Page 11 of Good For Me

“Pretty sure she’s striking fear into the heart of the kitchen staff,” she smirks.

“Sounds about right.”

“You want me to tell her you’re here?”

I think about that. Do I want Ruby interrupting my time with Jasmine? God knows if she comes over, the entire family is going to be talking about this before I even get home. I cast a glance at Jas and make up my mind. I brought her here for a reason.

“Sure,” I say. “Ask her to bring us a couple beers.”

She snorts. “Oh, she’ll love that.”

The waitress hurries off to her next table and I squeeze Jasmine’s hand so she’ll follow me to the empty seats Brenda pointed out. The location isn’t the best—it’s kind of in a back corner. But we can see the stage and we actually have a pretty good view of the rest of the patio.

I sit but Jas hovers over her chair, staring at a lurid pink dolphin made entirely of bits of repurposed tin cans. “Ruby’s from Key West,” I explain. “She likes the beach theme.”

“It’s like Jimmy Buffett puked in here,” Jas mutters, and I snort out a laugh, making a mental note to share that one with my cousins.

Jas finally takes her seat across from me, though her eyes continue to scan the patio. It is pretty eye-catching, though I’m used to it. The Purple Cat—better known as Ruby’s to my family—has an eclectic style. The Florida theme is pretty prominent but the brightly colored Spanish tiles on the floor and the marble fountain in the middle of the space give off a European vibe. The bamboo fencing, string lights, and lanterns make it feel like a tiki bar. The place is loud and colorful, relaxed and completely unpretentious—the kind of bar that would look more at home in a kitschy tourist destination, not nestled among some of the most exclusive, high-end dance clubs in Los Angeles.

I fucking love it here.

Another waitress catches my eye from across the room and gives a wave. “I’ll be right over, Riv,” she bellows across the crowd.

Jas gives me a look. “Tell me, River,” she asks drily. “Do the female wait staff at every bar in LA know you by sight?”

I laugh. “The waitresses here are a special case.”

She pretends to puke behind her menu. “If that’s code for you had a threesome or something, I don’t want to hear it.”

That makes me laugh harder. “I’ve never touched a waitress at this bar. I’d like to keep all my limbs attached to my body.”

She gives me a curious look but before she can say anything else, soft hands land on my shoulders. “Look what the cat dragged in.”

I smile up at Ruby. “Took you long enough. I thought you had GPS tracking on all of us the second we walked through the door.”

“Kitchen staff is royally fucking things up,” she says, plopping into the chair beside me. “What else is new.” Then she turns and faces Jasmine, her eyes widening a little in surprise. “Well I’ll be damned—youdidbring a girl here. Brenda said you did, but I didn’t believe her.”

I roll my eyes. “Ruby, this is Jasmine. Jas, meet my grandmother.”

Jasmine’s eyes bug out of her head and I have to stifle a laugh. This isn’t an unusual reaction. Ruby doesn’t exactly scream grandmotherly. In addition to running a bar, she has several tattoos, a nose ring, and wears her pixie-cut hair in an ever-changing array of colors—bubblegum pink tonight. She also can sing like nobody’s business, and regularly joins my dad and uncles on stage when they perform locally.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jas says politely.

“You too, sweetheart.” She leans across the table and lowers her voice. “But what on earth are you doing withhim?”

“Grandma,” I snap, but she pretends I’m not there.

“I love this boy dearly, but you do know he’s a bit of a slut, right?”

“Oh my God,” I mutter, while Jas erupts into a fit of giggles.

“Oh, I know. My uncle owns the bar where River works. I get to see him in action several nights a week.”

I scowl at this—I haven’t been hooking up much at all lately—but Ruby gets a knowing look on her face. “Ahh,” she says softly. “So you’re the reason.”

“The reason what?” Jas asks.

“Grandma,” I say hurriedly, wanting to change the subject before she says what I’m pretty sure she’s thinking—that I’ve been working at Davie’s Pub far longer than anyone expected. “I was just telling Jas about your love for all things Florida kitsch.”