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“I’ll say.” His look read pride as he glanced around. “Of course, I’m biased. Worked here ten years—in Après. Four years more for the resort summer and holidays.”
“Ten years.”
“Yep.” His deep-set brown eyes stayed on her face, assessing. “And I’ll answer what you’re too polite to ask. Didn’t want it—themanager’s slot. I like putting in my eight, going home for dinner. We just had a baby.”
“Oh, congratulations. Let’s see.”
Grinning now, he pulled out his phone to display the screen saver, an infant with her father’s soulful eyes and a curly cap of hair. The pink bow in it and frilly pink dress said girl.
“Looks like her daddy. What’s her name?”
“Shila. Got her mama’s mouth, but otherwise, that’s me all over. You got kids?”
“No.”
“Changes everything.”
He gave the baby on his screen saver a last smile before he tucked his phone away.
“I thought about managing, taking the evening work that comes with it. Or the coming in when a problem hits. The scheduling, the paperwork. Bump up the paycheck, but… Nope, ten-thirty to six-thirty suits me. Come in at ten-thirty, check the stock, check the keg levels, make the garnishes. Hell, you know the drill.”
“I do.”
“Open her up, then man the stick, get her done, and clock out, so most nights home by quarter to seven to my girls. Best of both.”
“It sounds like it.”
“Have a seat at the bar. I’ll draw you a soft drink.”
“I’ll take it. Could I… I’d really like a peek.”
“Come on through.” He led her around, got a glass.
Clean, shiny, organized, she noted—as it should be. Ice maker, speed rack, sink shining clean, cooler, shakers, corkscrews, knives, swizzle sticks, bar mops, cocktail napkins, all as pristine as the bottles and glassware on the backbar.
“Whatcha think?”
“I think the people who run and work in here know what they’re doing.”
He shot a finger at her, then put her drink on the bar. “I can text up to Nell’s office, let them know you’re here.”
“That’s okay. This gives me time to see the layout and gear up.” She went around, took a stool. “I’m not used to sitting on this side.”
“How long you been running the stick?”
“Nearly seven years. I started my last year in college, and knew that was where I belonged. I don’t have to ask if you like working here. You don’t strike me as someone who’d put in a decade—plus the four years of summers and holidays—if you didn’t.”
“It’s a great place to work. I met my wife here. Corrine’s in Reservations. Well, she’s on maternity leave, but she wants to come back at least part-time when Shila’s six months old. Made good friends here, get treated fair here. Hal? He’s head butler on the Club Level? Twenty-seven years in. And that’s not the record.”
“It’s not?”
“Mrs. Finski—and everybody, even the Jamesons, called her Mrs. Finski—thirty-six years when she retired, head of Housekeeping.”
“That says staff loyalty.”
“Earned it. The Jamesons are good people.”
“Thanks, Nick.”
