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“You said if I wanted to work a few days to call you. Well, here I am in person.” I paste a mischievous smile on my lips.
“Hmm, I’ll go check the schedule for July and August.” She slinks off behind the bar to look at the schedule. I’m sure she’s finding just the right shifts to torture me. Anthony pops out from the office and does his usual dizzy run around the perimeter. He is always moving, never sitting still. He sees me out of the corner of his eye and comes speed walking over.
“Liv, you okay now?” he asks.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I reply.
“Good, ‘cause I need a decent bartender to show these morons how to do it right.” He never was one to beat around the bush. They must be really bad for him to ask me to work over the summer. Brenda comes back with the schedule.
“I can use you Friday night closing and Saturday opening shift,” she offers, still looking down the schedule.
“Put her on Thursday nights too, the other girl sucks,” Anthony adds.
“Look, I just want a couple of days to keep busy.”
“So those three days are okay?” Brenda asks.
“They’re fine. Just don’t add any more, please.”
“Cool, thanks,” Anthony mumbles. And he’s off. I think that was the longest I’ve seen him stand still. Brenda looks over at me and smiles.
“So, this Thursday?” I ask.
“Yes, I’ll tell Amy that I’m switching her shift to days.” I’m sure she’ll be thrilled with that.
“Alright. Hey, do me a favor, can you order me a chicken sandwich? Mom is having a breakdown, and I can’t deal with it today.” She nods her head knowing exactly what I mean and goes into the kitchen. I walk around to the other side of the bar and pour myself a Diet Coke.
She comes back with my sandwich. “Wow that was fast.”
“It’s dead, the cooks are bored.” She pours herself a soda and sits down next to me. “So did Mr. Moneybags ever come back?”
“No.”
“That’s too bad, he was hot.”
“I know. I wonder what happened.”
“Who knows? Maybe he had to go back to work for some rich man emergency.”
“Whatever. If it’s meant to be I’ll see him again.”
I arrive at work Thursday to a relatively full bar. It’s a wood bar shaped in a U. Twenty people can sit comfortably almost all the way around. There is a small service bar area where the servers pick up the drinks for their tables toward the back on the right hand side of the bar. I glance around and notice that every barstool is taken.
I walk around to get my bearings back. I haven’t been here in almost a month. I have to reprimand the day bartender since there’s nothing stocked up. Anthony’s right, they need to be schooled. I check in with my barguests as Amy restocks beer and glassware. She takes her tips and leaves. I can see the look of relief on some of my regulars faces. I make idle chit chat with some that I haven’t seen since before school ended.
The restaurant starts to get full so I wind up over at the service bar more than I care to. It keeps me busy, and the night is flying by.
It finally starts to slow down. The bar is maybe a quarter full as most of the dinner crowd has gone home. I straighten out the bar top picking up empties and wiping down the top. Out of the corner of my eye, I see someone walking toward the bar. I lift my head up and my heart nearly jumps out of my mouth. It’s Chase. He’s dressed in a dark blue tailored Tom Ford suit with a white shirt and blue striped tie. He looks delicious.
“Hello, beautiful,” he croons, his voice warm and serene. I’m in shock. He cocks his head to one side, trying to hide a smile. I continue cleaning the bar trying to ignore him. I’m failing. “You’re mad, I know. I’m sorry, it was unavoidable,” he says. Apology is written in those gorgeous blue eyes. I sigh. I can’t be mad, can I?
“Maybe a little,” I admit.
“I promise I will make it up to you.”
Wait a minute. How did he find me?
“How did you know where I work?” I ask feeling a little hostile.
