This time I did laugh. Honestly, I was surprised he was even going. Sure, it was part of his job and a fun perk of his business. But Jonah really could not handle vodka for some reason. Set him up with a bottle of whiskey, and he’d be perfectly fine. Gin was great for him. Tequila? He could sling it back with the best. He’d even eat the worm if it was available. Rum? He was basically a pirate. But just a few vodka drinks could usually put him under the table.
“All right, fine.” I sighed. “Come pick me up.”
We hung up, and I quickly shut down my computer and gathered my things. On the way out, I explained to Case that I was heading out but Will would be back soon. Things had definitely picked up for him, so he was too busy to offer anything other than a mumbled something that let me know he’d heard me.
“Text me your list,” I told him as I walked through the door, remembering I’d promised to make that my priority.
On the main floor, the tables were filling up, and seats around the bar were packed. Ada had her trainee hustling hard as they shared the responsibility of several new tables. Behind the bar, Miles had put Charlie to work pouring beers. I was impressed when he stepped away from the taps to pour a Captain and Coke and actually looked like he knew what he was doing. Not that it was a hard drink. Still, forward progress.
Why had we never thought to do this before?
I stopped by the bar walk-through to talk to him. “Hey!” He didn’t bother to glance at me while he very meticulously rubbed a lime wedge around the edge of the glass and then added a pretty one as a garnish. But I was loud enough that he had to have heard me. “Last minute, I decided to check out a spirits tasting event with Jonah tonight.” There was absolutely no reason to let Charlie know it was an overnight.
“Will’s not back yet,” he said with his attention still on the glass.
“Yeah, but he should be soon. You’re in charge till he gets here.” My phone buzzed in my hand. Jonah had just pulled up.
Charlie finally looked up at me, eyes bugging out of his cute head. He looked paler than usual, but I chalked it up to behind-the-bar nerves. “You’re leavingmein charge?”
“Dude, why not? You own this place with us. Besides, Ada is here, and she does most of the work for all of us.”
He looked over to where Ada was moving between tables, seeming to consider my response. “You’ve gone rogue, Eliza. Will’s gonna lose his shit.”
I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. “He won’t even notice. Seriously, you got this. You’re behind the bar. Everything is under control. And Will and Lola will be back before you know it.”
“What spirits event?”
His pivot caught me off guard, and it took me a second to reply. My phone buzzed in my hand again. “Galliger.”
He made a face. “Gross.”
“They revamped it, I guess. I don’t know. But I have to go. Jonah is waiting. I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t burn this place to the ground while I’m gone.”
Sheer, raw panic flashed across his face. “Why would you speak that over me, Eliza? My God. Are you sick?”
I rolled my eyes for a second time and caught Ada at the other end of the bar. “I’m leaving for the night,” I rushed to tell her, stressed because I was keeping Jonah waiting, and he was probably double-parked out front. “Jonah and I are hitting up this vodka-tasting thing. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
She slid me a knowing look. “Sounds fun.”
“What’s with the look?”
“What look?” She smoothed her expression into innocent, but the implication had been made.
“You know what look.”
She reached for the drinks Miles had just finished making. “No look. I just... you and Jonah have been spending a lot of time together lately. And this just sounds . . . date-ish.”
Third eye roll in the past two minutes. “Oh, my gosh, Ada, stop. It’s not like that. It’sneverlike that...” Except for last weekend, for like a second, but she didn’t need to know that. “I think he’s lonely. Will has Lola now, and he feels left out. I told you that already.”
“So if Lola wasn’t in the picture, you’re telling me he would have asked Will to go to the vodka tasting with him?”
Well, when she put it like that, she made it sound... weird. Why would Will ever go to a vodka tasting alone with Jonah? That wasn’t what their friendship was like. They were more drinking into the wee hours of the morning at our bar after closing while they watched old Adam Sandler movies together. They’d drunkenly solve geopolitical problems and come up with global warming solutions.
Maybe they’d take up some random sport together and go to a basketball league game or a running club event... and then end up back at the bar to drink the night away.
Jonah tagged along to our holiday gatherings and, in return, set aside rare bottles of beer and liquor for Will.
But they never have nor would ever go glamping together.
