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Lucky and Jensen took the bigger spools, leaving me with the oversized tub that was annoyingly sized, but not too heavy.
I needed to get back to the restaurant, but I found myself lingering to help with the lights. An hour later, we had the whole tree wrapped.
Emma came out to supervise halfway through and we all managed to convince her to sit in the shade and yell out directions.
She was really good at that.
Finally, I had to go back inside, leaving the rest of the decorating in their capable hands. It was barely an hour before the early bird customers would start coming in for dinner.
I went over the schedule with Gillian, again. Not that I needed to. She was usually the first one to take charge, but since Emma had begun working, Gillian was asking me to help her with every-damn-thing.
I figured she was still pissed that I wouldn’t give her the position, so I gritted my teeth and answered the unnecessary questions about staffing.
Rami and Esther finished up the midshift, as the second wave of waiters and bartenders came in. By then, the day ramped up and I didn’t get a chance to go back out and check with them.
I got a text from Emma that she’d see me tomorrow.
That was the last thing I’d noticed before sun set. The patio was alive with our bi-weekly trivia game. Now that we didn’t need the outdoor heaters, the tables were all packed.
It was firemen against nurses tonight, which made for a lively group.
I took out a few sampler trays to the last round of winners and was struck by the tree now that it was dark.
The whole tree was lit up, sparkling against the night. The stars we’d found in storage were just right against the larger Edison bulbs and frosted mason jars.
The lighting bounced off the lake behind it as did a runway of lights they’d fashioned on the dock.
The boat was softly lit to show off the new jewel of my business. Even from here, I could see the lights that had been added inside. She’d even added strings of the frosted mason jars to the upper deck where we’d have the band playing for the party.
Everything was finally coming together, thanks to Emma’s vision.
This was the important part, not my ill-timed libido coming alive this afternoon. I had to keep my eye on the prize.
Period.
“Mason?”
I turned to Gillian’s voice. She came up beside me and looked out at the lights. I smiled down at her. “What do you think?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Looks nice.”
“Nice?”
“Okay, so it’s classy. Whatever.”
I sighed. “Did you need something?”
“You don’t have to get defensive. It’s just some lights. Not like Lisa is a magician or anything.”
“You know very well her name is Emma.”
She crossed her arms. “Like it matters. She’ll be gone soon enough.”
Gillian had been getting more bitter by the day. Had I been blind to it because we were so busy or because The Mason Jar felt lighter with the addition of Emma?
Lighter to me anyway. Not so sure Gillian would agree.
“Did you need something?” I knew my voice was cool, but I was getting tired of her bullshit.
