Page 34 of The Barkeep and the Bro

“Congrats on the engagement. When’s the big day?”

“In a few weeks.”

“Coming up!” Charlie’s enthusiasm hit new heights to compensate.

“With our work schedules, it was the best time to tie the knot. Good seeing you.” She turned back to me and tipped her head at the stairs up to my office.

What if Charlie had sugarcoated what happened between them and Ellie was furious? I couldn’t imagine Charlie as being a bad boyfriend. But I didn’t want her to be upset. But I also didn’t want to let him go. I weighed my options as I climbed the spiral staircase.

“Charlie Porterfield is working here?” Ellie whispered when we reached my desk. She let out a laugh. Laughter was good.

“He needed a job. He’d gone through a bad experience at his last place, his girlfriend kicked him out.”

“I heard through the grapevine. I didn’t know he wound up here.”

I leaned forward, my heart beating in my chest. “Is this…okay?”

She smiled at the question, that Ellie sunshine coming back. “Of course it is, Dad. I was just surprised. Charlie’s a good guy.”

I remembered what he said about their breakup, that he didn’t want to hold her back. I wonder if she realized that, too.

“How’s it working out?” She bit her lip in one of thoseeekgestures. Now I was the confused one.

“It’s going well.”

“Are you two getting along?”

I gulped down hard. “Yes.”

And we would stay that way.

“I remember when the three of us would go out to dinner together, and you seemed to despise every word out of his mouth.”

“I was being protective of my daughter. I scared Tim in the beginning, didn’t I?”

“This is true.” We chuckled at the memory. Her fiance was a straight arrow, and if I really wanted to have fun, I could’ve made him shit his pants with one eyebrow raise.

She rested her elbows on my desk and peered downstairs to make sure they weren’t listening. “Listen, I like Charlie. He’s a nice guy. But he’s a big goofball. He tanked in his last job. He loves to party. Is he responsible enough to be behind a bar?”

Anger simmered inside me. I tamped it down for my daughter’s sake.

“I know you’ve had trouble with turnover. Did you feel obligated to hire him because of our personal connection?”

“I did not. And Charlie spoke very highly of you.”

She blushed slightly, then continued her argument. “I just hope he doesn’t take advantage of that and leave you in the lurch. Or have his frat buddies here to drink on the house. You already have so much on your plate. I don’t want him adding more stress that you don’t need.”

Rare were the times when I yelled at my daughter. I thanked the Lord for giving me a respectful, loving child. I’d been warned by other parents about what nightmares girls could be, which I always found sexist bullshit. Yet now, the frustration boiled over in me, and it took every ounce of parental control to reel it in.

“Ellie, I know you mean well, but you don’t get to tell me how to run my business,” I said in a low, calm voice that instantly wiped the confidence off her face.

“Dad, I was just–”

“You don’t get to waltz in here and tell me who to hire. Are we clear?”

“Yes,” she said quietly.

“Charlie has been an outstanding employee, one of the best in a long while. I promise you, whatever opinion you have of him is outdated.”

---