Page 28 of Vodka and Chocolate Drops

“Thank you.”

He continued down the bar, serving up several pints of the pub’s home brews.

Amber sat thinking as the first chocolate drop melted in her mouth. She was already feeling more human, her mind settling down to a gentle hum instead of three different heavy metal radio stations playing at once.

Moe returned a moment later. “Are you applying for Amy’s job? I’ll put a good word in for you.”

“I have a job.” Amy, the pub’s main waitress, was a rolling stone who had come back to waitressing time and again, even after trying other careers. Amber didn’t doubt that the woman would go back to waitressing again in six months to a year--after her latest adventure. It was as though once you served a burger in Blueberry Springs you became a lifer and couldn’t give it up. Look at her mom, and even Mandy, who’d opened her own restaurant but still served customers just like when she’d been a waitress. Only now she was a boss.

“I heard you lost your job.”

“I didn’t lose my job!”

“Oh.”

“And even if I had, there are other things I could do besides waitressing.”

“I guess I just thought because your mom does it, you would, too.”

“We’re different people.” Amber stood, gathering her purse. Theyweredifferent people, right? She wasn’t going to follow in her mother’s footsteps. She was going to find love. She was going to have a family. A big one. All together. With no secrets other than what they’d bought each other for Christmas.

“I didn’t mean anything by it. You’ve just got a great way with people, an excellent memory. You’d make great tips, like your mom.”

“Right. Of course.” Amber gave a smile and wove her way between tables, heading toward the large doors that would spit her out onto the sidewalk. But when she saw Mandy with an empty chair beside her, she plopped down before realizing her friend was actually in the middle of what looked to be a business meeting. The woman with her was done up to the hilt, and dripping in jewelry as though she was a tree in a rainforest, covered in hanging moss.

“You must be Amber Thompson,” the woman said, before Amber could apologize for the interruption and move along.

“Yes, sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb your meeting,” she said, standing again.

“Not at all,” said Mandy, perking up. “Actually, you know how to make computers go, right?”

Amber tried to hold in a sigh. What was it with everyone thinking that her database job meant she was a techie? “I work with databases. Whatever your computer problem, you probably just have to turn it off and on again. Think of snarky computers as a man who’s in a mood. Reset his processor to make him more cooperative.”

“I need spreadsheet, database stuff,” Mandy said. “I’m up to my eyeballs in paper and need to implement some serious efficiencies.”

“I can totally help with that if you pay me in brownies.”

“Deal,” Mandy said, with a relieved ghost of a smile. Her friend was seriously working too hard again.

The woman with Mandy extended her hand, a slight smile that looked a lot like respect and amusement tweaking her perfectly colored lips. “Blair Diggs. I’m one of the restaurant chain owners Mandy works with.”

“Pleased to meet you. I interrupted--I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” Blair leaned forward, one hand on Amber’s arm, preventing her from making an escape. “I heard what you did to Russell Peaks and I have to admit it’s even better than what I did to him.”

“I’m sorry?what?” Amber had lowered her voice and immediately searched the pub for eavesdroppers. She spotted Scott standing in the doorway, talking into the walkie-talkie clipped to his lapel, and laughing. His jaw looking as sharp and angular as his broad shoulders.

“Smashing his writing office?” Blair said. “Good on you. It’s about time someone hit him where it hurts. Again.”

“You dated Russell?” Mandy exclaimed, her eyes round.

“Where did you hit him?” Amber asked.

“In the leg.”

“With what?” Mandy demanded.

“A bullet.”

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