“How did I know she was going to feature in this?”
“I don’t know, dear brother, but you do seem rather attached to her.”
“Finish the story.”
“Anyway, she told me she was going to take it down and redecorate, so I may have told her that it had sentimental value.”I waited for the other shoe to drop.“She might be under the impression that it was mom and dad’s old things.”
“Harry!”
He only responded by laughing.He really was a shit under that unassuming exterior.“I know I shouldn’t have.They would turn in their graves if they knew, but it didn’t hurt anyone, and as much of an eyesore as it is, I liked having one part of the place be mine.”
I could relate, but it still surprised me.“Damn, Harry.You know she’ll kill you if she ever finds out.”
“Aww.Is that concern for her or me?”
“No comment.”But I couldn’t hold out, it seemed.I needed someone to talk about this with.“I know you warned me that she was unrelenting, but I never expected her to get under my skin so badly.I can’t decide if I want to scream or …” I couldn’t finish that sentence.
“Or?”
“Nothing.Anyway, I’m her boss.All the options available to me are inappropriate.”
“Not all of them.You could fire her.”
“I’m not going to fire her.She’s the biggest asset we have.I know a dozen bartenders out west who would kill to have her mixology skills.Whatever little crush I have,” and damn me for using that word, “will just have to be put aside.”
He hummed sympathetically.“You sure do have a strange affinity for putting yourself into difficult situations.”
“Trust me, I know.”I paused.Deciding to change topics to another uncomfortable conversation I needed to have with my brother.“I spoke with Maria Ortega this morning.”
“From middle school?She still works there?”
“She’s the principal now.I, uh …” my sentence stalled.This was ridiculous.Harry wouldn’t be upset.Would he?“I talked to her about the possibility of sponsoring a literacy program.In mom and dad’s names.”
“Sam, that’s …” My heart fell when he stopped.He hated the idea.Damn, I should have asked him first.When he spoke again, he sounded as raw as I felt.“I think that’s a wonderful idea.They would have loved that.”
Suddenly aware that I’d been holding my breath, I breathed deeply, the relief almost palpable.“It’s the least I can do.”
Tiffany hada knack for finding every one of my buttons and charging at them.It was surely the only explanation.Walking out of my office, I found her refilling the cheater bottles.
Placing the menu, newly printed without my knowledge, on the bar before her, I asked, “What is this?”
Sparing a single glance, she continued re-inserting a speed pourer on a bottle of sugar syrup.“A menu.”
Outwardly, my expression doesn’t change.Inside, I was fuming.“And why is this,” I pointed to a new cocktail, one I knew to be a Tiffany original, “listed?”
“Because I made at least a hundred of them last night, and our customers are tired of ordering off menu.”
The altered menu stared up at me from the bar.What she’d said was correct.The receipts from last night proved her point, but that didn’t mean I had wanted to make the change immediately.
“It’s one drink, Sam, not the end of the world.If they stop ordering it, you can take it off the menu again.”
My customers, it seemed, were as stubborn as Tiffany.Yes, they had embraced a smaller and less complicated menu overall, but that didn’t stop them from always petitioning her for something special.
Since I’d taken to working behind the bar, I’d had a front-row seat.
Most tended to avoid the sickly sweet or overly bitter flavors of traditional drinks.They liked the smooth, the smokey, twists on the classics.I shouldn’t have been surprised.Tiffany was talented and passionate.Who wouldn’t want to taste what she had to offer?
But giving Tiffany an inch was a risk.Soon, she’d be taking far more than a mile.And likely taking me with her.
