Page 53 of Another Last Call
“I wasn’t counting on having to hirethreepeople,” I said. “Tammy is perfect, but she’s only one person. It’s not like I’m getting a ton of resumes, Mom. It’s a small town.”
She was silent for a moment. “Hon, I… I’ve never gotten to do anything like this before.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Because I’m the reason you never—”
“Oh, don’t you fucking dare,” she snapped. “That wasnotmeant to guilt you for existing. I love you more than anything in the world, and you damn well know that.”
I swallowed back another set of tears. “Okay.”
“If you needed me to come back, I’d fly there tomorrow,” she said. “I’d tell Steven to sell my bike and get on a plane and be there. And if I believed for one second that you couldn’t handle this, I would do that. But you need to make your own way in the world too, hon. And everyone I’ve talked to says The Sea Glass is doing better than ever under you and Caleb.”
I closed my eyes briefly. “I just miss you.”
“I miss you too, hon. Just let me have a couple more months, okay?”
We hung up a few minutes later and I locked the office door so I could finally let the tears out.
It was the first warm week of the year and had started giving us a taste of the chaos we were in for. Not that it was anything new to me, not after having practically grown up in the bar, but it sure was different when my mom wasn’t handling everything.
I was at the bar constantly. Even on Tuesdays when we were closed, I was in the office making orders, posting schedules, and doing accounting. I was sure Caleb suspected how much time I was putting in, but I refused to ask him for more than I already had.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t dedicated. He was, and I knew he was. The whole situation with Hannah had just been more proof of that. I’d never admit it to him, but I did look back at the tapes after we’d left that night.
Not that I didn’t trust him, but… I mean, I was a server. Being hit on and harassed by customers was a regular part of my life. I owed it to Hannah and to myself and to every other girl who no one believed to make sure that what Caleb said was the case actually was.
And it was. Because Caleb was a good person. And it made me even angrier to see what Hannah had done to him. He was working as our main bartender, not to mention picking up the occasional shift in the kitchen with Big Tim so he could fill in when help was needed. On top of that, I knew he was still working on his cabin, so I was trying to give him a bit more time to do that at the cost of my own days off.
And it was only about to get worse.
After my cry in the office, I dried my tears, wiped my face, and unlocked the door. Just a few minutes later, Caleb walked in to start his shift, a grin on his face.
“Busy out there,” he said, as if that was a good thing.
I mean, it was. But I was moping.
I broke the news about my mom and Tiny Steve in a dull, monotone voice, then let him know that I wanted to hire Tammy and would he be okay with that or did he want to meet with her before offering the job. He shook his head and said he trusted me, frowned as he asked if I was okay, then lifted his hands defensively as I snapped that Iwasand excuse me, I had to get to work.
We didn’t get a chance to talk again that shift. The bar stayed busy all night and was almost at capacity when a group of women in their mid-twenties walked in.
They were definitely tourists. One of the girls was wearing a bushy tulle veil and tiara with a bright pink sash over a white mini-dress. She was white and had long, red hair and a toothy smile. On her chest was a large novelty button proudly proclaiming, “Buy me a shot, I’m tying the knot!” The women with her had matching pink sashes over equally short dresses and skirts. “Maid-of-Honour” was a short, curvy woman with russet brown skin, stomping around in heels that would have made me break my ankle. “Bridesmaid,” “Bridesmaid,” and “Bridesmaid” were wearing identical navy blue dresses. And the rest—”Cousin,” “Sister,” and a few that said “Friend”—were made up, covered in glitter, and giggling constantly.
“Let me guess,” I said as I walked up with a slightly-stressed-but-hopefully-welcoming smile. “You’re celebrating a birthday.”
The girls hooted.
“Any room for us?” asked Maid-of-Honour. “We saw your ad at a place on Main Street and thought we’d escape the rental for a few hours to party!”
“There’s just room at the bar right now,” I said apologetically. “But you’re welcome there, as long as you don’t mind.”
I didn’t need to be apologetic about it. Bridesmaid One, a pretty girl who was Asian and had long, dark hair and bright red lipstick, saw Caleb standing behind the bar and her eyes lit up. “We don’t mind!”
It was amusing at first. Caleb seemed to be caught off guard as the group descended upon his bar, but they weren’t overly obnoxious. They were fun and chatted with the locals at the tables around the bar just as easily as they chatted with each other.
And with Caleb.
