After the Vows (Smuggler’s Hideaway #2)

Chapter 1

Chloe – a woman who doesn’t believe the customer is always right

Chloe

A customer sidles up to the bar. I smile at him. “What can I get you?”

“I’ll have a Summer Ale and your phone number.”

I roll my eyes. If I had a dime for every time a customer hit on me, I could make a large ball of metal and throw it at every customer who thinks it’s okay to hit on a woman just because she’s serving you alcohol.

“One Summer Ale coming up.” I pour the beer and set it on the bar in front of the customer. “That’ll be five dollars.”

He waves a ten-dollar bill at me. “You can have this if you give me your phone number.”

Am I supposed to be impressed? “No thanks.”

“Come on, darling.” He motions to the bar and restaurant. “You must want more in life than this.”

Wrong. I’m living the dream. This bar and restaurant is part of Five Fathoms Brewing , the brewery I co-founded with my four best friends – Maya, Paisley, Nova, and Sophia.

Maya came up with the idea of founding a brewery. Paisley experimented with brewing beer. Nova started selling it to other restaurants on the island of Smuggler’s Hideaway where we all grew up. And Sophia helped fund the project. The rest is history.

I snatch the bill from him. “I’m good. I’ll get your change.”

“I don’t want the change. I want your telephone number.”

“It’s good to want things.” I set his change on the bar and start to walk toward another customer. He leans over the bar and grasps my arm to stop me. I glare at his hand. “If you want to keep your hand, you’ll release my arm.”

“What’s a little thing like you going to do?”

Little thing? I’m five-foot-nine. The furthest thing from little.

I scrunch my nose and pretend to consider his question. “Probably break your fingers. Or maybe your wrist? What kind of work do you do? What would hinder you most? The inability to use your fingers or your wrist?”

He barks out a laugh. “You’re cute.”

“I warned you,” I sing as I reach for his hand.

A waitress slams her serving tray down on the bar. “Chloe!”

“Hey, Addy.”

“Do not break his fingers.”

“Why not?” I pout.

“It’s bad for business.”

I glance around the bar and restaurant. The place is packed as usual. “I think we’re doing okay.”

Addy narrows her eyes at me. “I’ll tell Nova, Maya, and Paisley.”

“Tattletale,” I mutter before releasing the man’s hand. “Fine. You can go.”

“I’m going to sue you!” he yells as he shakes out his hand.

“Don’t be a baby.”

He snarls at me. “You’re deranged.”

I bow. “Thank you very much.”

He backs away. “This place is crazy.”

“Don’t forget your beer!” I holler after him.

He rushes out of the door. I shake my head. “Will men never learn?”

“Learn what?” the bartender, Theo, asks as he joins me behind the bar.

I untie the apron from around my waist. “I guess it’s time for me to get back to doing next week’s schedule.”

He moans. “You’re not answering my question, which means you scared another customer away.”

“When I arrived,” Addy says, “she had him in a chokehold.”

“Exaggerate much? I bent his finger back a tiny bit. No snapping involved.”

She sighs. “You’re a menace.”

I grin. “Thank you.”

I check that no one on the restaurant floor needs me before making my way to my office. I’d rather work behind the bar, but I really do need to get next week’s schedule finished and the inventory ordered. Being the bar and restaurant manager of Five Fathoms is not as much fun as I expected.

I barely have a chance to switch on my computer before my door flies open and Nova, Maya, and Paisley rush inside.

“Addy’s a tattletale.”

“It’s not tattling when she’s not revealing secrets,” Paisley says.

I salute her. “Thank you, nerd girl, for correcting me.”

“I know you’re being sarcastic but I don’t care if you call me a nerd girl.”

Of course, she doesn’t. Paisley is proud of being a nerd. I give her a hard time about it but if I were as smart as she is, I’d be proud of myself, too. There’s a reason she’s the one in charge of developing new beers for Five Fathoms and I’m the one working in the restaurant.

Nova sighs. “Can we stick to the matter at hand? You can’t be getting into fights with the customers.”

Uh oh. Miss Optimistic is frowning. She must be really annoyed. Miss Sunshine hardly ever frowns. It’s why she’s the sales manager for Five Fathoms. When someone tells her no, she keeps smiling and pushing until she makes the sale. She can sell fish to a mermaid.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I didn’t hurt the customer.”

“But he’s claiming he’s going to sue,” Maya says.

“He’s not going to sue. His claim is fictional. Something you should understand.”

Maya is the definition of a bookworm. If it weren’t for us, she’d probably hide away in her home with her books all the time.

Even with us around, she tries to get out of leaving her house. She claims she can do her work as the financial manager for Five Fathoms at her dining room table. She’s crazy if she thinks we’ll allow her to become a hermit.

“Whether he sues or not, is irrelevant. You can’t go around hurting customers,” Paisley declares.

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t want to get arrested,” Nova says.

“Again,” Maya mutters.

I wave away their concerns. “I won’t get arrested. I have an ‘in’ with the police.”

Paisley slides her glasses up her nose. “I don’t think Sophia will appreciate you using her brother to get out of trouble.”

“Good thing Sophia’s not here then, isn’t it?” I fire back.

Although Sophia is one of the original founders of Five Fathoms, she doesn’t live on the island with us. She’s a hotshot marketing exec in Atlanta now.

Maya clears her throat. “But she will be soon.”

Ah, yes. Sophia isn’t a hotshot in Atlanta anymore. She got fired from her job because some asshole stole her work. I volunteered to give him a lesson in stealing but Sophia said she was moving back to Smuggler’s Hideaway.

“I can’t wait for her to come home.” I rub my hands together as I imagine all the fun times we’ll have. “She’s been away too long.”

Maya sighs. “I can’t wait until she falls in love.”

I frown. “This is not some romance book. Sophia is not going to fall in love with the man who caused her to flee the island in the first place.”

Sophia didn’t merely leave Smuggler’s Hideaway. She fled when the boy she was crushing on humiliated her. It’s a long story but it’s her story to tell.

Paisley clears her throat. “Let’s make sure there is a company for Sophia to work for when she returns.”

I roll my eyes. “ Five Fathoms Brewing will be here. Some asshole who thinks it’s okay to grab a woman when she refuses to give him her phone number isn’t going to destroy us.”

“Chloe’s beauty strikes another man down,” Nova says.

I lock my limbs to stop myself from flinching at the word beauty. I don’t want to be beautiful. I don’t want anything to do with beauty. Beauty is the only thing my mother cared about.

And the lengths she went to, to ensure I was thin – because only thin people are beautiful in her opinion – still give me nightmares.

“I’m not beautiful,” I deny and Nova immediately backpedals.

“Sorry, Chloe.”

I wave away her excuse. My friends know all about my mom. Mostly. There’s no reason to bring up the past. It’s dead and buried.

“I need to get the schedule for next week finished.”

Paisley steps toward the door. “We’ll let you return to your work.”

She leaves and Nova follows her. Maya shuffles toward me.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Customers can be assholes. It’s part of the job if you’re working as a bartender.”

She bites her bottom lip as she hesitates. Maya is a shy thing. We’ve known each other for twenty-five years. We’ve been through our first periods together, our first kisses together, and numerous heartbreaks together. But still. She’s hesitant.

“What is it?”

“I want to make sure you’re not feeling sad after being reminded of your mom.”

I force a smile on my face. Thinking about my mom doesn’t make me sad. It makes me mad. But Maya doesn’t understand. She still yearns for the love of her family despite how they treated her.

“I promise I’m okay Maya.”

“Mermaid promise?” Mermaids are considered sacred on Smuggler’s Hideaway. Breaking a mermaid promise is one of the worst things you can do.

I nod. “Mermaid promise.”

I wait until she’s gone to collapse in my chair. I wasn’t lying to her. I am okay. I’ll always be okay. Chloe Summers will not let life get her down.