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“I will tell you all about it later. Let’s get down to business!”
Amidst chatting and poring over ideas, we have to stop to refill our drinks and to get croissants. I have mine poised at my lips, inhaling the spicy scent when the wail of sirens breaks the normal bustling noises downtown. Pedestrians outside on the sidewalk pause, watching the fire trucks zoom by. An ambulance is hot on its heels. I’ve all but put the interruption out of my mind and am ready to lick my fingers when a police car speeds in the same direction.
Sloan glances at her pinging phone and clicks the screen off. When the reminder sounds a minute later, she turns the entire thing over.
As a general rule, I adore anyone who puts what they are doing above the draw of technology, but I have a sneaking suspicion that she doesn’t want me to see the message.
It doesn’t take long before her cell begins vibrating incessantly. Sloan flips it back over. She looks between the device and me. “I hope you don’t mind, I have to take this,” she apologizes.
Lifting from her seat, she answers the call asking, “What’s going on?”
And then Sloan freezes.
In an instant, it is obvious something is wrong. I hate that I have the acute awareness of Jake’s smooth voice on the other end of the line.
The color drains from Sloan’s face. “I’ve got to go,” she croaks.
Kimber grabs her by the elbow. “I’m coming with you.”
I don’t hesitate, snatching everything off the table. “Me too.”
I’ve avoided Jake at all costs, but the last thing my animosity towards him is going to cost me is friendship.
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34
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“Jaaake!” I hear Kelsey yell for me.
“In here, I holler back.”
She appears in the doorway a moment later with a puzzled, but cheerful expression and hands me a work order to scrawl my signature on. “Sorry. It’s still weird that you’re where you say you’re going to be. I’m not over chasing you to get shit done.”
“Never chase a man, Kelsey. You’ll wind up with someone like me.” I have glue on my hand and the pen sticks to my fingers. I make a funny up and down gesture and it drops to the clipboard.
“Nobody wants that,” she replies in jest before getting serious. “The beer and wine distributor rescheduled for late tomorrow afternoon, so I may duck out and bring those boxes over to Caroline. The new barstools are on backorder for another month. The carpenter called and wanted to know which stain you prefer on the bar top.”
“Same as they’re using on the floor once it’s laid. What else?” I return the paperwork to her.
“Nothing I can’t handle, and the rest of the messages are promoters and band managers looking to book up-and-coming acts. Not my circus. Not my monkey. But I think we’re scheduling into the fall.”
“Excellent.” I knew keeping Kelsey on the payroll would pay off. “Go home after you’re done at Caroline’s,” I call after her.
Shortly after my mom and I had our heart-to-heart, the Sweet Caroline’s employees descended on the club. While I never enjoyed being here, it was strange to have missed the familiar faces. And even more weird to let them know I’d appreciated all their hard work over the years, and that I’d miss them when the club closed. So as not to pull the rug out from anyone, performances continued until the end of the month, which wasn’t that far away.
Mom’s dream shut down quietly… We switched off the neon pink light in the parking lot together, retiring it with little fanfare. The important thing to us was that our family’s business survived decades of negativity. No matter what rumors the gossips spread, nobody forced us out of Brighton, and that’s something to be proud of.
Afterward, I took my mother dancing in Raleigh. We stayed out until the wee hours. It seemed appropriate. We’ve lived most of our lives at night.
Each staff member got a letter of recommendation and an extra paycheck. A lot of the dancers scattered. There isn’t much work for them in Brighton unless they are going to switch careers.
Despite the help I sent her way, Kelsey was ready to spit rocks at me the day of the announcement. Mom had taken the burden off of her so that she could focus on managing the club and not the girls. Morgan and Skye filled in when she was short-staffed and on her regular days off.
When everyone had cleared out, I called Kelsey aside and told her she still had a job if she could still stand me as a boss. She’d remained loyal to me when everything was going to shit and deserved my appreciation. She teared up and called me an asshole. But then she hugged me and we made a deal that she’s allowed to call me out on my bullshit.
Kelsey has the option of rehiring any of the employees she worked best with when we reopen. That’s how Kimber and Holly got by. They trusted one another. They trusted the people they suggested get hired. And they trusted me to keep my fucking nose out of it.
