Page 9 of Temporarily in Love

“What do you want, sweet thing?” the bartender asked Gemma.

She beamed at him like a ray of freaking sunshine. “You always know what I want.”

He smirked at her. “Well, I can’t give that to you right now.”

She waved him away. “Get me the goat cheese salad. You know what I like. And behave!”

He gave her a wink before he walked away. She gave us an apologetic look. “Sorry, that’s my man. He can be such a horndog.”

Mom laughed. “Glad you two are back together and you’re not getting drunk in my bar asking for a job.”

A guilty look crossed Gemma’s face. I side-eyed my mom. I wanted to know what she was talking about. Okay, maybe this town made everyone a little gossipy. I shouldn’t care what Mom was talking about, but I did. I kind of wanted to know the story about Gemma and the hot bartender.

Gemma gave me a smile and held out her hand. “Sorry, I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Gemma Jensen.”

I shook her hand firmly. “Lila Sullivan.”

“I’ve heard,” she said in a way that made me wonder if she had heard from my family or Declan.

“Gemma, thanks for talking to us today,” my mom swiftly changed the subject. “What sort of ideas do you have for us?”

Gemma smiled and opened up a notebook I hadn’t noticed was in her hands. “Okay, so a couple of things. The first thing that came to mind was doing some collabs. I talked to Nolan about making an Irish Red beer and having it only at the brewery and your bar. I have an idea for a name, but Declan thought it was offensive.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I was thinking of Old Man Sullivan,” Gemma said.

My mom broke out into a big belly laugh. “Sean will love that!”

Gemma’s smile brightened. “We’ll probably want to do a draft for that, but we could do a limited bottle release. Oh, also, we have a booth at the Harvest Fest this weekend, so we could split it to get your name out.” She looked down at her notebook. “So, I think you should play up the Irish thing.”

“How so?” I asked.

“So your menu’s great for pub food. It’s got awesome American-style food. You got your flatbreads, appetizers, burgers, and some bigger entrees. But for an Irish bar, you don’t have any traditional food.”

“We have fish and chips,” I said.

Gemma nodded. “Right, but maybe add something like a ‘traditional Irish food’ section. You could do an Irish stew, shepherd's pie, and maybe some boxtys.”

“Bangers and mash too,” Mom suggested.

“Maybe pasties too. We could do beef or potato ones for vegetarians,” I suggested.

Gemma’s smile got bigger. “Yes, exactly! I think if you lean into that more, it could help be a reason people want to come to the bar. Also, who did your website? It could use a revamp. And your social media’s been absent.”

I cringed. “Okay, yes, I agree with you.”

“We can’t afford it,” my mom argued.

I held up my hand. “Mom, I’ll pay for the redesign. Gemma, I know you can’t do this job. But do you have any recommendations for someone who might be able to help, at least with our social media?”

“If money’s a problem, see if someone on staff’s social media savvy. That’s what happened with me.”

I nodded. “Okay, this is great info. Thank you so much for taking this time with us today.”

“Oh, Declan told me I had to, but I don’t mind.”

I felt frozen in place at her words.