Stanton shrugged again. “About that. Maybe six weeks. You know how it is with renovations. You can’t guarantee anything in terms of schedule.”
Six weeks. He wasn’t sure whether Stanton believed the waitresses and part-time bartenders could hold out for six weeks or if he just didn’t give a crap. Liam was betting on the latter. “Are you taking McCullough over to the steakhouse, too?”
“McCullough?” Stanton grimaced. “No way. Antero Steaks gets a real chef. McCullough’s great at keeping costs down, but he’s strictly small-time.”
Liam gritted his teeth to keep from saying all the things he wanted to say. After all, the brewery would still need to sell beer to the bastard when he opened his freakin’ steakhouse. “When are you closing us down?”
“Saturday should be the last day. I thought maybe we could throw a little party after closing, say goodbye and everything. Maybe a potluck.” He gave Liam a bland smile.
Son of a bitch won’t even spring for refreshments. “Well, that’s it then. Are you going to tell the waitresses?”
“Maybe Friday. I don’t want to give them any reason to slack off before then.”
Liam regarded Stanton with narrowed eyes. He was perhaps the most perfect sleazebag he’d ever met. And he wouldn’t even have the satisfaction of telling him so. At least closing down Black Mountain would save Liam from having to give the bastard notice he was leaving for Park City.
“They might like a little advance warning so they can start looking for new jobs.” Particularly given that tips had been going down ever since McCullough had taken over the kitchen.
“You can drop a few hints if you want. Hell, two of them have already given notice.” Stanton turned toward the door. “Anything else?”
Anything else? Besides maybe an apology for messing up the lives of a group of people who’d done nothing to deserve it? And for throwing a first-rate bar into the garbage? Liam considered appealing to Stanton’s nonexistent sense of decency, but then he dismissed the idea. He shook his head. “Nothing else.”
At midnight, he closed the bar. It was already almost empty, and the few customers who were left looked like they could use some fresh air. Plus, he was damned if he’d stay late just to make Stanton a few more bucks. Screw him.
He headed out into the crisp mountain night. Late July nighttime temperatures were already dropping into the forties and fifties as fall approached. He should have brought a jacket, but it was hard to remember to do that when the daytime temperature was still in the seventies or eighties. He hunched his shoulders, sliding his hands into his pockets to keep them warm.
It was time to head home. He didn’t look forward to tomorrow, when he’d have to tell the waitresses that they were on the verge of unemployment. No way was he going to “drop hints.” They all needed to know what was coming and when.
