Page 104 of Vodka and Violets (The Hamiltons)

Xander grinned. “It does; I already know it.”

“Happy for you, man. I have to tell you that I like this for you. I know how long you’ve carried a torch for Tori, but I could never come up with a scenario where I could see the two of you finding a life that would suit you both. I’m glad I was wrong.”

“So am I. I would never have dreamed up this scenario,” he said with a chuckle, “but I’m glad that things have worked out this way.”

“Mind if I ask you something?”

“You can ask me anything you like – you should know that.”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing probing. I can see that you’re happy, I don’t need to dig too deep. I’m just curious about the name of the bar.”

Xander laughed. “What about it.”

“Violet’s?” Slade made a face. “Who the fuck is Violet?”

Xander laughed even harder. “It’s not Violet’s with an apostrophe. It’s not the bar that belongs to Violet. It’s Violets without an apostrophe, as in the plural of the flowers.”

Slade shook his head. “Okay. But same question… Why? I don’t get it. I’m guessing that it’s something to do with Tori?”

“It is. We struggled and struggled and still couldn’t come up with the name. The whole time that we’ve been getting things set up and doing the renovations, we simply referred to the place as the bar. As the clock ticked down, and we were getting closer to opening, we were tempted to just call it that.”

“I can see that; that’d work,” said Slade.

“I know, but it wouldn’t work as well as Violets.”

“You’re going to have to explain it to me. I hate to say it, but to me it doesn’t work – not for a sports bar.”

Xander laughed. “That’s kind of the point. Yes, it’s a sports bar, but it’s not your standard, run-of-the-mill sports bar. Tori’s vision from the beginning was that it should have a quieter section. You know, a place where people who aren’t interested in watching the games can still sit and chat.”

Slade didn’t look convinced.

Xander laughed again. “Think about it, do you really give a shit about what the name of a bar is? If there’s a game you want to watch, and you know that there’s a sports bar where you can watch it, the name doesn’t register with you, does it?”

“Nope.”

“Exactly. For people like us, the draw is the fact that we can watch the games. But for people who aren’t interested in that, the name tells them that they’re still welcome. It’s a hint that it’s not a regular sports bar, right?”

Slade laughed. “You can say that again.”

“And here, in this market, that’s what we need. We need all the customers we can get. And especially with it being a tourist town, we don’t want to turn anyone off.”

Slade nodded slowly. “I can see that. It makes sense. But why Violets?”

“It was something someone said to Tori – that she’s not exactly a shrinking violet.”

Slade laughed. “Oh, hell no. She might be quieter than the others, she might do life in her own little way, but she’s no shrinking violet.”

“She isn’t. But after Jade – she’s our bartender – said that to her, the idea stuck in Tori’s head. She even went out and got some of those plastic flowers. Since we were down to the wire on time, and we hadn’t added anything into the decor that reflected the name – since we hadn’t had the name – she reckoned it was easy enough to just add a few actual plastic violets here and there.”

Slade raised his eyebrows.

“Only in the section that has no TVs.”

Slade laughed. “Okay, good. I’m glad that I understand now. That was the only question I had about this whole deal.”

Xander met his gaze and held it. “Glad I could settle that for you. I do have a question of my own for you.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

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