Page 3 of Every Moment with You

Liam

The worst part about owning a bar is not tossing drunks out or breaking up fights. Truth be told, I probably enjoy both more than I should. However, it’s the one time I allow myself to relax and vent my tension and frustration. The drunks are lucky I handle it myself instead of calling the cops.

No, the bane of my existence isn’t the fights. It’s the paperwork—mountains of paperwork that never stops piling up on my desk, no matter how much I get through in a week. By the time I finish one stack, another is already in its place.

I groan as I sit at my desk looking at today’s paperwork. The music from the bar provides a steady soundtrack to the monotony of going through profit-and-loss statements. When I started opening bars across the country, I could have hired people to take care of the day-to-day accounting. Back then, I hadn’t wanted to give up that much control. Even now, I’m still unwilling to relinquish control over my financials. An accountant deals with some of my financials, but I still like to handle the daily tasks myself.

“You look like you’re having a good time.”

My half-brother appears in the doorway, a shit-eating grin on his face as he leans against the frame. Jason is nothing if not annoying—as every younger brother should be—but right now, he’s a welcome relief from the headache that’s already forming.

I haven’t seen him in a few weeks. The stubble on his chin is longer, as if he’s trying to grow the beard we both know he can’t. He looks like he’s enjoying life this summer, not letting the stress of taking over the family business get to him.

I don’t want to be in his shoes. I never did.

“Why are you here?” I lean back in my chair and kick my feet up on my desk. “Aren’t you supposed to be celebrating graduating university in Bali?”

“And miss all the fun of spending time with my big brother?” Jason scoffs as he drops down onto the leather couch in the corner. “Absolutely not. I thought we could go out to a few clubs tonight. Let your hair down and have some fun.”

I snort and shake my head. While growing up, we hadn’t spent much time together. Jason is twenty-three, nearly twenty-one years younger than I am. By the time he was born, I was already well on my way to opening my first bar.

Of course, there’d been a lot more going on in our lives than opening a bar back then, but that was a can of worms both Jason and I preferred to keep tightly sealed. It’s for the best we don’t talk about the affair that made us a family, or the years I spent hiding overseas.

The older he gets, the better our relationship becomes. Now, we’re friends. We keep in contact at least once a week, even if we’re both busy. Imagining life without him had been easy when we were younger, but now it’s impossible to think of him not being around.

“My partying days are long over, have been for awhile,” I say, gesturing to the paperwork piled high. “This is my life now. Spending Friday nights locked in my office trying to get ahead for the next week.”

“You can’t tell me you’re old and boring when I swiped left on your profile this morning.” Jason smirks as he stares at me. “There is no way you are looking to settle down with a woman when you’re still on dating apps.”

Heat flares up the back of my neck as I stare at my brother. I don’t like to advertise the fact that I’m on multiple dating apps. Though I’m tired of being lonely, I’m not in the mood to let my family know that.

“You have you dating profile set to men now?” I ask my brother.

“No, I was helping last night’s hookup find her own hookup for tonight. She thought you were attractive, but I told her you were an asshole with a gas problem who cried during sex.”

Chuckling, I flip him off. “Cockblocker.” My brother might be the bane of my existence, but he never fails to lift my spirits when I’m feeling down.

Jason shrugs and gets to his feet. “She was out of your league. I really did the both of you a favor. Think of what would’ve happened if she’d shown up for the date and seen what you looked like in person.”

“Sounds more like she was out of yours,” I say, smirking. He rolls his eyes. “We both know I’m the better-looking brother. I know you were just trying to even the playing field, but there’s no way she’d go for you over me.”

He laughs and moves to the door, shooting me his shit-eating grin. “Then why am I headed over to see her now?”

Jason ducks as I throw a balled-up piece of paper at him, laughing as he leaves the room. I sigh and sit upright, glancing at the paperwork. There’s no avoiding it any longer. No matter how many times I wish that the papers would spontaneously combust, it hasn’t happened yet.

“Having fun?” Piper, my hard-working bartender, asks as she appears in the doorway, a towel over one shoulder and a multi-colored apron wrapped around her waist.

“Not even a little bit.” I grab a stack of ordering sheets. “Anything in particular you think we need more of?”

“Vanilla whiskey is a hit this month. Other than that, tequila. The college students cleaned us out during spring break.”

I nod and scribble a note on one of the order sheets. “Alright. I’ll get the liquor ordered.”

Piper nods before taking off, closing the door behind her. With pen in hand, I get to work, knowing I can no longer escape the inevitable. It’s the only part of owning a business I don’t like. I love working with the people and serving the public, but doing paperwork makes me want to tear my hair out.

For a brief moment, I consider asking Jason to come on as my office manager. He has a head for numbers, and he’d studied business in college. If there’s anyone I trust to handle the daily work other than myself, it’s him.

But he has his own dreams, and I don’t want to encroach on them with mine. With that in mind, I open a ledger and look at a column of tiny numbers. I can already feel the headache forming.

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