I laugh. “I didn’t bring you here to do my dry cleaning. We need some fresh cocktails that people won’t be able to find anywhere else. And during your interview, you concocted me some of the best drinks I’ve ever had. So go for it. See what you can come up with.”
Harper looks between Jaylen and I, and then with the excitement of a child with a Toys-R-Us gift card, she hurries behind the counter.
“You actually interviewed her?” Jaylen asks, as we watch Harper gather ingredients.
“More or less,” I answer with a smirk. “We had a lot of time to kill during that storm. And a lot of booze on hand too.”
“Hmm,” he says nonchalantly, but my attention is still on her. I watch as Harper pours ingredients into a shaker. She seems to know things intuitively instead of by measurement. The way she pauses and taps her finger on her lip while deciding, then grabs another bottle and pours again. The way she garnishes the glass, looks at the drink from eye level, and criticizes her own work has the attention of the entire bar.
Bartenders, servers, new shift managers, everybody all stop and watch Harper whip up three very different, gorgeous drinks. At the end, she talks about them, using learned bar-speak. One by one, people taste the drinks she made. Everyone is impressed, including Jaylen and me. Especially me.
“Damn, sis, for Little Miss Prudent, you sure got good at this,” he says, with a grin.
“I’ll take that as the compliment I believe you meant it as, Jay,” she says, and he laughs.
“You kids have fun,” Jaylen says, as the chefs bring out more plates of food. “I need to sample some of that caviar.”
Harper turns and hands me a drink then grabs one for herself. “I think we need a toast,” she says.
“Oh, yeah?” I ask. I don’t know what it is, but it makes me feel warm and heavy, in the most delicious way. Maybe it’s just this place. These types of places have a unique atmosphere about them. Maybe it’s the chemistry between me and Harper, the naked eye can ’t see it, but it is unmistakably present. Or maybe it’s the fact that we are sipping on absinthe in the middle of the day.
“Yeah,” she says. “This place is amazing, Ash.”
“You’re amazing,” I say, and she blushes with a smile. Then her eyes dart to Jaylen who, lucky for me, wasn’t payingattention. He’s too busy flirting with a waitress and eating ahi nachos.
“I feel bad,” she says.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because he should know,” she whispers.
I bite my lip, thinking about that. He should. I know it as well as she does. He’s her brother, and in many ways, the most important person in her life. Despite the age gap, they are very tight and always have been. Considering the way their parents were, they had to be. Of course, he’s my best friend, and in many ways, he’smybrother.
“I agree,” I say quietly. “Keeping it from him isn’t right.”
“So, how do we tell him?” she asks. Both of us watch Jaylen as he throws his head back laughing at something one of the chefs says. Harper takes a sip of her drink and swallows hard.
“Let’s think about it,” I tell her. “We don’t want it to be a knee jerk reaction.”
“No, but we also don’t want him to find out on his own. Or worse, from someone else,” she says.
“Right. But for now? We toast,” I tell her, pulling her attention back to me. “To new endeavors,” I say, and she smiles.
“To new endeavors.”
Chapter 31
Harper
“What happened?” Darlene springs the question on me the second we sit down in the pedicure chairs at Posh Nails and Spa. When I told Asher that Darlene was insistent we have a girl day, complete with brunch and mani and pedis, he insisted I go. He even gave me the money to do it. I tried to object. I make enough working for him to pay for things like this now, but he still insisted he treat me.
“What are you talking about?” I ask, situating myself in the chair and reaching for my complimentary mimosa. I take a sip and note that the champagne tastes cheap. Oh well, at least it’s free.
“Don’t play dumb. You have second base written all over your face. I think it’s second base, or did you go to third?” she leans in but barely lowers her voice. “Oh my God, did you let him finger you?!”
I cut my eyes at her, pointing at the girls doing our pedis with a jerk of my head.
“What? They’re not paying attention,” she says, but the two girls just look up at us, then at each other, and shake their heads before going back to work.
