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Craving seafood after the day at the beach, I ordered the shrimp and haddock basket with fries so hot and fresh they burned my fingers when I tried to eat them.
I sucked down a half-lemonade, half-iced tea and hurried through the rest of my food. I paid my tab and made my way to the bar. Esme had dark purple lipstick on tonight, leather shorts, and a faded and ripped black t-shirt. She looked like she’d come from a rock concert, and I looked down at my own outfit.
I looked like a toddler who’d escaped from daycare. What the hell was I thinking? Blushing, I started to back away and leave before she could see me, but it didn’t work.
“Paige! You here for a drink?” Esme beamed at me as she wiped out a glass.
“Uh, sure?” I said, as if I wasn’t sure. There was an empty barstool in front of me, and I let myself fall onto it.
Esme leaned over on the bar, her eyes sparkling in the light of several neon beer signs. I swear, I didn’t even need a drink to feel intoxicated around her.
“Would you like a paloma, or something else? Maybe a mocktail? I make amazing mocktails.”
“Sure, I’d love one.”
Esme winked at me and I almost fell to the floor. “You got it.”
She moved so fast that I couldn’t even track what she was doing. Esme added ice to a glass, poured some liquid from a jar that she strained beforehand, topped it with something, and put a lime wedge on the side. The whole thing was a beautiful dance, done by someone who’d honed her skills.
She slid the glass in front of me. “Let me know what you think. This is fun, getting to try drinks on someone.”
The drink smelled like pineapple, but it also smelled spicy, so I had no idea, but I was up for trying it.
I took one sip as Esme hovered, waiting for my verdict. Initially, the drink was sweet, and definitely flavored with pineapple. Then I swallowed and was hit with a kick of heat.
“Holy shit,” I said, coughing a little.
She leaned even further forward. “Sorry, is a little strong?”
I shook my head, trying to get my breath back. “No, it’s just that I wasn’t expecting it.” The spiciness sat on my tongue and dulled as I waited. Wow. I took another sip and this time I was prepared and didn’t choke.
“Holy shit, that is good.” My tongue burned, but I wasn’t going to stop drinking it.
“Good. It’s got peppercorns and chiles in it. As well as pineapple and lime.” She was really hitting me hard with the incredible drinks lately.
“No, it’s so good.” Since there was no booze in it, I could suck this one down and just ask her for another when I wanted it.
Other customers snagged her attention and she had to leave me and go tend to them, so I sat and sipped my drink and watched her work while also pretending to be watching whatever the hell was happening on the TVs mounted on the wall if she ever looked in my direction. Not an easy feat.
The bar filled up and I was squished between a few people who didn’t understand personal space. If I wasn’t here for Esme, I wasn’t sure I would voluntarily come here as an alternative to being at home on my couch where I didn’t have to smell someone else’s perfume or cologne. Plus, my cat was there.
“What are you smiling about?” Esme said, diving out of Batman’s way as he dumped a massive bucket of ice into a cooler.
“Oh, nothing.”
“No, tell me.” I would have told her anything if she asked me when she looked at me like that. Like she was interested in what I had to say.
“I was thinking about what my cat would do if he was here. Probably walk along the bar and knock all the drinks off. Or bite a bunch of people for not giving him treats.” Potato loved me, but he was a prickly fellow and didn’t trust other people.
Esme chuckled. “That sounds cute. His name is Potato, right?”
For the second time, I almost fell off my stool. How did she know my cat’s name?
“Yeah, it is.”
She must have seen the look on my face because she said, “I’ve seen you post about him on your social.”
Oh, right. We followed each other. She’d probably been looking at my posts. Obviously. Get a grip, Paige.
