Cali: Please tell me you’re going out with us tonight.
Mitch: Don’t you work tonight?
Cali: I got a new job. So are you or not?
Mitch: Yeah, Cali, don’t worry. I will be there to buffer you from Walker and keep the peace between Randy and Mags.
Cali: You’re the best Mitchell Rebel Katz.
Mitch: Yeah I know. I get off shift in a few hours. I’ll talk to you then.
Mitch was the glue that kept our group together and sane. Walker and Randy were both in the Army and Mitch usually kept Mags and I company while they were gone for training and other military crap I knew nothing about. Their first deployment was inevitable, we just had no idea when it was actually going to happen. It was one of the reasons Mags and Randy had decided to get married right after she graduated from college.
* * *
In my bootsand cutoff jeans, I pulled open the heavy wooden door of The Saloon. Whiskey and cigarette smoke burned my nostrils as I weaved around the packed bar trying to find everyone. All of a sudden, I was scooped up from behind by my waist, feet dangling in the air and the sound of Mitch’s voice trying to yell over the music, “Mags! Found her! I found Cali!”
I playfully struggled in his arms, whipping around to throw my arms around one of my best friends in the world. Mags, Randy, and Walker weren’t too far behind and right as Walker put a drink in my hand, Mags’ and my favorite line dancing song came on. We handed our beers off to the guys and darted to the middle of the wooden floor to boot stomp to Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne.
By the end of the fast-paced song, we were sweating and panting as we giggled off the dance floor.
As he handed me back my beer, Randy shouted, “Thanks for everything, Cal. Mags told me you made her see clearly again.”
I shoved his shoulder. “Don’t mention it. Besides, who can ever deny making sure true love finds a way?”
He laughed at me and hugged me around my shoulders. It was palpable what a good guy Randy was and how much he cared about everyone. It was also so freaking shocking that he and Walker were as good of friends as they were.
Walker was a two-timing, womanizing bag of dicks that had no respect for anyone except himself, and I felt like I was the only one that saw through the fakeness of his coy smile and good looks.
“So how does it feel to be out of the bar business for good?” Mags beamed at me as Randy wrapped his hands around her middle.
I took a long swig. “Fucking fantastic!”
“Can you believe we’re all growing up?” Walker chimed in, handing each of us a shot.
I smelled the straight Jameson, shivers immediately radiating down my spine. “Whiskey? Really?”
Walker winked and held his shot glass in the air to make a toast. “To Cali and her new job, and to us, the five best friends!”
Cringing, I let the warm amber flow down my throat. After a cough and a terrible burning sensation, my belly got warm and I was ready to keep the night going.
“So how did everyone take it when you quit?” Mags and I grabbed seats at a table next to a pool table to let the guys play a round of cutthroat.
“Not well. Vero is going to be the only full-time bartender since I’m not there anymore, and they are going to have to move someone from the floor to behind the bar. Carlos was pissed about the short notice but he knew for a while that there was a good chance I was going to get this new job and was going to have to quit like this. He should have been better prepared.”
Mags downed the rest of her beer and pulled her hair into a low ponytail. “They’ll get over it, just like when I left last month to take the job at the hospital. Turnover is so high in the bar business.”
Restaurant work was all either of us had ever done. It was weird to think that we were both on the brink of starting different careers, wearing business attire and pumps to work instead of sneakers and low cut tops to help get better tips. I would have been lying to myself if I said I wasn’t going to miss the fast-paced lifestyle and easy money, but it was time to grow up and move on.
The guys’ game ended right as a twostep came on and Mitch grabbed my hand. “Cali, would you do me the honor?” He grinned down at me.
“Why, of course.” I followed him, Mags, and Randy out onto the floor.
When it came to twostepping, I was lucky if I had two left feet. Mitch laughed at me as I stumbled and fumbled around the dance floor, trying to follow his lead and not step on his boots too many times.
“You know it’s not that hard right?” Walker’s drawl slid into my ear as he chuckled and passed by twirling a long-legged prospect with bouncing blonde curls.
