We worked mostly in silence for the next little while. I let him serve every second customer. He didn’t protest when I insisted on serving the others. The reason we’d never had particularly good service chemistry was that we both always tried to lead, but tonight, it was surprisingly seamless.
‘How’s wedding planning going?’ I asked Sadie as she came up to pay, watching Isamu out of the corner of my eye as he talked Chess through my cocktail page.
‘Fine.’ Sadie tapped her card against the reader. ‘Although I never would have guessed it would be so muchwork. Our first wedding took about three hours to plan, tops. This wedding feels like it’s taking three hours a day.’
I handed her the receipt. ‘How many of those are devoted to Rosie and Georgia’s demands?’
Sadie grinned. ‘At least two and a half. Are you coming, Chessie?’
‘I’ll stay for another drink,’ Chess replied. ‘I’ve got some work emails to answer. Can I get a negroni, please?’
‘Let me make that,’ I told Isamu, as the sisters hugged and Sadie left.
‘I’ve got it,’ he replied, taking down bottles of gin, vermouth and Campari.
‘Yes, but—’
I was interrupted by my phone buzzing in my pocket, tearing my attention away from Isamu grotesquely over-stirring Chess’s drink. It was astonishing that I ever let him behind the bar at all, if he was going to dilute my beautifully crafted cocktails like—
Every single thought left my head when I saw the name on the screen. ‘Fiona?’
‘Satoshi.’ There was something breathy and desperate in her voice on the other end of the phone. ‘I need you.’
I abandoned the bar and strode towards my office. ‘What’s wrong?’ I kicked the door closed behind me. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m fine, don’t worry!’ She laughed. ‘Sorry –needis too strong a word. But I’m in a bit of situation, and you are uniquely positioned to help me look like a huge fucking hero.’
I pressed the heel of my hand to my chest, willing my heart to stop racing. Those whispered words –I need you– had sent me into two different kinds of cardiac arrest. ‘Of course. What do you need?’
‘I’m at Lex’s graduation barbecue,’ Fiona said, ‘and they’ve run out of booze.’
Her voice dropped. ‘All the other parents think I’m useless. Ever since Matt, they treat me like a joke. I turned up with seventy-two cupcakes tonight, and they acted like I was a dog dropping a tennis ball at their feet. But if I can save them from the horrors of their own poor planning…’
I was already moving. ‘Easy. What do you need? Wine? Beer?’
‘Both. The cheapest you have. I’ll pay for it, obviously, but I can’t quite extend to serving sixty parents Dom Perignon, you know? Plus, they’re already buzzed, they won’t appreciate the good shit.’
‘Everything I stock is—’
‘—the good shit, I know.’ There was a laugh in her voice, that champagne laugh, and my chest hummed. ‘But I believe in you, Satoshi. Bring me the very worst of your good shit.’
She paused. ‘Or, you know, send Charlotte or whoever. You have a business to run, and—’
‘Fiona,’ I said. ‘Drop me a pin of where you are. I’ll be there soon.’
She paused again. ‘Thank you,’ was all she said, but it turned my blood to mulled wine. It had been almost two weeks since I’d seen her, and I’d beenachingfor her.
My imagination automatically kicked into gear, but I forced all the delicious pictures it was conjuring away and headed back out onto the bar floor. ‘Isamu, I have to run out for a bit. Do you mind covering?’
‘Nowyou want cover?’ At some point while I’d been in my office, my brother had morphed back into his usual taciturn self. ‘I told you, Sato, I’ve got a meeting in half an hour.’
My mind, which was full of the breathy gasps Fiona made when I touched her, stuttered to a halt. ‘Wait, really?’
‘Yes. And I can’t miss it.’
I couldn’t – wouldn’t – leave my bar without a somm on the floor. That wasn’t something I was physically or mentally capable of doing.
But I had to go to Fiona. Ihadto. How could I let her sayI need youand not be there?
