Jordan and I had worked together when I’d first started bartending, and even though he was a good decade older than me, we’d hit it off.He opened his first bar a year later, and I was happy to take the offer to work for him.He taught me a lot in those years and was one of my biggest supporters when I opened my own place.
It rang a few times before he picked up, but I could hear the distant sounds of conversation in the background, so I knew I hadn’t woken him.
“Buddy!”
“Hi, Jordan.Not interrupting, am I?”
“Wouldn’t matter if you were.How are you?I heard about Piper.”
“Good news travels fast.”
“Need me to send you the name of a good lawyer?I’ve got a few that specialize in contract law.”
“No, thank you.I appreciate the offer, but I’d rather not drag this out any longer than it has been.I’d like to focus on what comes next.”
“Yeah, understood.Well, offer’s there if you need it.Still, can’t believe she pulled that.It’s not right.”
Would there be a time when I wasn’t doomed to have this conversation with every person in my life?
“Few things in business are.Anyway, it’s done now, and it’s a lesson I won’t soon forget.”Not to mention a memory best left in the past.“How about you?What are you working on right now?”Jordan was always working on something.
“Funny you should ask.I’m in Brooklyn right now, looking at a new project.I can’t share much yet, but I think you’ll like it.If you weren’t running your own place there, I would have asked you to join me.Would be like the good old days.”
“You’ll have to drop by here sometime and tell me about it.”
“You know I will.”There’s a break.“Are you looking after yourself?”
“I’m fine.”
“Not what I asked.Is the shoulder still giving you issues?”
I rolled it on instinct.The ache never went away, but the movement helped.“Nothing worse than usual.Though, I might need to get back to a physio soon.I forgot how much work it was behind the bar.I’m growing soft in my old age.”
“Careful who you’re calling old.”
“I’d never insult you like that.Besides, you pull it off better than I do.”
“Just don’t push yourself too hard.I know how stubborn you can be.”
“Who, me?”We shared a laugh.
“I’d like to meet the person more stubborn than you, buddy.”
I couldn’t help it; I barked out a laugh, surprising both of us.“Well, then, you’d have a field day with my head bartender.”
“Handful?”
“And then some.”
Something about my tone must have conveyed more than I meant it to because he made a suggestive sound, and I rushed to cut him off before he could insinuate anything.“Not like that.I’m not about to mix business and pleasure.”
“Says the man who dated his business partner for four years.”
“It’s a new rule.I don’t plan on making the same mistake twice.”
“But you’ve thought about it.”
And that was the problem, really.I had thought about it.I needed to stop thinking about it.
“Goodnight, Jordan.Make sure you drop by when you’re in town.”
“Like I’d miss up the opportunity to support you.Good luck, Sam.I’ve heard the crowd over there is a bit of a tough club to get into.”
