“I can’t just make a night off. We’re open seven days a week. Someone has to bartend—”
“So we hire someone.”
Ilooked up at him. “What?”
“Not just for your dating life. We need to hire another bartender anyway.” Mark said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Finn, we just established we’re profitable. At the very least, we’re off to a great start. We can afford to hire another bartender, and if we don’t, neither of us is ever going to have a night off.”
“We’ve only been open a week—”
“A great week. Averysuccessful week.” Mark leaned against the bar. “Look, I love what we’re building, but I don’t want this to be our entire lives. You deserve a night off. Hell, so do I. You deserve to go on a date with the guy who’s thinking abouttostonesat 10 p.m. on a Thursday.”
“What if we hire someone and it doesn’t work out? What if business slows down and we can’t afford the extra payroll?”
“Then we adjust.” Mark gestured around the bar. “You’ve worked every single day since we dreamed up this place. You’re exhausted. Jacks is great, but he can’t bartend. Rod can’t leave the kitchen. I can only cover so much before I look as worn out as you. We need another person behind this bar.”
“I don’t—”
“Your eye bags have bags of their own, man-child.”
I sputtered, unsure whether to object about hiringa new bartender or be offended he’d just insulted my eyes. Or their bags. Or their bags’ bags.
But he wasn’t wrong.
I’d been so focused on surviving our opening and first week that I hadn’t thought past it. I hadn’t considered what sustainability looked like or let myself imagine a future that included having a life outside of Barbacks.
But Chase was asking me out.
And I wanted to say yes.
My phone chimed again.
Chase: No pressure. I know you’re busy, but if you ever have a night off and want to grab coffee or dinner or just . . . maybe let me serve you food instead of the other way around?
Something in my chest squeezed. He wanted to cook for me?
“He’s sweet,” Mark said, reading over my shoulder again but this time without the teasing. “He’sreallysweet, Finn.”
“I know.”
“So what are you going to tell him?”
I looked at the text, looked at Mark. Then looked around the bar that we’d built from nothing in lessthan a month.
We’d done the impossible. We’d made it work. Maybe it was time to trust that we could keep making it work, even if that meant letting go of control just a little.
“I’m going to tell him I need to hire someone first,” I said. “But then I’d like to take him up on that coffee.”
Mark’s grin was blinding. “Now we’re talking. I’ll call Maya in the morning and have her post a job listing. We can do interviews this weekend.”
“This weekend is going to be insane. Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday watch party—”
“Which is why we need help.” Mark stood and grabbed our empty beer bottles. “Trust me on this. We can handle bringing someone else in. You deserve that night off.”
“When did you become the reasonable one?”
“Someone has to be, and you’re too busy having a crisis to do it yourself.”
I looked down at my phone.
