Page 14 of Break My Heart
Aria follows me in there, stopping just in front of my desk. ‘What’s going on with you and that guy?’
‘What guy?’
‘The one from last night. Tall. Dark hair. Really hot. Don’t try to pretend you don’t remember him. I saw how you kept talking to him.’
‘I was taking his order.’
‘You never take that long to get an order, and we were getting slammed last night. You were racing around all night until that guy showed up, and then I look over and see you having a conversation with him.’
‘It was business,’ I say, my gaze on my laptop as I look over our numbers from last night. I’ve already looked at them several times today and they’re not good. I’m selling a lot, but at $2 a beer, I’m not covering my costs. Today is our last day of the opening week special and I’m worried when it ends, the place will be empty.
‘What do you mean it was business?’ Aria asks.
I look up at her. ‘That guy I was talking to. He owns Kanfield Brewery. He was here to check out G’s.’
‘Oh,’ she says, sounding disappointed. ‘I thought he was asking you out.’
‘Sawyer?’ I laugh a little. ‘He hates me, and hates that I’m his competition.’
‘He didn’t act like he hated you last night.’
‘He was being polite to get information from me,’ I say, but I don’t think it’s true. Sawyer was nice to me even before he found out who I was. I even saw him put extra money down for the jerk who was sitting beside him and left me a quarter for a tip.
‘Are you going to his place?’
‘For what?’
‘To check out his brewery.’
‘Oh, I thought you meant his apartment,’ I say with a laugh as I get up and go back to the counter to get my cider recipe.
Aria follows behind me. ‘Why would you think I meant his apartment? Was I right? Did he ask you out?’
‘No, just forget it.’ I put the cider recipe in the folder with all the other ones I’ve tried. ‘Let’s get to work.’
We go out to the front. Aria goes behind the bar as I go to the door to unlock it. When I open the door I don’t see anyone in the parking lot. ‘I guess the rush is over.’
‘We don’t open for another few minutes,’ Aria says, running her hands over her long reddish-blonde braid. ‘I think I hear Lexi in back.’
Lexi is my other waitress. She’s going to college in the next town over and works here part-time.
‘We may not need her if nobody shows up,’ I say.
‘They will. It’s still early and it’s a weekday. People are still at work.’
‘Yesterday was a weekday and we had people waiting at the door.’
‘Why don’t you go to that other brewery and check it out?’
‘Right now? We just opened.’
‘But we’re not busy yet. Just go. I can handle the bar while you’re gone.’
Lexi walks in from the back, pulling her long dark hair up in a ponytail. ‘Where is everyone?’
‘We’re not open yet,’ Aria says.
‘We are now,’ I tell her, joining her behind the bar. ‘It’s four. Why isn’t anyone here? We still have the special running.’
