Sitting on Santa’s lap, hunting for Easter eggs, or blowing out candles on birthday cakes? Yep, none of those things existed.
But she gave him lessons in life. She gave him the drive to be something and someone better than what she had or gave his mother.
“One of these days it should be for more than that, Chance.”
“No one can take care of me like you. Why would I give another woman a shot at it?”
“Now you’re just yanking my chain like you’ve been doing for years. And why are you here? I thought Cooper was opening.”
“He’s sick,” he said. “He called me.”
“You just got out of work a few hours ago,” his grandmother said, her lips thin, her brows together. “So you haven’t gotten much sleep. He’s supposed to call me. I manage the bar and I would have filled in.”
His grandmother took an order before he could and filled it, proving she could handle anything that came her way.
“You’ve got inventory and scheduling to do. Then you man the hostess stand.”
Right now a waitress would run over to deal with it. His grandmother was here before him this morning, but he hadn’t bothered her in her office and just moved to the bar to get ready for the day.
“I can run it all and have been for decades.”
“There is no reason for it now,” he said.
He’d spent years building a savings and trying to get some kind of retirement plan in place for his grandmother.
Buying the bar she’d worked at most of her life and letting her call the shots and slow down hadn’t worked out the way he’d hoped.
“I’m not letting all your hard-earned money go down the drain. The first year of any restaurant is the hardest.”
“And we made it,” he said. “I wouldn’t have without you, but that doesn’t mean you have to work more.”
“I’m not and you know it,” his grandmother said. “It’s different when it’s yours. Right?”
“Yeah.”
There was a pride there he’d never felt in his life.
Something he was bringing to life. Caring for. Nurturing.
His baby in a way.
He had another career. He loved being a fireman. Had been for six years. He hoped to move up to captain next, then assistant chief, but positions didn’t open up often and there were a lot of men ahead of him.
But he took on any other responsibility he could to prove himself.
Even had the family there he didn’t have growing up.
It gave him a glimpse into everything he’d missed out on as a kid with no need to ask. Just watch, listen to their stories, and quietly swallow his envy.
A few of the guys he worked with filled in part time here. Some wanted to invest in the bar with him. He could have used the money to reduce the loan, but decided against it.
It was going to be his and his grandmother’s. Something to call their own they’d never had.
The bar was more than staying afloat and he had money in the bank like he’d never had in his life.
Didn’t mean he slept any better at night.
“I know I don’t tell you this often, Chance. But I’m proud of you. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”
