3. Lennon
Chapter 3
Lennon
Cider and Revelations
B y the time I got back to the taproom, the bar was full of my favorite people. Annette Stern, our lead waitress and sometimes bartender, was sitting on a stool beside Kain who had commandeered one of the twins.
From the giggles, I’d guessed it was Amelia who looked like a doll in Kain’s massive arms.
Beckett and Justin were lined up beside him, all of them covered in dirt and sweat. No thanks on sitting next to that. Instead, I went around behind the bar with Ronan.
“You’re back.” Ronan grinned down at me. “Getting cozy with Griffin?”
I gave him a bland look. “Since when do you play matchmaker?”
“Since we’re all blissfully linked up.” He nodded at the rest of the people at the bar.
“Not me!” Annette hopped off her stool. “No way, no how, thank you very much. I just stopped in to grab my St. Pat’s shirt for our first day back.”
Ronan picked up a box that was behind the bar and dug inside, unearthing a black T-shirt with the Brothers Three owl holding a green-colored bottle of cider in his claw with Happy St. Patrick’s Day scrawled across the chest in neon green. “Here you go. Kira put up your schedule in the app. The cleaners should be done this week, and we’ll start setting up Monday.”
“Thank God. I’m more than ready to get rid of my winter job.”
Ronan laughed. “Your dream job doesn’t include Hilton hotels?”
“Absolutely not. God, people are gross.” She held up the shirt as she left. “See you next week,” she called out.
I elbowed Ronan. “Get out of my space.”
“Sorry, sorry.” Ronan laughed and went out to sit with the dirty trio.
I pulled glasses out of the washer and lined them up. “So, Honey is our main ingredient for the new line?”
“More or less.” Ronan hunched over the bar top.
“Nice that you finally found a spice, Boa.”
Ronan rolled his eyes, then he grinned at Kain. “You want a spicy cider, you gotta come into the brewing room.”
“Fine. I can handle that.” Kain rubbed his hands.
“Where’s Kira?” I asked.
“She took the Ella into the office for some quiet time. I think she just wanted an excuse for a nap. I can’t blame her. I think I’m going to go in there with her.” Ronan slid off his stool and took Amelia back from Kain. “Nice to have you back, Len.”
I smiled at him. “Good to be back.”
Beckett tipped back his filthy Yankees hat to show off a slice of clean skin above his dusty face. “You got a new drink for us since you went off to be fancy for over three months?”
“I might.” I flipped up my metal shaker and bounced it off my elbow to arc over my head and I caught it neatly in my other hand. “Why don’t we keep with the spicy theme?”
“Careful, Beckett can’t handle much.”
“Shut up,” Beckett muttered. “My wife tries to burn off all my tastebuds with her breakfast skills.”
I laughed and turned to my usual wall of supplies, but they were all still boxed away. To keep things easy, I grabbed a bottle of the new honeycrisp vodka and cracked the cap. I splashed a little in a shot glass to taste it.
It was tart with a helluva finish. I shook my head.
“It’s dangerous, isn’t it?” Justin asked from behind me.
I spun around with it in my hand. “I was expecting sweet.”
“Me too. Sneaks up on you.”
“Evidently.” But already my brain was whirling with what to do with it. Working at the orchard required me to be more creative than a usual bar. Being a flair bartender was more show than perfecting complicated drinks.
I was able to brush up on my technique working here.
Until you aren’t.
I pushed that voice to the back of my head. I didn’t have to make decisions on that front for a little while.
I took another tiny taste of the vodka and opened the mini fridge. I’d need to restock all my usual juices, fruits, and mixers. But the lime juice gave me an idea. “Got any salad stuff in the kitchen yet?” I asked Kain.
“Yeah. Not much to speak of this time of year, but I have some cukes, tomatoes, and a few different lettuces.”
“Perfect.” I held up a finger and slipped from the bar, then jogged to the kitchen. I opened up the massive fridge and found a seedless cucumber, I then raided Kain’s pantry for hot sauce.
I went back outside to find the guys chatting about the Lark cabin. Griffin had joined the group of guys, and my heart gave a quick kick when he tossed his toothpick into the corner of his mouth and gave me a slow grin.
Ignoring him, I started building the spicy cool drink by chopping my vegetables and slicing up a lime. I pulled out four lowball glasses and lined them up with crushed ice.
The lime and the cucumbers would balance out the heat. I’d chosen a sweet heat to combat the tart of the vodka so I could get the flavors balanced.
After I loaded my shaker with a good double handful of ice, I measured out my ingredients and shook the concoction, absently spinning the shaker as I garnished the glasses with thinly sliced cucumbers with my other hand.
“Veggies in anything other than a Bloody Mary seems wrong,” Justin groused.
I laughed. “You’ll like it.”
“If you say so.” Justin peeled at the label on his bottle.
I rapped his knuckles with the long handle of my stirring spoon. “Cut that out.”
“Sorry.” He laced his fingers around the Hot Honey bottle of cider.
“If it takes me all summer, I’m going to kick you of that habit, Justin,” I said, as I cracked the seal on the shaker.
“Yeah, yeah.” He frowned at me as the clear liquid came out as I evenly poured between the four glasses.
I pulled out a can of seltzer and added to each glass then pulled out the hot sauce. I did a drop and a half for Beckett and pushed his in front of him.
He glowered, but he took the glass.
Kain and Justin got three, and I stared right at Griffin as I held the bottle over his.
The toothpick swung back and forth toward the middle of his full lower lip and the corner of his mouth. “Do your worst, darlin’.”
I added a fourth and was tempted to do a fifth, but I wanted the drink to still taste good. I doctored what was left in the shaker for me with the scraps and added four dots of hot sauce. “Cheers.”
Everyone lifted their glass and took a sip.
Four was definitely too much for my smaller amount of product, but it was a damn tasty drink.
Justin whistled. “Proven wrong as always. Dang that’s good. Heat’s sitting right there for a minute.” He fished out a cucumber and crunched on it. “Man, you are a wonder. If I can ever get my brother to come out of his damn lab, I bet you guys would be dangerous.”
I laughed. “Hayes can keep his chemistry set to himself. I just like playing with his final results.”
Hayes, the more introverted and science-brained Manning brother, tended to keep to his lab, which was located near the bottling room on the far side of the orchard.
“How’s yours, bud?” I grinned at Griffin, who had a bit of sweat at his temples.
“Perfect.”
“Sure you don’t need some milk?”
“Absolutely not.” He cleared his throat and manfully took another sip.
I laughed when Kain slapped his arm. “You okay?”
Griffin coughed and slid off his stool as all of us laughed. I pulled a Dixie cup of ice cream out of my little freezer and stabbed it with the wooden spoon.
He frowned, but he picked up the ice cream and scraped out half the cup and put it in his mouth.
“Aww, too spicy?” Beckett sipped at his. “Mine’s perfect.
Griffin couldn’t speak, just flashed the bird at all of us as he ate the other half of the ice cream cup.
Laughing, I cleaned up after myself. “Thanks for letting me try it out on you. I’ll toy with a few less four-alarm fire versions before we get to the St. Pat’s opening.”
“I’m doing the big, corned beef extravaganza, shepherd’s pie, and some hand pies, both veg and savory.”
“What’s the Hawaiian twist?”
“Nah, we appreciate the Irish because we like to drink too.”
Griffin sat back down on his stool. “Beer, beer, and more beer in Oahu.”
“We added some green food coloring to our Firefly, and I have a dozen of the Ginger Ciders ready to go. Depending on the turnout, we should have plenty.” Beckett drained the last of his drink. “This was amazing. Now if you could teach Helena to keep the spice at this level, I’d be grateful.”
I snorted. “Baby.”
“Damn right.” He slid off his stool. “And now I’m going to go home and shower off this mud. Great to see you back at the orchard, Lennon.”
“Thanks. Happy to be back.”
“I’ll hitch a ride with you.” Justin followed his brother and gave me a salute. “Happy to have you back, beautiful!”
“Yeah, yeah. Get out of here.”
Kain stretched his arms over his head. “Want me to cook you something, Len?”
“Nah. Go on home to Bells.”
“She’s got a wedding today. Her and Helena are tied up until tonight.”
“Well, in that case. How about your disco fries?”
Griffin straightened up on his stool. “Oh, hey. That sounds good.”
“I didn’t ask you.”
Undeterred, Griffin just gave him a winning smile. “Yeah, but if you’re already cooking.”
“Bah.” Kain snapped his way across the hardwood in his flips. “Fine. Only because now, I want them too. I’ll make some turkey burgers too. We gotta do a supply order, Len.”
“Already making one in my head. I’ll have one written up for you before I leave.”
“That’s my girl,” he shouted from the doorway to the kitchen. “You kids play nice.”
Griffin shook his head. “Kids. I’m barely two years younger than him.”
“Old man.” I stacked my dishes into the high heat dishwasher and cranked it on.
The chugging sound eased a few of my frayed nerves from the drive in. I’d stashed my Jeep in a storage unit outside of Manhattan. After making sure she was roadworthy after four months off the road, it had been a five-hour drive up to Turnbull.
“Maybe to you. I’m afraid to ask how old you are.”
“Rude to ask.” I took stock of my bar. “But you can help me carry out my gear from the storage room.”
“Can do.”
He waited for me by the end of the bar and we both walked to the room off the front of the taproom. It had a keypad entry, thanks to our thief from a few seasons ago. I punched in my code and the locks snicked open.
The room was cool and dark as I propped the door open. I flicked on the light and the usually large room felt small with him in there with me. I went right to my shelves. All my gear was labeled. Glassware, shakers, strainers, muddlers, and my favorite pourers had been packed up for the winter. I had specialty jiggers for my flair work, as well as various shakers I used to perform with versus the ones for everyday workhorse use.
I turned with a box, and he took it. “Give me another two of them.”
“They’re heavy.”
“I pulled a tree out of the earth today. I’m good for it.”
“Pretty sure the crane did the work, bud.”
He grinned, his toothpick twitching. “We had to do the digging.”
“Okay.” I set another box on top of it, then a smaller third one that had all my small shot glasses and jiggers. “Actually, I’ll keep these.” I set it aside then changed it out for a box of mixers.
“Don’t think I can handle it?”
“I think you can handle it just fine, but I’ve been collecting these shot glasses for years. Don’t want you to slip on your ducky Crocs and kill them all.”
He grunted. “Fine.”
He was back for another round of boxes before I could make a stack of my own. When he picked up my specialty ones, I put my hand firmly over it. “Trust issues, darlin’?”
I gritted my teeth. “No.”
He simply arched a brow at me.
I pulled down two heavy boxes of glasses and shoved them at him. “Here.”
He took them with ease, and I quickly picked up the red box and followed him out. I put the box on the shelf under the bar top. “You can grab the other two white boxes and the large brown one marked glasses.”
“Got it.”
I flipped off the top of the box and slowly unwrapped the first jigger in a spun glass of yellow and blue. When I’d started working the flair side of bartending, I’d learned that my bar tool setup was as important as my technique.
It was what helped me stand out in a world dominated by men.
Griffin quietly helped unwrap the mugs and pint glasses, lining them up on the bar for a spin through the washer.
The set-up process of my bar was one of my favorite things about starting the season at Brothers Three. I’d expected to be annoyed with Griffin in my space, but he was a competent barback.
“You used to tend bar?”
Griffin nodded. “When I was in the Navy.”
“Navy?” Surprised, I swung my gaze to him.
“Was my way out of Hawaii.” He shrugged. “I thought I’d go into SEAL training but found out I was best suited for AIRR. All that time in the ocean growing up made me perfect for the rescue squad.”
“You’re kidding.”
He laughed. “Not at all. It’s not glamorous. It was hard ass work. Nothing like jumping out of a helicopter to rescue people. Not to mention getting called in to help during storms.”
“Wow.”
I didn’t want to be impressed, but how could I not be? I suddenly noticed Kain standing at the end of the bar with a tray full of food.
“Navy?” he asked hoarsely.
Griffin set down the glass he was unwrapping. “Yeah. I wanted off the island too.”
Kain’s shoulders were stiff. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“I know.” Griffin’s voice was soft. “Jacky N’ai wasn’t interested in anything other than my mother. Definitely not some half Hawaiian kid that reminded him that he was obsessed with her enough to be careless.”
Kain lifted his chin. “Jacky was shit with women. Including my mother.”
I nodded. “He was an asshole. And I hated that he sucked her back into his orbit whenever he came around. So, I got out as soon as I could.”
“Fucking Navy.” Kain shook his head.
“Then I decided to be a rockstar.” His grin was even wider.
Kain set down the tray with a rattle. “What?”
Oh, boy. I moved the glasses out of Kain’s way. I didn’t need broken pint glasses all over the floor. Guess Griffin had decided to rip off the bandaid.
“Maybe I should leave you guys to talk.” I took one of the plates of disco fries.
They were too busy staring at each other.
I wasn’t quite sure if the vibe was menacing or just surprised. And I didn’t have any problem deserting the field.