“Well, I missed your handsome faces,” she told them affectionately. Dougie and Sal had been coming to Swanson’s every evening for a beer after work since Josie was a little girl, doing her homework in the back room at her dad’s desk while he tended bar. As her list of regulars dwindled, she’d come to depend on their business as well as their company.
“And we missed you,” Dougie told her.
“Glad to hear it,” she said as she slid down the bar to check on the loner a few stools over who’d been drowning his sorrows in whiskey for the last hour. “Another?” she asked.
He nodded.
She poured his drink, and he took it with muttered thanks, his gaze dropping to the glass in front of him. “Bad day?” she asked, offering a sympathetic ear. Bartending 101, her dad had called it.
“Lost my job,” he told her before taking a gulp of whiskey. “Budget cuts.”
“That’s terrible,” Josie said. “I’m so sorry to hear it. Next one’s on me, and after that, you need to slow down, okay? Drink some water.”
“Yeah, yeah, thanks.” He drained his glass, eyeing Josie. “What time do you get off?”
“I don’t,” she told him with a smile, taking that as her cue to move down the bar to where her best friends Kaia and Adam sat in their usual seats, deep in conversation. “More beer?”
“Yes, please,” Kaia nudged her empty glass in Josie’s direction. “Did that guy just ask you out?”
“He sure did.” Josie took both of their empty glasses, bending to load them into the dishwasher below the counter.
“Wish he’d ask me out,” Adam commented, glancing down the bar. “He’s hot, in a nine-to-five kind of way.”
“I don’t think you have a shot with him,” Josie told him, “but didn’t you have a date last night anyway?” She grabbed two clean glasses and began to fill them from the tap.
“I did, but…” Adam made a face.
“That bad, huh?” Kaia asked, smoothing back a black curl that had escaped the knot on top of her head. Her brown skin was flawlessly smooth, a byproduct of her current job selling all-natural cosmetics at a little shop in Chelsea Market.
The three of them had been friends for years, and consequently, Kaia and Adam were regulars at Swanson’s, showing up almost as frequently as Dougie and Sal.
“Not terrible, just…blah,” Adam told Kaia.
“Blah could define every recent date of mine,” Josie said as she set fresh beers on the bar in front of her friends. “I’m not sure I even remember what sparks feel like at this point.”
“I’ve had plenty of sparks,” Kaia said, taking a thoughtful sip of her pilsner. “But my relationships all seem to go up in flames.”
The front door opened, and Josie glanced up to see a brunette wearing a gray pencil skirt and a white blouse step into the bar. She carried a large blue bag, held delicately in front of her as if it might contain a litter of tiny kittens. This had to be Eve. Except… “Oh my God.”
Kaia followed her gaze, sitting up straighter on her barstool. “No kidding. Nowsheis hot. I bet she could give you sparks, Josie.”
“Do you know who that is?” Josie asked, eyes still locked on the brunette in the doorway.
“Should we?” Adam swiveled on his barstool to stare at Eve.
“Do you have a hot date you didn’t tell us about?” Kaia asked, raising her eyebrows.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Josie told her. “I’m working. No, she found a litter of kittens in a trash can, and she’s brought them here for my help, but she only gave me her first name over the phone. That’s Eve Marlow. You know, fromDo Over? That business makeover show on theLife & Leisurechannel?”
“I don’t watch any of those shows,” Kaia said. “But if that gorgeous woman is here to see you, don’t keep her waiting, television star or not.”
Josie ducked out from behind the bar. “So which one of you wants to watch the bar for me for a few minutes while I have a look at these kittens?”
“I’ll do it.” Adam slid off his stool and came around behind the bar, leaning in to stage-whisper, “This gives me an excuse to go introduce myself to the hottie over there.” He nodded toward the businessman staring gloomily into his empty whiskey glass.
“The hottie who hit onme?” Josie asked playfully.
“He might be bi,” Adam said with a shrug. “And it’s not like you’re interested in him.”
