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“I guess.”
“You don’t need to guess.” He shot her a quick smile. “That’s how I see it, you’ve got nothing to worry about. And besides, we shouldn’t be worrying about anything right now. We have a whole bright future ahead of us. For today, we get to choose our new vehicle, then we can go and talk to Rachel.”
Tori sat up a little straighter at that. “I think she knows what’s coming. When I talked to her on the phone earlier, she sounded really hopeful.” She bit down on her bottom lip. “And we’re going to be fair with her about the money, right?”
Xander chuckled. “Yes, sprite, we are. We’re going to be fair.” He glanced over at her. “More than fair. I want to see her back on her feet as much as you do. But don’t go crazy, okay? We’ll make her a fair offer – we’ll pay her for all the inventory, and for everything that’s inside the place. She’ll be able to close down and walk away just like she wanted to, and she’ll have more money in the bank than she expected.”
“I know. I’ll be good. I’ll let you do the talking.”
He grinned at her. “You’re good with that?”
She nodded. Even when it came to money, she trusted him. She knew that her own tendency was to be overly generous. Xander was generous, but he was also realistic – much more than she was.
Chapter Twenty
“Thanks again for bringing this thing out here,” said Clay. He slapped his hand on the hood of the truck. “To tell you the truth, I’m not convinced about the whole idea for this video, but Autumn’s dead set on it.”
“I think it’ll be awesome,” said Tori. “Autumn told me all about it when she asked if we’d bring you the truck.”
Clay chuckled. “Oh, I know it’ll all work out – just because I can’t see the vision in the beginning doesn’t mean a thing. You’ve worked with Autumn long enough to know how well her ideas pan out.”
“I have, she’s amazing. I guess I just didn’t realize that even you have to go along with her ideas.”
“I don’t have to; I’ve just learned that it works out best when I do.” Clay turned to Xander. “And how do you feel about settling here? Running a bar in a small town is going to be very different from what you’re used to, isn’t it?”
Xander grinned. “It is, and I’m looking forward to it.” He wrapped his arm around Tori’s shoulders. “We’re the ones who should be thanking you for letting us bring the truck. That road trip was good for us on many levels. Being on the road like that gave us the chance to think about where we might like to settle, and coming here gave Tori the chance to spend some time with her mom.”
“I know your mom’s thrilled that you’re going to be living here.” Clay cocked an eyebrow. “I have to say that I’m surprised.”
“I’m surprised myself at the way things have worked out,” said Tori. “Surprised, but grateful.”
“I’m glad to hear it. And do you know when you plan to open your new bar?”
“It’ll be a few weeks yet,” said Xander. “There’s a lot of work to do inside the place.”
Tori nodded. “Have you been in there?”
Clay frowned. “Only once, back when it first opened. It didn’t have a great atmosphere, even then. I could see what they were trying to do – they were trying to make it feel like a winery, but the end result was just kind of dull and drab.”
“That’s how it felt to us,” said Tori. “We’re going with bright and modern.” She looked up at Xander, and he smiled.
“And your mom said that you plan to have live music sometimes – will you sing yourself?” Clay asked.
“Sometimes. Although, to me, it’s more about bringing other people in to play – you know, friends and people I’ve worked with over the years.”
Clay chuckled. “Well, you have the contacts for it – and I hope that you consider me a friend. Anytime you want me, you just let me know, I’ll come and play.”
“Wow! Thanks!”
“In fact, are you doing a grand opening?”
Tori looked up at Xander again, and he nodded. They’d talked about doing a big opening night – although they’d decided that they should have a soft opening first. Then, once they’d ironed out the kinks, they’d invite everyone and make a big deal of it.
“We will,” he told Clay. “We just don’t know when yet. First, we need to get all the renovations done. Then, we want to get up and running. We want to have all our systems figured out and be sure that we can handle a big crowd efficiently before we do the grand opening.”
“That’s a smart way to do it,” said Clay. “The only reason I asked is that I want to offer myself – if you want me. I owe you guys, and if you want me to play, I’d be happy to.” He gave them a rueful smile. “I’ve been around long enough that my name seems to be a bit of a draw.”
“Thank you so much!” said Tori.
