“It’ll be tight,” Eve admitted. “But you don’t have a choice.”
“Well, I could just work by myself like I used to.” Josie propped her elbows on the bar, a faraway look in her eyes.
“You have more customers now. Could you even handle it alone?”
She shrugged, then sighed. “Maybe I should tough it out next week to recoup some of what Lauren took from me.”
“That’s an option, if you think you can manage it.”
Josie stared dejectedly at the wall.
“You need to snap out of this,” Eve told her. “Pick yourself up and get back to work. Tomorrow will be better.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Josie said before turning to Eve with a stricken look on her face. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what…you of all people…”
And it was Eve’s turn to sigh. “Come on. Get up.”
Josie slid off the barstool, running her hands appreciatively over Eve’s dress. “You got so dressed up for me.”
“Yes.” And it was a damn shame they wouldn’t get to go out and have the night they’d planned, but such was life. Money was replaceable, as were employees and liquor. “Tell me what’s going on here.”
Josie’s eyes flooded with tears, and she bit her lip before pressing her face into Eve’s shoulder. “I never wanted this.”
“Never wanted what?”
“This bar,” she whispered.
“Oh.” That wasn’t what she’d expected her to say.
“I hate saying it. I hate even thinking it. I know it sounds awful. You know I’ll do anything to save Swanson’s—Dragonfly—but this isn’t the life I wanted. I just want to rescue kittens and grow my YouTube presence, you know? Think of how many lives I could have saved these last two years if I hadn’t been shackled to this bar.”
“Shackled?” Eve repeated, arms tightening around Josie.
“That’s how it feels sometimes. I’m always here. I never get to leave.” Her voice was dull and monotone. “Every time I start to make progress toward getting my old life back, it gets taken away from me. I just want to have enough staff that I can start rescuing kittens again or take you out for a date on a Friday night. Is that so much to ask?”
“You will,” Eve told her.
“I just…sometimes I hate this place,” Josie whispered. “I hate it, and I wish I had let it go under.”
Eve stared at her for a moment in shocked silence. “Hate is a strong word.”
Josie stepped backward out of Eve’s arms. She took a long look around the bar as her lips twisted into a frown. “Right now, I hate absolutely everything about it. I wish I could walk out that door and never look back.”
“Well, that’s unfortunate considering I just spent the last month helping you save it.” Eve’s rampaging emotions had built to the point where she felt slightly hysterical. For a moment, she’d thought Josie haddied, while Josie was ready to throw in the towel over some lost cash?
Josie gulped, nodding. “I know.”
“You begged me for this.” Eve’s skin flushed hot, and that heavy feeling was back in her stomach. God, why couldn’t she stop shaking? “I told you I didn’t work in bars. You knew how hard it was for me to be here, and you begged and pleaded until I agreed to help, and now you’re telling me it was a mistake?”
Josie opened and closed her mouth, blinking rapidly. “It wasn’t a mistake.”
“No?” Eve heard the ice in her voice. She was being unfair. She knew she was. But something deep inside her felt wounded and raw, and it was a feeling she’d never wanted to experience again. Her fingers clenched defensively.
“She’s my girlfriend.”
Josie’s words echoed in her head, mixed with the static of police radios and the tangy scent of blood.
Lisa hooked her arm through Eve’s. “Mom, Dad, I want you to meet my girlfriend.”
