Page 51 of Turning Tides
“Why don’t you hire someone to help you in here? I thought we had this conversation months ago.”
“I like doing all this, Shane.” Cyrus waved me off. “Now let me do my job and go find someone to do yours.”
“Yes, boss.”
I ducked into my office to call Vivian and offer her the job if she wanted it. Starting immediately. Vivian jumped at the offer, and though I said she could come in the next day, she wanted to come in tonight and start getting her feet under her. I wasn’t going to abandon her on the first day, but Vivian was smart as a whip and she’d have the hang of things in no time.
By the time people started to trickle into the bar for dinner and drinks, my mood couldn’t have gotten any better. The delivery shit from earlier was all but forgotten. The bar was busier than usual so I was doubly glad when Vivian showed up and stepped behind the bar.
“Good to see you, boss,” I said to her and her eyes sparkled.
“Oh, I like the sound of that.”
Vivian greeted Mickey and he seemed enthusiastic about her return and her promotion. She stepped in like she’d never been gone. Thecustomers were happy to see her return. She’d always been popular with the regulars here. Their warm greetings proved that I’d made the right decision.
Sometime after dinner, Vivian sent me away. “You need a break, Shane. Knowing you, you haven’t stopped since you got here.”
“You got me there.” I wondered what Archer was doing. I could go up and see him. And if anyone got suspicious, it no longer mattered because we were going to have to tell everyone eventually.
Vivian pushed my shoulder. “So get out of here. Let your manager manage. I can close up tonight. I happen to remember how.”
When I didn’t move, she rolled her eyes. “Shane, I’m sorry, but you’re fired. Get out of my bar.”
“Fine. I know when I’m not wanted.” I tugged at the apron strings and pulled it off. “If you need me—”
“I won’t.” Vivian glanced at Mickey, who’d been doing his best to ignore the exchange, but had laughed at her most recent statement. “You’re distracting my staff, Shane.”
“Okay, okay. I’m going. I’m gone.” I slipped through the back, exchanging a quick greeting with Cyrus, who’d made it through the dinner rush seemingly unscathed.
“I think you should hire someone to give you a hand back here. Or see if Trev wants to learn some basic kitchen shit.”
Trev was the food runner slash dishwasher. I’d offered to teach him to work behind the bar, but he said that he didn’t want to deal with people as much as that and he was fine with his current position.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Cyrus joked, but I wasn’t laughing.
“The opposite, actually. I don’t want you to burn out.”
“Ugh. Stop being so annoyingly nice all the time. Get out of my kitchen.”
“Wow, first Vivian kicks me out of the front and now you’re kicking me out of the back. Of my own bar. Maybe I should go home.” Or upstairs to see Archer. Or upstairs to get Archer and then home.
“Take the hint, then.” Cyrus motioned to the back door. “Get out of here. Go have a life or something.”
“Love you too, Cyrus.” I made my way to the back door and pushed it open. Daylight was quickly fading and the heat of the day was slipping away with it. The air smelled like dust and hot asphalt. The last of the day’s fading sunlight glinted off chrome and I squinted. Before I could think about going upstairs to see Archer, the back door opened like I’d conjured him up.
“Hey, I was just going to come see you. I have news.”
“I have a tattoo. Well, it’ll need to be rendered properly and… whatever. Here. Look.”
He flipped his sketchbook open to a full color picture of a little flying saucer robot surrounded by sunflowers. “It’s you. You’re the robot who flies around fixing shit. The sunflowers mean generosity, because that’s you too.”
Archer snapped his mouth shut and looked at me, pink slanting across his cheekbones.
“It’s amazing.” I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it, even though amazing seemed lame and flimsy, not nearly enough. “This is how you see me?”
He shrugged a shoulder, looking embarrassed. Clearly it had taken guts to reveal these things to me. It was like a private window into the very heart of him.
“I want it. When can we do it?”
