Chapter 8
Brooklyn
G reer tried to give me a dirty look when I stepped out from the back, still tying my apron on, but she didn’t have a very good dirty look. Came out more as a scrunchy little pout.
“Someone’s grumpy today,” I said, sidling up to clean up all Mari’s mess strewn over the counter. Girl could never clean up before her break. I still loved her, though. Not a lot, but a little.
“I’m mad at you,” Greer said.
“What’d I do this time?”
“What happened with Miss Ryan Bell?”
I shot her a look. “What, did you hear about that? Don’t tell me Allison came around running her mouth.”
“Allison’s roped in too?” She shook her head with a sigh. “No, not her. Mrs. Helena Saxton, who was very upset with how you treated Miss Ryan Bell and her boyfriend whose name… escapes me.”
“Shane Austen, also known as the biggest dickwad here. Although if Ryan’s aunt is harassing the bar staff about it, she’s shooting for the title too. Why, what’d she say?”
She sighed, going back to her tablet, tapping away. “She didn’t say a lot directly. Just wanted to know where you were because she has some complaints to raise with you. I told her I could pass along a message, but she tutted and seemed to think that wasn’t good enough, so… do you want to fill me in on what you did, if I’m going to be on damage control for you? Which one did you sleep with?”
“Neither, thank you very much. Well, almost slept with the boyfriend,” I said, wiping the bar down one more time before I spun around and leaned back against it, one foot kicked up over the other looking at her. Not a lot of activity at the bar right now aside from where Ramón was working the wines for a group of white ladies and a man who I’d have bet a million dollars was their gay best friend. Ramón was a little clueless and probably had no idea the GBF in question was flirting with him. With Ramón accidentally leading on the poor man in front of an audience, it was quiet enough on my end for Greer to confront me. “I backed out when I realized he had a girlfriend, and I told the girlfriend, Miss Ryan Bell. And this is apparently blowing up the family. Ryan stayed at my place last night because of how badly it went for her here.”
Greer sighed, shoulders slumping. “Why do problems follow you like an evil little black cloud?”
“Hey, don’t blame me. I did the right thing.”
“You never even have the decency to look sheepish when I’m mad at you,” she said, but she didn’t sound that mad at me. Hard to be when I was her best bartender. “What am I even supposed to say the next time she comes around looking for you?”
“Send me a text. I want to show up and pick a fight with her if she’s being unreasonable towards Ryan.”
“I’m not letting you fight the guests.” She scrunched up her face, looking at her tablet. “I really don’t want this escalating right now… I don’t suppose I can convince you to stay out of things.”
“You can if you give me a day off,” I said with a wink, and she let out a deep, spiritual sigh, not giving me the dignity of a response, focusing on her tablet. I turned back to the bar when a guest stepped up to it, ordering a margarita, and when I had it down for her and she counted out coins to give exact change and not one cent of tip, Greer finally responded as she was leaving.
“It’s a deal,” she said, and I shot her a look.
“For a day off?”
“If it gets you not to start things with guests. I can work a little more tomorrow and fill the gap and we can run a two-floor for a while, or… I’ll see if I can get Shauna to take your spot.”
“Oh. Sweet. I need to start things more often.”
“What am I going to do with you?” she said, putting her tablet away. “Can you leave at six today instead? Laura is coming in at five-thirty and you can hand it over to her.”
“Am I that bad? I’m not used to you trying to get me to work less.”
“You worked extra yesterday. And I want you to not start any fights with guests.”
“Well, have it your way. I’ll be out at six, then.” Laura could probably handle the late shift by herself, as long as Greer didn’t mind some broken glasses and bottles. The woman moved like she’d done enough cocaine to kill an elephant. She said it was because she was Italian, but I think she just had unmedicated anxiety.
Still, even with Greer’s intervention, I guess I couldn’t help my penchant for trouble, because she’d barely left me at the bar by myself for five minutes before a shadow moved in front of me and I looked up with an ugly knot pulling taut in my stomach at where the familiar face of Jack Daniel’s slid into the seat across from me—ratty-ass cheater Shane Austen. Now that I knew he was an asshole, he was about as attractive as a sewer drain.
“Tell me you’re just trying to order something,” I said, leaning against the bar with the most neutral expression I could pull. He frowned, folding his arms on the bar.
“Where’s Ryan?”
“Dunno. I’m not her keeper.”
“You were keeping her last night, in your house, without anybody knowing about where she was going or what she was doing. And now nobody can get in contact with her. Where is she?”
“Genuinely, I don’t know,” I said. Didn’t sound like things had gone well with confronting her family… nobody could get in contact with her implied Shane was collaborating with her family to track her down, which implied some things about who’d ended up on what side.
He pushed out a short sigh. “This is going to be a lot easier for everybody if you’re honest about it. We’re all worried about her, and if we can’t find her, it’s going to get very ugly searching for her.”
“Don’t know what you want me to tell you, buddy. I literally do not know where she is. Maybe if you hadn’t cheated on her, she’d be willing to talk to you. In lieu of that—”
“I know I fucked up,” he said, his face not looking all that remorseful. Weird, that. “But this isn’t about me. It’s about her safety.”
I smiled politely. “You should have just said so. I’ll let the security team know she’s a concern. Of course, if she doesn’t want you to find her, they won’t be able to tell you one way or the other if they find her, but they’ll at least be out there to make sure she’s safe.”
He rolled his eyes. “Are you serious? You’re going to blow off all of us? Are you new here, or just not that worried about losing your job over something like this?”
“And miss out on the chance to serve guests as irresistible and charming as you? I’d be devastated.”
I shouldn’t have been taking swipes at him. He reddened, pursing his lips in a thin, tight line. “What are you after with her?”
“Having pizza together. Listening to her stories from work. She’s a good storyteller.”
He stood up. “Is your manager in today?”
“My manager’s already heard one complaint about me from someone upset I told on you. Maybe I should just set up a complaint box? Whole resort can come around and write on little slips of paper and drop them in, let everyone complain about me all they like.”
“Sure, all right,” he said, his voice cool and detached, as he turned and walked back in the direction of the hotel reception. I narrowed my eyes after him for a while before I slipped my phone from my pocket, and I shot Ryan a text, keeping the phone below the bar surface and hiding it from view.
Shane and your aunt have both been asking at the bar about you, looking for me. Are you safe right now?
She didn’t respond right away, and I sent a text to Allison too, giving her a ping on the situation in case she needed to keep tabs. As much as I gave her a hard time, she had just about every employee at the resort catalogued in her mental directory, and if there was anybody to make sure this little hot-button issue could reach all the right people, it was her.
I’d barely sent the text to Allison before I got a group queueing up at the bar, and I moved faster than usual tending to their orders with more of a professional distance than usual, irritable and trying to hide it, knocking out one drink after another for them, and when I’d gotten to the last one, of course the first one to order had already knocked back his drink and wanted another. By the time I finished making his second drink, making a mental note of the guy so I could cut him off sooner than the others, I found I didn’t need Ryan’s response—a shadow of movement caught my eye at the far side of the pool, and I looked up at where Ryan came around the edge of the courtyard, a tired look on her face. I glanced down at my phone to check—a reply from her that said, I’m so sorry for the ordeal, I’ll be there in a second.
So she would. She slid in across from me as soon as I finished reading the message, and I set it down.
“Should have asked them if there was a reward for finding you,” I said. “Could be a rich woman right now.”
She smiled—seemed like she hadn’t been doing that much, judging by the heavy look in her eyes and the dark rings under them, but what came out was a genuine smile. “Please,” she said. “You’re a softie. You wouldn’t turn me in.”
“Softie enough to offer you a drink on the house if you want one, just don’t tell Greer, she’ll kill me.”
She laughed. “You’re a sweetheart, but even on vacation, I don’t want to go drinking at two in the afternoon.”
“How about just a coffee, then? You look like you’ve had a morning.”
She hung her head. “You could say that again…”
I turned back to pour the coffee from the pot into a demitasse, sliding it across the bar top to her. “I take it your family hasn’t been… lovely with it.”
“Ha. You could say that.” She took the cup, looking down into it, and she was… well, she was transparent. As soon as she looked away from me, I saw her long, slender fingers tighten on the mug, thick natural eyelashes flutter low, the smooth edges of her jawline tighten. Girl was going through an emotional hell right now, playing it cool. I leaned over the bar, and I dropped my voice into a low, soft tone just for the two of us.
“Bartender’s the one you dump your feelings out to, and she keeps your secrets better than the grave itself does.”
She dragged in a long, shaky breath, quiet for a long time, and just when I thought she’d brush me off, she managed in a quiet voice, “I knew everyone would either take his side or just pretend like nothing was happening, but seeing it… in action… feels like fucking shit. I’m glad I had breakfast at your place, because everyone went without me, and I just had a shitty meal all alone in the corner of the café, and what a fucking vacation this is.”
I balled a hand tightly on the bar surface, measuring my reaction—letting the steam come out of the sizzling frustration that wouldn’t help her right now—and after a second, I said, “Family should have your back. I’m sorry they don’t.”
“Even the ones who don’t blame me. Stella is just angry to the point where I feel like I have to manage her emotions, starting things unnecessarily, and Oscar… god, I thought I could trust him. He’s my twin, for God’s sake. But he just wants to pretend like nothing is happening, not rock the boat, just try to smooth everything over. Couldn’t he at least have stayed with me? Stella is pissed off at them, but she still goes with them too? Am I that bad?”
“They’re probably just figuring out how to handle their own emotions around it, but that’s a reason and not an excuse. There’s no excuse for abandoning you like this.”
“Look at me. I’m like a baby.”
“You want to be loved and seen and supported. That’s pretty universal. Babies and adults alike.”
She hung her head, groaning, and I could tell it was to keep herself from crying, gripping her fingers tighter on the mug, her classy French-nail manicured fingernails clinking against the ceramic. “What did I do wrong?” she said, finally, her voice barely there.
“Babe, you didn’t do a single thing wrong. Promise you that. Hey…” I put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing her softly. “I get off at six tonight. Let’s get dinner and I’ll show you the area.”
She sucked in a breath, quivering a little as she did, and slowly, she looked up at me through big eyes, her brows knotted in something heartbreaking and sweet all at once. A smile played softly over her lips, but what she said wasn’t what I’d expected. “You invite girls for dinner out of pity a lot?”
I laughed. “It’s not pity, Ryan. Be difficult with me and I’ll give you decaf next time you come around looking for coffee.”
She smiled wider, eyes crinkling in the corners. “Well, I wouldn’t want that. Thanks, Brooklyn. I’d really appreciate it—you know, the chance to get my exclusive tour guide bonus.” She paused. “Can we go rock-climbing?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Easy with the flirting.”
She laughed, big and bright and honest this time, looking down. “I just think it’d be cathartic right now to pour as much force into something as I can possibly dredge up.”
Maybe she thought that made her less attractive, but a girl who felt her frustrations and channeled them into passion—and especially rock-climbing specifically—was damn hot. But I was not hitting on Ryan, no matter how tempting she was. “Woman after my own heart,” I settled for saying. “Allison’s done at eight, so we can go then. You can come have some pre-workout at my place before then.”
“Late-night rock climbing. That’s your love language?”
I grinned. “Bartenders have no sense of day or night, time of day…”
“Writers too,” she laughed. “No wonder we get along.”
A spark hit me, and I bit my lip through a big smile. “Actually… I could use your help with something.”
She quirked an eyebrow at me. “Something other than just having someone who knows how to operate a shower join you at the gym?”
“I know. I’m asking a lot. I’m a very demanding woman.” I folded my arms on the bar, leaning over close to her—a little self-indulgent of me, using the conspiratorial whispering as an excuse to get up close to her face. She was desperately pretty, and just because I couldn’t go there didn’t mean I couldn’t… admire. I was such a sucker for brown eyes and thick lashes. “Allison’s taking on a little mission for herself, pushing out of her comfort zone. I promised to help her.”
“Actually talking to a girl?”
“You’ll never believe it, but actually yes. She wants to try a casual relationship just so she can check it off her bucket list.”
She laughed, a hand over her mouth. “Hold on. And you’re asking me? To help with… girls? I don’t know if that’s my strong suit…”
“I’m sure you’d do damn well if you set out for it, but I more just think it’ll be nice to have another friend on for the ride. Besides—I imagine you’re pretty good at scoping out information in the area. Journalism and all that.”
“Never done field research on, uh, lesbian hookups before.”
“First time for everything. What do you say? Allison loves you.”
She sighed with a soft smile at me. “You spoil me, honestly.”
“I mean, I try. But you realize this is me asking you for help.”
She shook her head, smiling wider. “Only because you know I’ll feel better with something to do and some way to contribute. Like I said… you’re much more of a softie than you look.”
I laughed, leaning in a little closer. “Are you telling me I look like a jerk?”
She met my challenging look with an equally challenging smile. “Just telling you that you look like you’re tough and can take anything and anyone, when actually you’re a little marshmallow.”
“A marshmallow. ” I clapped my hands down on the bar in mock outrage. “You take that back.”
“I won’t.”
“Unbelievable. I’m not going easy on you at the gym until you take it back.”
She grinned, flashing brilliant white teeth at me, one canine just a little bit crooked—hadn’t noticed it before, only this close up. I always loved a smile with a little something like that, a little touch of personality. It was cute, especially on Ryan. “Then I’ll just have to bring my best game, because I’m not taking it back.”
I stood up, shaking my head with a smile I couldn’t help. “I’ll enjoy making you eat your words, Ryan. Six-thirty at my place.”
“It’s a deal. Until then… any recommendations for an out-of-the-way spot to sit and get some writing in, where people aren’t likely to stumble across me?”
“Little café called Stern’s, up towards the interior a bit. I know the proprietor, so you can tell them Brooklyn sent you and they’ll treat you like family. For better or worse.”
She smiled—very nearly welled up a little bit, but she clearly worked to put it away, taking a long breath and pushing a smile out at me. “Thank you,” she said. “That’s service, honestly. I owe you a tip?”
“Smile of yours is tip enough for me.” Ah, shit, that was flirting. Whatever. Ryan took it okay, grinning wider.
“Looks like I’m loaded, then, with how much I can dish out tips. I guess… I’ll head out and let you know later how the Stern’s family is.”
She did seem like she was doing a little better. Stern’s wasn’t the prettiest or the sleekest place—a bit of a dingy local joint—but the staff really did treat their regulars like family. And Ryan needed some familial love right now.
This woman was my charge for the week to come. After all—had to live up to my reputation as protectorate for the queer girls on the island.
The fact that she was cute and charming wasn’t going to get in my way.