Page 3 of Halloween Hottie
Chapter Two
JACOB
“Afternoon, Paul,” I say to the older man walking in the door of my bar. He waves as he takes a seat on his usual barstool.
“Man, the bartenders around here used to be prettier,” he jokes, shrugging out of his coat.
I smirk. “Yeah, yeah. Step is running late. She’ll be here soon enough. But in the meantime, you get to torture me. What’ll you have?”
He laughs. “A Busch and a shot of Maker’s.”
I reach into the cooler and pull out the can of Busch. I pop the top and hand it over while I pour a shot of Maker’s Mark. He brings out his wallet and lays a fifty down on the bar. I take it and bring back his change—which he doesn’t pick up.
Every day, Paul comes in and lays a fifty on the bar. He drinks Busch beer and sips Maker’s Mark until his fifty is gone. When he’s out of money, he gets up and leaves, not to be seen again until the next day. He’s an older man whose children are grown. He’s retired and his wife is a nurse who refuses to quit. She needs purpose, and he needs something to do with all his free time. That’s why we’re as close as we are. He was happy when I opened the place because it kept him from having to travel across town. My bar is less than a block away from his house. He walks here daily—rain, sleet, or snow.
“How’re the grandkids?” I ask him as I wipe down the bar for the hundredth time today.
Paul sips his drink and nods. “Getting big. Nora just applied to Harvard.” He laughs. “Glad I’m not the one who has to pay for it!”
I make a long whistling sound. “You and me both, Paul.”
Wayne, down at the other end of the bar, speaks up. “My son went to Harvard. Of course, this was probably twenty years ago. I nearly went bankrupt putting that boy through school, but he’s a doctor now. He takes care of me and the wife better than I ever would’ve thought.”
I smile. “Well, that’s how it’s supposed to work, right? You take care of them and then they grow up and take care of you.”
Wayne smiles and points in my direction. “You’re right.”
Another one of our regulars walks in the door. “Hey, Jake. What’s got you behind the bar today?” Toni asks, batting her long lashes and offering up a flirtatious smile.
“Lisa had to leave early. She got a call from the school. Her son was sick and had to be picked up, and Step doesn’t come in until two. So you’re all stuck with me until then.” I smile as the old men start to boo.
Toni giggles at their response. “Well, I’d rather have you any day of the week. Can I get a refill?” She slides her glass over and I take it, pouring another Crown and Red Bull.
I hand it over and take her money.
“Keep the change,” she says, going back to her poker machine with her drink in hand.
While the two older men at the bar have a conversation about the weather, I head back to the big cooler and grab what’s needed to stock up the bar. I come back out and start rotating the stock of Bud Light and Miller.
I’m zoned out until I notice the two men talking over one another.
“No, no, no. I’m telling you, this used to be a shoe factory, but that was back twenty-some-odd years ago.”
“No, it wasn’t. This was the old newspaper office,” Paul argues.
Wayne turns to me. “Jake, what was this building when you bought it?”
I think back. “When I bought this place, it was nothing but a rundown building. But the realtor said it had been a newspaper office. However, before that, I believe it was a shoe factory. My office still has shoe measurements on the wall,” I tell them.
Both men are satisfied and let the conversation drop. Happy that they’re no longer arguing over what the building used to be, I go back to stocking. Toni cashes out on the poker machine and she comes to sit at the bar.
“Well, how’d ya make out today?” I ask, bending low to put the beer into the cooler.
She shrugs. “Not too bad. I made two-fifty.”
“Well, that makes up for the fifty you lost yesterday,” I point out.
She laughs. “True. Guess I better take off. Gotta beat Charles home.” She slides over a twenty as a tip and leaves.
