Page 161 of Manhattan Bossholes

“In the flesh!” I said as Tony came around the bar and swept me into a warm hug. I was surprised at the surge of emotion it brought. Hugging Tony was like stepping back in time into a world where Aiden and I were still together, and my biggest worries were passing my exams and convincing my parents to let me push back my curfew.

That was a world where my dad was still alive, back when I was too naive to truly understand what it was to lose someone or have my heart broken.

“It’s good to see you,” Tony said, stepping back to take me in. He still looked the same. Older of course, with deeper laugh lines and creases by his eyes and streaks of grey in his black hair—Aiden had gotten his fair coloring from his mom. But his smile was the same, and so were the glasses he used for reading perched on the end of his nose.

He’d abandoned a set of instructions on the bar top when he’d come around to hug me. Aiden picked them up. “These for the new light fixtures?”

“I keep telling him we don’t need the instructions,” a woman said, stepping out of a back room I assumed led to either a kitchen or a stock room. “Do you know how hard it is to hang a light fixture?”

Aiden arched his eyebrow. “No?”

“It’s not,” she said, deadpan. “There’s literally nothing simpler. But Einstein over here wants to read all the fine print before changing out some wires.”

Tony huffed. “I don’t need anyone getting electrocuted before the bar is even open.”

“Do I look like an amateur to you?” The woman stepped toward me, shoving her safety glasses up and back into the pile of grey curls pinned to the top of her head. “Hi, I’m Maggie. You must be Cora. Heard a lot about you from Aiden.”

“Have you?” I said, turning in his direction. Aiden was conveniently hidden behind Tony’s page of instructions.

“So, are we going to do this?” he asked, and Maggie and I exchanged a smirk before deciding to let him get away with changing the subject.

“About the only thing Tony has done right is order the light fixtures I told him to,” Maggie muttered to me, a smug grin on her face. “His choice looked like something off a whale’s⁠—”

“No, they didn’t!” Tony cut in. “And I told you. The only reason I went with these,” he gestured to the boxes in the middle of the bar, “was because my first choice had a supply chain issue.”

“Whatever you say,” Maggie said. “I know I’m right, and that’s all that matters.”

“This sounds just like me having superior road trip snacks,” Aiden said. “When you’re right, you’re right.”

“Oh, don’t start with that again,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Says the girl who ate half the box of donuts,” Aiden pointed out.

“It was a long drive. What did you want me to do? Starve?”

He handed the instructions back to Tony. “I’m just saying. Mini donuts will always trump pretzels.”

Maggie smirked, nudging Tony, but I didn’t have a chance to parse what that might mean before the door thumped open, and a man I didn’t recognize walked in. He was tall, with dark hair and a bit of a beard.

“Oh, thank God,” Maggie said. “I’m finally getting some real help around here. Miracles do happen.”

“Going for the unshaven look now?” Aiden asked before clapping the man on the back.

The man pulled away and rubbed at his beard. “I’ve been running between work and Nana Dee so often that I forget what day it is, never mind that I should shave.”

“Don’t,” Maggie told him. “Looks good on you. Distinguished. Ladies love a beard.”

Tony rubbed his own hairless chin, lips pursed.

Aiden gestured in my direction. “Trent, this is Cora. Cora, this is one of my college buddies I was telling you about.”

“You got the college run down, did you?” Trent said. “This guy try to tell you the cosmetics company was all his idea?”

I laughed. “Is that what he normally does?”

“Hey, knock it off,” Aiden said. “I gave you…two percent of the credit in the story.”

“More than usual,” Trent teased. He held up a metal box. “Anyway, I’ve come bearing the tools of the trade.”