Page 339 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

He shakes his head fast. “Don’t do this. Please, don’t make a scene. Not right now. Let it go.” He scans down the line of the bar, then steps closer. “Listen, I ain’t leavin’. Lemme do this, and we’ll leave when the job’s done. S’pose to be workin’ tonight, anyway.” He grabs the bottle, takes a step back. “Now, please, I don’t want you back here. Not in those heels.”

He turns

and goes back to making the drink.

I stare at his back,

running my tongue along my teeth.

Fine. If he won’t come out,

then I’ll go in.

I step up to the sink.

Turn the water on.

Andrew does a double take.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph⁠—

“you stubborn ass woman.”

“No job’s too small for a future CEO,” I say, plucking a glass from a nearby tray and start washing it. “If there’s a problem, we handle it.”

Andrew shakes his head, a chuckle slipping out under his breath. “You even know what you’re doin’ over there?”

“No fuckin’ idea.”

He slides the finished drink across the bar to a guest. “All set,” he taps the bar,

then strolls over to me.

“First?”

He turns off the water.

“These glasses ain’t dirty.

“This is a VIP event. All the empties go straight to the back, where they’re sanitized through a machine.” He bends down and swipes a clean rag off a shelf, then takes my hands in his and dries them. “Second? You wanna help?” He tosses the rag over his shoulder and hands me silver tongs. “This is Allison’s station. Right here. You don’t move. You’ll pick an ice sphere from this ice well, drop it into a tumbler, then slide it down to me, aight? An’ keep it goin’.” He grabs a tumbler from the tray and sets it in front of me. “And I swear t’God—if you so much as take one step in those heels, you’re fired.”

My grin hits me too hard.

He opens his mouth,

about to say something to erase it,

but then a laugh slips out instead,

and he shakes his head at himself.

“Can’t even stay mad at you, dumbass.”

Half an hour goes by.

Somewhere between the drink orders

and ice cracking against glass,