Page 54 of The Barkeep and the Bro

I gave him a tight nod, hiding the fact that inside, my mind and heart deflated.

“It was totally inappropriate. I promise it will not happen again.” He sounded definitive and confident, each word a fresh kick in the groin.

“Agreed,” I said, the only word I could get out.

“Just please, let’s never talk about it again. I really like working here. I don’t want to fuck up another job.”

“We’ll never speak of it again.” I wanted to be sick, but I held all that emotion back. I wasn’t going to put that shit on him.

Silence hung in the air.

“I guess I’ll go back upstairs.”

“Cool. Should be decent traffic today with hockey on.”

Once I made it upstairs, I let out a huge exhale. My chest clamped tight, and I heaved for breath. Why was I letting this kid mess me up like this? This was why I avoided relationships; they got in the way of more important parts of my life. I had payroll and orders and planning. I didn’t have time to have all the feels, as Penny loved to say.

And if I did want a boyfriend, there were plenty of guys out there I could date. Guys with hair on their chests and years of life under their belt. Why did I have to go and get feelings for the overgrown fratboy who had zero interest in men, least of all me?

I overheard him joking around with Penny downstairs, and my heart, against my consent, did a somersault at the lighthearted lilt in his voice.

Charlie promised that this would not happen again. And at that moment, I made a promise to myself, too: this gooey shit clogging up my heart endednow.

18

MITCH

Over the next month, I kept my promise to myself. I laid off flirting with Charlie and putting myself in positions where I would be tempted, which wound up being a lot. No more squeezing behind the bar with him. I bought a footstool so he could reach the glasses up top. I made sure we didn’t wind up alone at the end of a shift.

I had to be the boss and keep my distance. Back to how we used to be when I had little faith in him.

It was excruciating. The more I distanced myself from Charlie, the more vivid my dreams about him were. But it was for the best. He turned out to be a great employee, and I didn’t want to lose him because of my perpetual erection.

Fortunately, I had Ellie’s wedding to look forward to. She and Tim had taken the reins of wedding planning and were creating whatever Instagram-ready event they had up their sleeve. At Leo’s urging, I treated myself to a new, tailored suit that I wouldn’t be busting out of. While I was excited about the wedding, I had a bit of dread, as I’d be attending solo. Guests would see Hannah and her new husband, and the father of the bride would be by himself.

A week before the wedding, Ellie called me in tears. She showed up at the house thirty minutes later, tears streaking her face. I immediately put up a pot of coffee. Seeing my daughter upset was agony, but it gave me a chance to be her hero once again.

“Ellie Bear, what is it?” We sat at the kitchen table overlooking the steady drizzle misting the woods.

“Empire Catering canceled.”

“Your caterer canceled on you?” In my three decades of working in the food and service industry, I had heard of a lot of shit. Caterers canceling was extremely rare, and I’d never heard of them canceling a week before an event. “Why?”

“They double booked without realizing.”

“Did you book first?”

“I don’t know.” She wiped her nose on her sleeve despite a tissue box being front and center. “But Tim saw a video they posted on their TikTok celebrating that they booked a last-minute celebrity birthday party.”

“And he thinks you guys got bumped so they could kiss celebrity ass?”

Her eyes went cold. “It’ll be incredible publicity for them.”

She was right. We lived in a famewhore culture where the whiff of a business being connected to a famous person sent sales skyrocketing. Years ago, Daniel Craig stopped in for a drink at Stone’s Throw, and when word got out, we had our best month of the year.

“You have a contract, though.”

“They’re refunding our deposit.”

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