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“Oh, good.” I close my eyes, trying to catch my breath. “It’s been horrible, not knowing anything.”
“I was hoping you were keeping tabs and saw nobody was hurt.”
“I did, but it’s hard to trust the information coming out as being complete.”
“I get that. Are you okay?”
“I walked out of Badger’s. He might fire me. It would probably be a good thing if he did.”
“He can’t run that place without you.”
“Oh, I don’t know. He managed for two weeks when I was with you.” That seems so long ago.
“I do have a bit of sad news.”
My stomach clenches. “What is it?”
“The hut’s gone. It wasn’t anchored, and loose things didn’t fare well.”
I’m glad I’m sitting down, because my head spins. “Like,gonegone?”
“Gone gone. No trace of anything other than a few random bottles that landed in the courtyards. The fridges might turn up, but they may be at the bottom of the ocean.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh, wait. The new menu board survived. I have that.” He laughs a little.
“Oh, Gabe. When will they rebuild?”
“They’re not. Turns out they’d rather not have alcohol sales on premises.”
I clutch my phone. “What are you going to do?”
“I wanted to talk to you before I decided.”
The words are out before I can think them through. “Please don’t say you’re coming here.”
“You don’t want me to?”
I clutch at my phone. “You can’t leave the island for this place. I watched you here. It’s too landlocked, too many buildings. You need that open sky. The ocean.”
“Tillie, it’s where you are.”
“And I want you to be where I am, but ... I can’t ask you to give up that wonderful place for the life I live here.”
“I figured that’s how you would feel. And as soon as news of the hut got around, people made offers. Experienced bartenders are really needed here. One of the big resorts is opening a trendy new bar andneeds a full slate of employees. It was in the works before the storm, but I didn’t think much about it until this.”
Relief thunders through me. Picturing him working with me at Badger’s grim bar is all wrong. “Will the opening be delayed?”
“No. The resorts are already cleared and functioning. The cruise port will resume operations by next week, and the airport is reopening the schedule. Other than the marina, we’ll be fully back to business within two weeks.”
“And you’ll go work at this hotel?”
“Yes. I know the resort manager, Clay. We worked together back in the day. He took me aside yesterday when he spotted me and Mendo at the marina office. He heard about my hut. He said I could run the new bar and bring on anyone I trusted as staff. Morrie’s going to come work for me. He liked running events at the hut.”
A group of regulars passes by, tilting their heads to watch me sitting on the curb. I wave them into the bar.
“When will that start?”
