But that contradicted his horrible comments all those months ago. He didn’t refute them or acknowledge how he hurt me. And for that, his insult made me feel small again. Like wanting to be a writer wasdumb.I needed to cook. Yup. Stress cooking was the best remedy, and with that, I forced myself to follow a recipe and not think about my co-worker.
Last night’s chaos was a complete one-eighty to the slow, almost boring Tuesday night shift. No big games that benefitted central Illinois were on, and it was bitching hot outside. Even with the air on full blast, the humidity was awful. Cal found a fan inCharlie’s office and plugged it in to get airflow moving, but it didn’t work that well.
Hell, I preferred the busy to this. Six customers at the bar, two in the room. Cal leaned on the wall, his face unreadable. We worked in a comfortable agreement to not talk. It was great for the first four hours, and now there was only three more to go.
I promised myself I’d bring my laptop with me every shift, just in case it was boring like the present. I didn’t care for anything on the TVs, and I’d already done everything I could to keep the bar clean. The bathrooms were the nicest they’d ever been.
I twirled my pen around my finger three times before someone tapped on the bar. Ty Penlow stood there, grinning ear to ear in his hipster glasses. Ty, or Penny, played on the team with my brother, and I’d hung out with him a few times here and there. But there was no reason for that big of a smile. “What?”
“Van said you were working here.”
“So is Cal.”
“Cal Holt?” He raised his brows. “No fucking way.”
“See for yourself.” I motioned toward the wall where Cal had been all night, and sure enough, Ty spun around and let out a holler.
“Dude, no fucking way! You’re the bouncer now?”
“For a bit.”
Ty did the bro handshake thing. Cal looked so uncomfortable it almost made me feel bad for him.
“Why? Not that this isn’t awesome.” Ty winked at me before looking back at Cal.
“My uncle owns it and had to leave town for a few weeks. I offered to help keep it open.”
“Ya need any extra hands?”
“Yes!” I shouted, already knowing Cal would say no. “Ty, we do.”
His eyes sparkled for a beat before he hit Cal’s shoulder. “You shoulda said something, man. Ten guys would be here in a second if you asked.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I doubt that.”
“They want to support their captain. You can continue the grumpy thing, but we’ve seen you open up more now, Holt.” He turned. “Elle, what kind of help are we talking about?” Ty approached the bar again and clapped his hands. “I’m a great listener. I could bartend.”
“Because there’s no paperwork, bussing and cleaning the floor would be safer.” I pulled out a napkin and wrote down times for Thursday through Saturday. “We’d pay you in cash?”
“Thursday the Bulls play again,” Cal said.
“I know. It was insane last night. Fun, but insane. We need all the people we can get,” I said.
“I’ll be here. Care if I bring some of the other guys?” Ty asked, his question meant for Cal.
Cal stared at me, his eyes narrowing like he was annoyed. Tough titties. We needed more people for the weekend rush, so I narrowed my eyes right back and stuck out my tongue. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but I immediately felt silly until Cal’s lip curved up.
“Sure.”
“Hells yeah. Now, Elle, your brother shared that you’re majoring in creative writing. I, a handsome scholar, am also majoring in the great choice to guarantee self-doubt for the rest of our lives.”
I laughed, appreciating his genuine humor. “That is true. I think about quitting four times an hour.”
“Four? Oh, that’s sweet. I’m averaging ten.”
We both snickered, and I purposefully avoided Cal. The wound was raw about my major, especially after I’d unloaded allmy feelings on him. I cleared my throat and refocused on Ty. “So, no Fortune 500 companies lined up for you?”
“No, but I do run a writing group and host a bunch of online writing prompts. You want in?”
