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Three Weeks Prior
December 1st
* * *
The afternoon light hits differently. It’s softer yet brighter and brings a warm glow to the dark wood in the bar. I glance at the clock and note it's at the tail end of the lunch rush, and everything is just how it should be. Plenty of free stools at the bar, and it's not too crowded. There's room for anybody who walked in right now, and we haven't reached the part of the evening where couples come in on dates or the games start drawing a crowd.
I didn't always like the slow part of the day. In college, I liked it best when the bar was bursting at the seams with the music too loud and everybody yelling over it. Back then it felt like anything could happen if you ordered just the right drink and talked to just the right girl. Nothing was too serious, and every day was a fresh start. Life could have taken me anywhere. Every time Brody and I went down Main Street bar hopping and talking up big dreams of owning our own bar one day, I thought I wanted something new. Another girl would lean up next to the bar, and my imagination would run away with me.
It's funny how dreams change.
Or...how they get more specific. Brody found what he was looking for and damn did he get something he never could have imagined. There are a million places in the world you can buy a bar or build one, and there're a million ways it can look, but we settled on this one, close to my hometown, but far enough away to do it however we wanted.
It was just a conversation at first, and then it was money, and then it was sweating and sawing and installing fixtures and reading up on building codes and city ordinances until my eyes burned from lack of sleep and my shoulders were heavy with stress. We had to file for permits and get our licenses in order and…every fucking little thing you don’t know you need until someone tells you that you do.
Now it's real.
I’m proud and grateful….and now I can’t deny along the way I realized what I was missing.
Renee leans over a table in the corner and puts down the bill in its folder like she's giving the patrons a gift, and that's how they take it. The two men in blue jeans and polo shirts give her big smiles and look her in the eye. Everybody brightens up a little looking at Renee. She’s got an air about her that just makes you smile.
She walks off, her hips swaying, and I get the impression she doesn’t know just how gorgeous she is. Her autumn hair drapes down her back from the low ponytail and sways with her walk. It takes every ounce of effort for my eyes not to fall to her hips and then to the gorgeous curves of her ass in those tight blue jeans. Fuck, I suppress a groan just in time for her to look back at me, and I give her a tight-lipped smile. I swear her wicked hazel eyes flash a knowing look. Heat rises up my chest but just as quickly as she looked back, she turns away and I’m left with a racing heart and a feeling no woman has ever made me feel.
And I'm thinking...
How do I make her fall for me?
Because I don’t mind looking at her like she's beautiful and kind and I'm lucky just to get to talk to her. But I want her to look at me like she's finally found the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with. I want her to look at me like the world's bright just because I'm in it.
The bar is special—it's my bar, after all—but Renee makes it shine. Look at her. It's just an ordinary day, and somehow the light in her hair is like nothing I've seen before, and when she smiles, it makes my heart skip a beat. The music and the chatter fade to nothing when I look at her.
A nudge at my elbow takes me out of my thoughts.
“You should take a picture, you know?”
I look over at Patty, my fellow bartender on this shift. She raises her eyebrows at me. Damn. She caught me staring, and Patty knows what she's talking about. She's older, married, and damn good at her job. I almost can't picture Iron Brewery without her, but that means she notices everything that goes on in the place...including who I'm looking at. Nothing gets past Patty.
My face gets hot and my heart's already beating fast from watching Renee, but I ignore all that and give her a shocked look. “I wasn't?—”
“Please, Griffin, you were enjoying the view.” Patty tips her head back and laughs. I don't think it was that obvious, but how loud she's laughing says otherwise. It tapers off after a second and she scans the bar. “Need another, Sam?”
Sam, a patron at the far end of the bar, shakes his head. Patty gives him a thumbs-up. From the looks of his glass, it won't be long until he'll be flagging her down, but Patty never rushes anybody on their drinks. I think it's half the reason she's so good. Even when somebody frankly needs a fire under their ass, Patty never seems like she's pushing.
Renee walks away from the table and meets up with Mary Sue, one of the other waitresses. She's a sweet redhead, one of those girls everybody calls fresh-faced, and she's got bright green eyes.
I catch myself staring this time and once again trying to pretend that I'm not doing it.
It doesn't help at all because Renee's on the move. She goes to the other side of the bar and wipes down the counter. A song with a good beat plays just loud enough to make the bar lively, and Renee swings her hips to the beat. That girl must know exactly what she looks like, dancing like that. She's gorgeous, she's tempting, and sooner or later I'll figure out a way to make her fall for me. I'll figure out how to be the kind of man Renee would fall for.
I don't want to get caught staring a third time, so I look out over the bar. It's spacious but still cozy thanks to the lighting. Iron Brewery is a classic neighborhood bar with sturdy stools pulled up to the bar, booths along one side, and tables in the middle. We've got a window in front looking out on the main street and a smaller window in back with a view of a less-prestigious road.
It's brand new with a modern feel and everything Brody and I dreamed of. Plus, anybody who spends time in bars like this knows that a neighborhood bar picks up pieces of the neighborhood and all the people who live there. In a town the size of this one, that's pretty much the whole town. Everyone knows everyone and that reminds me of home. I mean this place is my new home…and not too far away from where I grew up. But there’s something about owning this bar that just adds a feeling of belonging to this town.
I'm proud of the place. Brody and I put a fuckton of hours into it when we first bought the place. I practically slept with my to-do list. The only thing that ever slowed me down was stepping on a nail when I was wearing flip-flops, which cost me a trip to the ER for a tetanus shot. After that, I bought the sturdiest work boots they sold at the hardware store.
It probably should have been impossible to get the place up and running in the amount of time we did, but it was worth it.
“Hey, Patty?” Sam lifts his glass. Patty nods back to him, and he thanks her.
