Page 35 of Glass Half Full
It doesn’t take long for Tahseen and Michelle to be convinced that Zach is a sweetheart. He’s in the middle of working on some tech stuff for the stage, but he makes time to stop and shake all our hands before asking how the night’s going and if we need some drinks.
“Actually—” Michelle begins.
“We’re good,” I cut her off. “Good luck with the microphone.”
He shakes his head. “It always works perfectly until we actually need it.”
We wander around after Zach takes off, bumping into a few other staff members I introduce. There’s a DJ playing later tonight after a few speeches. Everyone is buzzing with excitement and alcohol as they wait for things to kick off. I haven’t caught a glimpse of Dylan. My eyes bounce around the room even as I talk with Tahseen, always drifting to the back hallway, waiting for him to poke his head out.
We’ve miraculously secured ourselves three seats near the stage when Zach takes the microphone he’s been fiddling with up there and starts to speak.
Or tries to.
The few of us close enough to pay attention start laughing as he taps the mic and tries again, but still no sound comes out. He makes a few frantic gestures, staring over the crowd to where someone must be manning the sound system, then holds the mic up again.
“IS THIS THING ON?”
His voice booms out so loud I reach to cover my ears. A few people actually scream. Zach winces and makes a ‘turn it down’ motion.
“Whoa, okay. Good evening, everyone. We’re off to a lively start. Just wanted to make sure I had everyone’s attention.”
A laugh ripples through the crowd.
“For some reason, I’ve been given the job of welcoming you all tonight, so, welcome. In case you didn’t know where you are, this bar is called Taverne Toulouse. If that’s what you were looking for, congratulations, you made it. If that’s not what you’re looking for, the doors are locked and you’re not getting out.”
Someone standing by the front door pretends to struggle to pull it open. “He’s not kidding, guys!”
“I don’t joke,” Zach declares. “Ever.”
I knew Zach was funny, but he’s really on the ball tonight. I glance back at the bar and can just make out DeeDee in my line of sight. She’s got her elbows on the bar top and her chin resting in her hands as she stares at the stage. The dorky grin on her face tells me Zach’s feelings for her might not be as one-sided as everyone thinks.
“I know you’re mostly all here to drink,” he continues, “but I have a little history lesson for you tonight. You probably know this bar has been around for a while. It’s gone through a lot of changes. It’s seen good nights and bad nights. It’s seen a lot of parties, a lot of friendships, a lot of toasts to things that are happy and things that are sad. It’s seen couples get together. It’s seen couples break up. It’s seen couples getbacktogether. It’s a part of this city, and it’s here to stay.”
A light round of applause fills the pause before his next sentence.
“A lot of people are responsible for that, but I think we all know that the biggest thanks goes to a very special lady. Pardon my language, but she worked her ass off to save this bar. She worked everyone’s asses off to save this bar. She’s the heart and soul of this place, and it’s been an honour to have her as a manager and now an owner of the bar I spend almost as much time in as I do my own apartment. She tried to get out of making a speech tonight, but please welcome Monroe to the stage.”
I join in the whooping as a disgruntled looking Monroe extracts herself from under the arm of an attractive man with glasses and some impressive facial hair. Zach offers her his hand as she climbs onto the stage—she’s so short that it seems to be a concerted effort—and she takes the mic from him.
“I did tell him I didn’t want to make a speech tonight.” She pretends to give Zach a furious glare as the crowd boos at her. “But we all knew I wasn’t getting out of it. Thank you, Zach, for that very entertaining introduction.”
They blow each other a kiss as he leaves the stage. Monroe turns to face the crowd. Her expression shifts from amused to joyous to totally awed as she takes in the scene before her. I can’t even imagine what a big moment for her this must be. From what everyone’s told me, she’s been dreaming about this forever and has worked harder than should be humanly possible to make it happen.
“I...I tried to write a speech,” she stammers, her voice thick. “I just couldn’t get the words right. Nothing sounded good enough. I still don’t think anything I say tonight will tell you what it means to be standing here, surrounded by you all as we celebrate something I went a long time not being sure would ever happen. What tonight has really taught me, though, is to eliminate the word ‘never’ from my vocabulary. This bar almost lost the chance to be what it is today because I limited my belief in myself and limited my belief in others. I’m proud of the fact that I got here, but I’m even more proud of the people who helped me get here, who got here with me, who are sticking with me as we go even farther.”
She has to pause and wait for people to stop clapping.
“Some of you have been on this ship for a while, and some of you are just climbing on board”—she looks right at me as she says that, grinning wide—“but I value each and every one of your contributions. I can confidently say this is the best staff in the whole damn city, and you better prepare yourselves for some busy nights, because the whole damn city is going to know about it.”
“Hear, hear!”
The booming shout echoes right through my core, not because of its volume, but because even without turning around, I can tell who said it.
I follow the sound with my eyes to find him leaning against the bar. I’ve only seen him in chef’s pants and t-shirts since I started working here. He makes even those look enticing. What he does to me in a black button down and dark jeans has to be some kind of torture. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was illegal in some countries.
The thing about Dylan’s looks is that they aren’tthatnoticeable, not all on their own. It’s his attitude, his courage, the way he holds himself and fills up a room that draws my eyes and drives me crazy. He always looks like he’s ready to make a speech that’s going to save the world. Tonight, he might as well be up on a podium accepting his new job as President of the Universe. He radiates the kind of energy you just can’t ignore.
Everyone has already fixed their attention back on Monroe by the time I drag my gaze away from Dylan. She’s wrapping up her speech now, giving a special shout-out to her boyfriend. Glasses and beard guy looks almost as proud of her as she does of the bar.
