Page 17 of Challenged by the Single Dad

He snorted again. “The better question is, how old do those women thinktheyare? Because none of them act their age. They all still party and drink like teenagers.”

Her chuckle was sweet and a little husky. “I can see it. They were all busy making bonnets, booties, and clothes for Ellie’s baby. Ellie may or may not be a lesbian, and may or may not have a lover on the mainland. Or she may or may not have found a donor. Either way, they think thatifshe is a single mother, she needs all the help she can get, and they intend to give it to her.” Her eyes went wide. “Poor Ellie, whoever she is.”

His third snort in under two minutes. “She works at the spa. And yeah, poor Ellie,” he murmured.

They worked the rest of the night like a team. Though, they didn’t really speak to each other, unless it was work related. His irritation with her was too much weight to bear on his shoulders. So he let most of it go so he could work without strain.

By nine thirty the place had mostly cleared out. But he needed to show Chloe how to shut the place down. So after the kitchen closed and the servers cashed out, he’d take her through the steps of turning down the bar and locking up.

“Thanks for all your hard work tonight, Chloe,” Penny said, slouching into her jacket and plunking a bunch of cash on the bar. “That’s for you.” She tossed Chloe a wink. “Dom, I’ll have a rum and coke, please.”

“Coming up.”

Chloe gaped at Penny. “I don’t … are you sure?”

Penny nodded. “Yeah. Of course. We always tip out the bartenders—who don’t own the place.” She thanked Dom for her drink and pulled up a stool at the end of the bar. “And you worked your cute little ass off. Are you sure this is your first day?”

“At this bar, yes. But behindabar? No.” Chloe shoved the cash into her back pocket. “Thank you.”

Quinton, Jillian, and Renée tipped her out as well, the four servers convening at the end of the bar with their free after-shift drinks. The busser, AJ, joined them after she finished wiping down tables and taking out the trash.

“You got ten minutes, guys,” Dom said to them, that way they knew he wanted them gone so he could lock up and cash out.

They all nodded, then went back to their conversations.

Kitchen staff came out for their after-shift drinks, taking seats at a table. Burke sidled up to Chloe. “How’d it go?”

She nodded. “All right, I think. It was busy, but it made the time go by quick.”

“I’ve heard murmurs about this killer Caesar. Would it be too much trouble for you to mix me one up?” He bumped her shoulder playfully.

“Absolutely. Coming right up.” Her smile was bigger than Dom had ever seen. What was that about? And why was Burke bumping her shoulder? Did they know each other prior to her getting hired there? Was he interested in her?

Burke winked at her. “Thanks.” He jerked his chin at Dom on his way to join the kitchen staff at the table.

Renée came over to watch Chloe as she made the Caesar. “Might as well watch how you make one since we’ll be on the bar tomorrow night together.”

Chloe smiled and continued mixing Burke’s drink.

“Thanks for your help earlier today,” Chloe said. “You answered a lot of questions I was a little too nervous to ask Dom. I don’t think he likes me very much.” She tried to keep her voice down, but Dom heard her anyway.

Renée shot Dom a look, rolled her eyes, and shook her head. “Ignore the grump. You’re doing great. I’m excited for tomorrow night. We’ve got a great crew on the floor. So it should be lots of fun. And Friday nights are always busy, which means great tips.”

Chloe used the tongs to grab some pickled beans from the jar, then stuffed them into the pint glass. “Can you take that to Burke for me, please?”

“I’m off the clock,” Renée teased, grabbing the drink and taking it to Burke. “But for you, I’ll do it pro bono.”

“You’re too good to me,” Chloe replied with a cheeky smile.

Dom cleared his throat. “Ready to start shutting things down?”

She nodded. “Sure thing. Lead the way.”

Dom didn’t wait to see if she was following him and just headed outside to the deck. “Usually, the servers take down the umbrellas and turn up the chairs, but sometimes they forget. The string lights along the railings are solar. So they do their own thing. If the servers haven’t brought in the candles, that’s our job.” He grabbed a couple of glass candle holders where the candles had blown out, while Chloe retracted an umbrella. “Then we just lock the deck door.”

They headed back inside, and he showed her how to lock all the doors from the top and bottom latches. Then, just for extra protection, they had roll-down blinds that they unfurled to cover the big windows and doors leading to the deck. After everything that had happened on their property over the last few months, they had increased their security measures in several ways. One of those ways was adding the roll-down blinds. Even though getting onto the deck from outside wasn’t easy, it also wasn’t impossible. The blinds didn’t necessarily stop anybody from breaking a window to get in, but it did stop them from being able to see in and get tempted.

The servers and busser had done a great job tidying up the dining room, wiping down tables, tipping up chairs, and sweeping the floor. But they were also human and sometimes missed things. That’s where Dom came in.

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