Page 138 of On The Rocks

“What happened?”

“Car accident. She was working late and a drunk driver hit her. Ironic, huh?”

“That’s awful. I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.” I sniffed and dabbed at my eyes. “Enough of all that. I’m not going anywhere.” I slid off my stool and grabbed my bag. “I’m just going to put this in my locker.”

“Don’t think I forgot about that Griffin thing,” she called after me.

I hunched my shoulders and took off into the kitchen and down the hallway where the lockers were and swapped my bag for my apron.

“Hey, kid. How’s it going? We missed you around here.” Dawn was slicing tomatoes. “You want some food?”

“I could go for one of those rice bowls.”

“You got it.” I dragged over the little steel stool to the prep table. “What’s the menu tonight.”

Dawn stopped at the rice cooker and dumped sticky rice into an oversized bowl, then stopped at the grill. “We’re doing a hot honey night since it’s supposed to be a warm night. The patio will be jumping.”

“Does that mean you have hot honey chicken for me?”

She dished it up into my bowl with a healthy helping of onions and peppers. “You got it.” Then she threw a big pinch of red pepper flakes on top and a drizzle of the hot honey before sliding it my way.

“What else?”

“Vegetarian is marinated tofu and veg, also doused in hot honey. For those who are whimps we have chicken salad sliders and disco fries.”

“Perfect.” I switched up my own menu in my head. Hot Honey Cider was becoming our drink of the season. I had a feeling summer wouldn’t be any different. I took my bowl and the fork she handed me. “Let me know if you run low on anything. Is Kira here tonight?”

“No. Ella has a fever. Annette is running the show tonight. And you of course.”

“Of course.” I forked up some chicken and sighed. “You’re a goddess.”

“Don’t you forget it.”

I waved with my fork and pushed my way through the doors to the main dining room. Ronnie was rolling silverware, her usual pinup style in full force with her black hair tied back in her signature red bandana.

“Hey, Lennon.”

“How’s it going?”

She nodded. “Good. No call ins tonight.”

“Look at you putting me in a good mood.”

Ronnie grinned. “I try.”

I strode through the dining room making sure everything was set up correctly. Annette was pushing the big doors open to let in the breeze. Kevon and Dean followed her outside to set up the tables.

This place ran like a well oiled machine and definitely didn’t need me, but instead of making me wonder about my place here, it evened out the last of my edges from the trip.

This was my place and would continue to be until it wasn’t.

I threw myself into getting my bar back into shape. There had been a mix of people working the main bar and it showed. Everything was out of order--at least the order I liked.

Since Kain wasn’t here, Dawn had control of the music. It was a mix of country and rock which kept us all moving.

The first part of the evening was heavy on the college students. After the dinner rush, it was a mix of singles looking for reasons to mingle and the after work crowd looking to wind down.

---