Page 21 of Shortcake
At the sound of his daughter’s voice, Conrad whipped around and rushed to her side. His features twisted, an interesting mixture of concern and anger marring his brow and a frown curved the corners of his mouth.
“Harper,” he said, as he knelt beside her. “Are you okay?” He brushed her messy bleached hair back from her face, but she was having none of it.
She swatted his hand away. “I jusssh wanna go home!” Tears fell from her cheeks and her voice cracked.
“Okay, baby—” He moved to help her stand, but she flung his arms off of her.
“Not home here. I want to gohomehome. To New York.”
He stood and rubbed his eyes. “This is home now, Harper. Not New York. Not that it matters since you won’t be seeing much of your new town, anyway. You’re grounded for the rest of the summer.”
I met Keith’s inquisitive gaze from across the bar and shrugged. I had no doubt he was wondering the same thing I was. How in the hell did he plan to ground a 22-year-old who was legally drinking? Seemed pretty damn excessive to me.
I guess I didn’t disguise my expression very well because the moment he looked over at me, his scowl hardened, setting right back in place again. “What?” he snapped. “You have a problem with a man grounding his daughter?”
“Nope.” I quickly looked down and busied myself with wiping down a table that was already spotless. “Not at all.” I did not want to get involved with this family drama. Even if it did seem pretty fucking crazy that he would be grounding a woman who was just a few years younger than me.
I called out to Keith. “Why don’t you go ahead and take off? Tomorrow’s going to be another busy night.”
I could feel my employee’s pause and from the corner of my eye, I saw as he looked briefly between the sheriff and myself, silently asking me if I was sure. I gave a quick, confirming nod to him, before he finally reluctantly said, “You got it, boss.”
The front lock clicked as I heard Keith locking up as he left.
“Fine, fucking ground me!” Stephanie shouted, not seeming to care that she was unloading all kinds of baggage in this family feud in front of a total stranger. Well, not atotalstranger. Ihadseen her dad naked. “See if I care! Not like I have any friends in this stupid town, anyway!” Her voice cracked, then immediately, her face went pale.
Uh-oh. I rushed to her side, holding the bucket under her chin just as she puked, unloading most of the contents of her stomach into it.
Conrad also lunged forward, scooping her hair back as I tilted the bucket in place beneath her.
Ah, the glamorous life of owning a bar.
When she finished, I slid her water glass toward her and she finished half of it in a few gulps. “Easy, there, Steph,” I said. “It’s just water, I know, but you don’t want to upset your stomach.”
I knew from experience that too much of anything in your stomach when you’re that drunk isn’t a good idea.
She groaned and wiped the back of her hand to her mouth. “Bathroom?”
“It’s over there,” I said, pointing to the back of the bar. “Do you need any help?”
“No,” she muttered and shook off my help as she stood up. “M’fine.”
“If you make a mess in there, you’re cleaning it up!” Her dad yelled after her as she stumbled toward the back hallway.
I waited until she disappeared into the bathroom before lifting the glass of jack and coke she had barely touched. “I didn’t want to mention this in front of her because I didn’t want to scare her, but I think maybe we should test this for Rohypnol… or something.”
His spine went impossibly straighter and in a hoarse voice, he repeated, “Rohypnol?”
I nodded. “She was hanging out with this bachelor party all night, drinking jack and cokes. The first two she ordered directly from me, but I think one of the guys ordered her this one. She only had a few sips of this particular drink, so that might explain why she isn’t fully passed out if it is drugged. But it would also explain why only two drinks did her in. I was going to drop it off at the police station to be tested on my way home. But since you’re here… Do you have any testing strips?”
This whole instance reminded me to buy some to keep here at the bar. They now sell them as coasters that you can dip into your drink to see if anything is in it. I could have kicked myself for not ordering a bunch in time for the opening.
He was silent for a long moment before he abruptly stood and stomped out the front door. He returned a minute later with a bag filled with what looked like snap bracelets.
He pointed to the barely touched cup. “This one?”
I nodded.
I held my breath as he took out one of the strips and dipped it into the drink.
