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“Sure. Hey, I’m real sorry to hear about your dad. He gonna be okay?” I gazed across the bar at him, my brow furrowed.
Quinn shrugged. “I think so. He needs some time to rest. But you know that’s not his best thing. We had to recruit Liam all the way from California to help out with the store.”
Ahh. That made sense.“Nice of him to come all this way to help y’all out. Listen, give me a shout if you need anything. I can always pick up a few shifts.”
“Thanks, Macy. We appreciate it.” Quinn shot me a slow smile, gratitude etched on his face.
“Here’s the tab.” I peeled the paper off my notepad, tucking it inside the glass with a pen, shoving it towards him. “First round’s on the house, on account of your dad.”
“You didn’t have to do that, Macy.”
“Night, Quinn. Call me if y’all need help. I mean it.” I smiled at him, remembering the generosity of the McCauliffe family. They didn’t think I knew that the bags of groceries left on my doorstep the year after my mom up and left were from them, but I did. That food got me and my sister through some dark times, while I finished up high school and supported the two of us on the money I made at the diner. Least I could do was help out at the store while Pops was recovering.
“Tell the other two knuckleheads I already paid the tab. Night.” He shot a quick wave over his shoulder as he made his way out of the Rowdy.
Ryder and Liam must still be here then.
I filed that thought away, taking orders as fast as I could. Last call was quickly approaching, and people wanted their final drinks of the night. Keeping my head down, I focused on the immediate task, then the one after that. Eventually, the crowd thinned and only a few tabs remained open. I wiped down the bar again, wondering if Steph got abducted by aliens at the pool tables. I supposed I should go check on her.
Sliding out from behind the bar, I made my way back to the pool room, tucking in chairs as I went. May as well get a head start on clean-up. I swung into the darkened room, the lights above the pool tables shiny spotlights beaming down on the green fabric. Steph stood in the back corner, giggling and flipping her hair, acting like she hadn’t a care in the world—or a job to do. And the worst part? She was chatting up Liam. He was alone now, with the exception of Steph, and they looked to be deep in conversation. Guess she didn’t need any alien rescues.
I quickly spun back around and headed the opposite direction, my cheeks flaming. I’d clearly misread the situation; the attraction seemed to be one-sided. At least I hadn’t made a fool of myself. I flicked the lights on the wall—once, then twice—signaling last call. The few remaining stragglers took the hint, tipping their glasses and draining the final drops of their drinks while I walked around collecting empties and wiping down tables.
I shoved down my annoyance at Steph and focused on the closing tasks, visions of my warm, comfy bed dancing through my head. Exhaustion set in as I carried the tray of empty glasses over to the dishwasher and loaded them in. First thing tomorrow I was going to have a chat with Big Ray. It was bad enough I was working two jobs; least he could do was get me another decent bartender to work with.
“Looks like we’re all good here.” Steph’s cheery voice jarred me back to the present.
“No thanks to you,” I said, not bothering to look at her.
“Well good night to you, too, sunshine,” she said, tossing her folded apron behind the bar and heading towards the tip jar. We always split any extra cash at the end of each shift.
I stifled a protest, knowing full well she didn’t deserve any of the money in that jar. But honestly, I didn’t have enough energy to argue with her at the moment.
“You cleared the back room at least, right?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.
“Uh, maybe?” Her voice tipped up, in direct opposition to my mood.
“Forget it. Go home. I’ll close, but you’re up tomorrow.”
“Deal. And I’mthisclose to getting his number, by the way.” Steph held up two fingers only an inch apart. “I almost had it, but then Ryder came in and offered to give him a ride home. Hopefully he’ll be back tomorrow night and I can seal the deal.”
“Yeah, hopefully. Night, Steph.”
She waved at me, then bounced out of the Rowdy, not the least bit guilty about her lack of work tonight. I sighed, then set about finishing the clean-up. Twenty minutes later, I finally untied my apron and folded it into a neat black square, flicking the lights off.
Bracing myself against the cold, I trudged across the street to my apartment building and dragged myself up the stairs. Most of the time I was glad to not be on the ground floor, but right now every step felt like a marathon.
I unlocked the door of my apartment and tiptoed back to my room, doing my best not to wake up my sister, Everly. Hanging my coat on a chair, I shucked the rest of my clothes for my pjs and crawled into bed, too tired to even shower. My last thought as I fell asleep was Liam and his deep blue eyes.
* * *
The next morningdawned way too freaking early for my liking, but at least I didn’t have the first shift at the diner. I took a quick shower, then threw on my diner uniform—a baby blue-and-white shift dress and apron, a throwback to the olden days.Vintage,if one preferred. I wrangled the layers of my blond bob into some semblance of decent-looking waves, dabbed concealer under my eyes, then grabbed my coat and keys and rushed out the door. I was verging on tardiness and knew Milly wouldn’t be happy about that.
I raced down the stairs to my car, an old Honda Civic I just finished paying off. Cranking the key in the ignition, I waited for the sputtering start. Nothing.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
I turned the key again and got the sameclick-click-click.
