Page 12 of The Holy Grail
Evan hadn’theard this story, so Jules shared the details of the meeting at Brews Brothers, when she’d made Paige go over and introduce herself to David, after witnessing the back-and-forth glances for several minutes.
“So, you’ve never wanted the house and picket fence? Kids?” Evan asked, when Jules was finished.
“Not really, no. I’ve never dreamed about wearing the white dress and getting married, or had the driving need to have a child.”
“Not even with the ‘right man’?” Evan asked, using air quotes.
Jules gave that some thought before saying, “I don’t think I believe there’s a ‘right man’ out there, who will make me want to completely change my life and have a baby. However, I do think the ‘right man’ could make me want to live my best life with him—maybe married, maybe not.” She turned the tables on him. “What about you?”
It was his turn to contemplate. “I’ve never really thought about kids, to be honest. It might be because my brother and sister have enough to go around, and I’m fine being Uncle Evan. I mean, that could change, depending on who I end up with. If it’s a man, and he’s set on kids, then there’s adoption or surrogacy, and if it’s a woman, then she might want kids. But either way, I don’t see myself as the driving force behind having kids.” He lifted a shoulder. “I guess that makes me an anomaly.”
“I’m an anomaly, too,” Jules told him, taking a drink from her water glass. “And that’s okay. We’re all allowed to walk our own path.”
For the next few hours, she watched Evan work, fixing drinks and talking to customers, being charming and flirtatious. He seemed to be doing a dozen things at once, but he was always aware of Lars getting near her and was quick to head him off before he got close enough to strike up a conversation.
She could see the dynamic between the two men was not overly friendly. Jules thought it had more to do with Evan just not liking Lars, rather than it being an employer/employee thing, as Evan got along well with all the other employees.
She started watching Lars out of curiosity, and began to notice an interesting pattern emerge. While Evan put all his tips straight into the jar, Lars always pocketed his, and she also saw him take money out of the jar several times when Evan was otherwise occupied and not paying attention.
When the patrons had mostly cleared out, and closing was still a half hour away, Evan had most of the servers clock out, along with Lars. Jules stayed and watched Evan emptythe tip jar, count it, then put what looked like half into an envelope and give it to Lars before he left.
“You and Lars split the tips?” she wanted to know.
“Yes. The waitresses obviously keep theirs, but he and I split all the bar tips to be fair.”
She pursed her mouth.
“What?” he demanded.
“I’m pretty sure the only tips you two are sharing areyours, because all the tips he received from customers went directly into his pocket.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No. And I’m also pretty sure he was outright skimming from the jar when you were busy making drinks or had to go in the back for something. He probably took out twenty-five dollars—and that’s just since I started noticing a couple of hours ago.”
“That fucking asshole,” Evan muttered, tossing his bar rag down in disgust.
Jules was in complete agreement. “You should fire him.”
“I’ve tried, for many reasons, but all hires and fires have to be approved by me, Everett, and Evelyn—and unfortunately, since they both like Lars, I haven’t been able to get rid of him.”
“You should be able to now, though, since you know he’s stealing,” she pointed out.
“I hope so.”
“But if you still can’t, I’d at least get rid of the tip jar. If someone tips him, that’s fine, but at least he won’t be stealing tips from you anymore. And if someone tips you, you won’t have to worry about sharing, or having tips stolen.”
He nodded slowly. “Good idea.”
“Why do you have a tip jar, anyway?” she wanted to know.
“Because tips sometimes help cover rent and other expenses, that’s why.”
“Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately, I am.”
“But you own a third of this bar. You should be making a decent living. The mark-up on alcohol is extremely lucrative.”
