“He’s pissed that Larry wouldn’t sell to him and made a crack that he’d sold it to Claudia instead because she—” I grabbed my beer and chugged half the glass because I couldn’t find it in myself to repeat something so fucking vile.
“He was always bad news. I knew it even before his wife ran out of town with their kids after they divorced. You had already moved away at the time.”
“Ran out of town?”
He nodded. “His ex-wife was the niece of a friend of mine. After it was final, he said she wanted to get as far away from Artie as possible. That’s all he told me, but I always thought there was more to it. That she was running from him more than just not wanting to live in the same town anymore.”
“Like he was hurting her?”
“Maybe. My friend never went into it, and I didn’t press. But to me, he’s the type. He never had much respect for anyone in general, but to go after a woman like that in public? Maybe I’m old-school, but it’s telling in a very bad way. And while I couldn’t hear what he said, I didn’t like the look on his face.”
“Agreed,” I said, raking my hand through my hair. “It’s not the first time he’s gone after her like that in front of a crowd. I think it’s because he wanted the bar, but she also put him in his place in front of his friends one night. Larry selling the bar to her and not him just made it worse.”
Dad nodded, the same concern creasing his forehead that was going to cost me some sleep.
“Well, keep an eye on her.”
I nodded as my gaze traveled back to the bar. Claudia blew me a quick kiss when her gaze met mine. I tried to smile back as I wondered how I could convince Keith to send a rotation of cops in here every night around closing time.
He’d tell me the same thing—just keep an eye on it. But until I got rid of this bad feeling I couldn’t shake, there would be no way to think about anything else.
25
CLAUDIA
After beinga bar owner for a month, it already felt like a routine. The weeknight crowd had dissipated quickly. The extra customers who’d packed in during those first weeks to get a good look at the new owner lost interest when their curiosity was satisfied, I supposed. Once they cleared out around early October, I enjoyed getting to know the regulars who were here for more than fodder for gossip.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a staff meeting before,” Cece quipped as she settled onto a stool.
“That doesn’t surprise me. Larry probably just assumed you all knew how to pour and make change and left it at that,” I said, waving at Brandon as he held the door open for Abby.
Abby had been here a long time too, although not as long as Cece. She was a cute little thing, kept mostly to herself and went to college when she wasn’t on shift. We had extra help on the weekends from a couple of part-time bartenders, but if I wanted to plan anything here, these three were the core staff.
I’d have to look at the books over the next few weeks to see if I could add anyone. Jude had gotten into my head about hiring muscle in case Artie or anyone else got out of hand. Larry was a big man and had probably taken on that job himself when he’d been here and had been able to manage with a small staff.
My cousins had forced enough martial arts on me growing up to be able to defend myself, but an extra body big enough to make anyone looking for trouble think twice wasn’t the worst idea.
“Now that we’re all here, I promise I won’t take long, and I won’t have meetings all the time. Long, boring meetings aren’t something I want to jump back into, but I was wondering what you guys thought of theme nights?”
“Theme nights?” Cece asked. “Like, what we’d serve?”
“No. Well, maybe. I was thinking more like maybe a trivia night or game night. Maybe we could have a costume party here for Halloween or a Christmastime afternoon party.” I studied their faces. Abby was unreadable as usual, but Cece and Brandon looked pleasantly surprised.
“We have the word of mouth, even when I changed the bar name since we’re the only bar within town limits, but maybe weeknights don’t have to be so quiet. Make this place somewhere peoplewantto come to rather than their only option, which is why I used to come here when I’d visit.”
Brandon chuckled. “I’d be up for that. Maybe we could even participate in the winter festival this year.”
“Larry would write a check, but he never wanted to work at a booth,” Cece explained. “He said people would come back here anyway, and we’d have drink specials that night, but he was never interested in participating in the actual festival.”
“Well, I can see his point since I was here for that and the place was pretty packed. But doesn’t hurt to socialize a little, right? I bet we could look up a good holiday cocktail to sell at a booth. I’d have to check on outdoor alcohol laws, but I have an in with the local police department.”
I winked and managed a smile from Abby when I met her gaze.
“I don’t have anything specific planned yet, but I’d love your ideas since I’m still the new kid in town.”
“I’m in for any of that,” Cece said, pushing off the stool to head to the back of the counter next to where I stood. “Larry was a good guy, but he mainly focused on making sure people drank and paid.”
I laughed as she tied her apron.
