The corner of Tall and Handsome’s mouth tugged upward slightly as though he was trying to suppress a grin. I was about to comment on that, too, when Chuck returned.
“Fresh latte for you, Birdie, and a fresh americano for you,” they said, handing us each our drinks.
I took a sip and was finally greeted with the sweet richness I had been craving. “Thanks, Chuck. See you next week.” I tossed a dollar in the tip jar and grabbed the rest of my sandwich as I headed out the door. “And good riddance,” I grumbled under my breath as I left Tall and Handsome behind me.
I tossed my empty coffee cup and sandwich wrapper into a trash can as I ducked into Americana, the hole-in-the-wall bar I had worked at since moving to the city. My boss was a jerk,but I made good money waiting tables and occasionally bartending.
I walked through the dim bar and straight to the back office where I knew Chad, my boss, would be doing inventory.
“Knock, knock,” I announced as I gently tapped on the door. “Hey, Chad?”
“What.”
Oh goody, he’s happy.
“Do you mind if I clock in a couple of hours early?”
“Why? You don’t even like being here when you’re scheduled,” he ground out as he made a mark on the list.
“Well, that’s not entirely true.” I gave him my most charming smile. It actually was true, but I wasn’t beyond sucking up and flirting a little to get the extra hours. “I need the extra cash. I have to move and could use the hours.”
Chad grunted. “If you’re going to clock in early, make it worth my money. Go out back and sort through the trash. Pull out the bottles to recycle. The city is cracking down on recycling. I expect they’ll be sending someone out in a few days, and it needs to look like we’ve been doing it all along.”
My smile faltered. “You…want me to dig through the trash?”
“Do you want the extra money?”
I don’t really have any other option, do I?
I entered my PIN into the point-of-sale system behind the bar, grabbed a pair of gloves from the kitchen, and headed out back to start rummaging through the trash bags sitting on the loading dock. As degrading as it felt, it wasn’t as bad as I had expected. And it was kind of peaceful in the alley. I let myself get lost in my thoughts as I worked, my bad mood starting to ebb.
If anything, sorting through the trash was a metaphor for what was ahead of me. When I first moved to thecity, I looked at seventeen apartments before I stumbled upon my studio. Most of them were either too expensive, too run down, or in New Jersey. The thing that really bothered me was the suspicion that they wouldn’t be remodeling the apartments, either. They were almost certainly going to turn the building into some kind of shopping center or slimy bank. I didn’t want to go through the apartment hunt again.
I jolted as I felt a tap on my shoulder. I spun around, swinging with all of my might. My heart slowed as I realized it wasn’t a mugger, just my coworker Jake, who was now rubbing his upper arm where I had laid into him.
“Holy shit, Jake! You scared the life out of me.”
“Sorry, I thought you heard me open the door,” he apologized as he kept rubbing his arm. “You’ve been out here for a while. We’re kind of in the weeds and could use some hands on the floor.”
I glanced at my watch. Sure enough, it was time for the Friday rush. “Damn. Hopefully the bar smell will cover the trash smell.”
Jake sniffed. “You don’t stink that bad.”
I shook my head and walked through the back door as Jake held it open. Thankfully I kept an extra shirt and a bottle of perfume in my locker. I had learned that the hard way one unfortunate St. Patrick’s Day after a patron vomited all over his table and me.
After swapping out my shirt for one with the bar’s logo spread across my chest, redoing my ponytail, tying on my black half-apron, and spritzing myself with a few sprays of perfume for good measure, I waded into the packed bar. I knew some servers hated working weekends, but I loved nights like this. It meant great money, the night went by fast, and I actually enjoyed being around all of the people.
Jake hadn’t been kidding: the bar was buzzing. Therewasn’t a seat available. The bass of the pop song that played throughout the building made the floor vibrate and it pulsated throughout my body.
My feet ached as I ran beer, appetizers, burgers, and the occasional water to my tables. As orders came in left and right, I wasn’t sure there was an end in sight.
The door opened, letting in a welcome cool breeze and five extremely handsome men looking as if they had stepped out of GQ. They were well dressed and, quite frankly, out of place for a bar like Americana. One of them in particular caught my eye.
He was tall, dark, and handsome. While the others were dressed to the nines in preppy high-fashion looks, he wore jeans that fit him in all the right places and a thick red-and-black flannel that accentuated his built chest. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showcasing a sleeve of tattoos that ended just above his right wrist. The wire-rimmed glasses were missing, but his eyes were unmistakably blue. My stomach fell into my ass.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Tall and Handsome was standing in my bar.
I blinked, shaking myself out of my shock to focus.Do your job, Birdie!
