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Either she didn't hear it, or if she did, she ignored it. Another clue that, as always, the chemistry that crackled every time he got in the same room with her was completely one-sided.
"Shouldn't be." As she looked around, her brow furrowed. "I don't see a cash register or anything."
His boots thunked on the hardwood floor as he came around the bar to join her. "That's where we're still in the dark ages." He hunkered down so he could find the ledger where they kept track of all the drink orders. When he straightened, she was standing much closer.
Not inappropriately close, or flirtatiously close, but close enough for him to once again catch a whiff of shampoo and clean, feminine skin.
He placed the ledger on the bar, careful not to brush her arm. He opened it up to show pages of handwritten notes on the lined pages, then turned it to a blank page.
"First write the date on top," he said as he did so. "Then make three columns. In the first column you write the cabin where the guest is staying, the second you write the drink, and the third you write the price. Price list is right here." He pulled the list out from the back of the ledger.
"Sounds easy enough. Anything else I need to worry about?"
Before he could answer, he was interrupted by the sound of voices. He looked up to see Paulina leading a new family into the restaurant.
"Oh hey, JT, Colleen. This is Eric and Jennifer Robinson and their sons Nico and Cole."
JT came out from behind the bar. "From Connecticut, right?" he asked, referencing his memory of the latest arrival list. This was the Robinsons' first trip to the Lazy Creek.
He shook hands with Eric, a husky man whose brown hair was speckled with gray. His brown eyes smiled behind his glasses as he gave JT's hand a hearty shake.
"JT is my older brother and likes to think he's the boss of me," Paulina said, which made Jennifer, a pretty redhead in her early forties, laugh.
"Well I am the general manager, so technically I am the boss of you," JT said as he shook hands with Jennifer, then with her sons.
"How old are you boys?"
"Fourteen," the older one said. He was tall and lanky and had a thick mop of dark hair on his head.
"I'm twelve," said the younger one. Husky like his dad, he reached out and shook JT's hand like a little man.
"I'm sure Paulina's already showed you, but you two will definitely want to check out the rec hall. We have a couple families with kids your age this week. I'm sure you'll all have a great time together."
The older boy shrugged. "Maybe." Then his eyes widened as they caught sight of something across the room. "Holy crap, is that a deer?"
"Nico, language," Jennifer hissed under her breath.
"I probably shouldn't tell you this, but if they hang out at the barn they're likely to hear a lot worse," Paulina cracked, which earned her a chuckle from Eric.
"Actually, that's an elk," JT said of the trophy mounted over the mantel of the fireplace. "My Uncle Mike got that one about five years ago."
"Cool," said Cole. "Can we go look?"
"Of course, go look around," Paulina said. "You can find the table where you'll be sitting this week. Just look for the napkin rings with your names on them."
"You ready for the big time?" Paulina asked Colleen as the Robinsons scattered to admire the hunting trophy and find their table.
"As I'll ever be," Colleen said with a smile.
"It should be a lot less stressful than at Adele's," Paulina said. "You'll be pretty busy an hour or so before dinner and then after eight when people get back from the evening ride. During dinner you'll mostly be serving beer and wine."
"Sounds like rush hour will be starting soon," Colleen said as she glanced at her watch. "I'm going to make a quick trip to the bathroom."
After she'd disappeared down the hallway that led to the restrooms, Paulina turned to him. "So?"
"So what? I'm just, you know, showing her the ropes."
"That's not all you want to show her," Paulina said with a cheeky grin that made him want to smack her.
