29. Griffin
Chapter 29
Griffin
Locked In
W hile I’d been swapping out kegs for Lennon for the last few months, it was far different to be behind the stick.
At least that’s what we’d called it at the bar on the base where I’d done most of my bartending. As well as the lean years while Reversal of Fortune had been finding our footing.
The rest of the band had been more interested in the drinking part, but I’d been a damn solid bartender. Enough that it paid the rent on my shithole apartment.
CJ and I worked in concert, me cleaning up after her making sure the glasses were ready and the cooler full of bottles, as well as behind the bar was tidy, but we were getting buried. I jumped in to pour and she gave me a rock on gesture.
Elmer had settled himself at the end of the bar, watching everyone and basking in the attention when people stopped to pet him.
I was busy pouring when a familiar face stood in front of me.
“Now you’re actually bartending? You’re giving all of us a bad name, you know.” Justin drummed his fingers on the bar.
“I said I’d pitch in. CJ doesn’t seem to mind.”
She laughed. “He’s more useful than you are. Good thing you’re hot, Jus.” She winked at him.
He grinned back. “I was plenty helpful last weekend now wasn’t I?”
CJ snickered. “That wasn’t at work.”
I shook my head. Justin played with fire when he hooked up with people at the orchard.
Justin flipped his hat around so the brim was at the back. “Hot Honey if you have any left.”
“You really need to keg that up, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah. I had to source enough honey for a full batch. We’ll have some before mid May.”
I popped the top off a bottle and slid it in front of him. “Might want to think about distributing that one. Based on the changeouts, it’s going neck and neck with Firefly.”
“Hmm. Good to know. Got any whiskey back there?”
“Nope. Gotta go up top for the well drinks.”
“Well drinks. Listen to you.” He laughed and tipped the bottle to his lips for a long swallow. “Damn, that is good. I’m going to go bug Dawn before the kitchen closes.” He saluted me with the bottle.
“Take Elmer with you.”
“Elmer?”
Hearing his name my dog came around the bar and toddled through the crowd. A few people moved out of the way. He was a damn big pit bull, but most just oohed and ahhed over him.
He sat down next to Justin, tongue lolling.
“New mascot?”
I laughed. “Seems so. He’s usually stuck to my leg, but he’s been getting all the attention today. Think he’s addicted.”
“Me too, pal. You wanna come to the kitchen with me?”
Elmer wagged his tail and gave a happy bark.
“Guess that’s a yes.” Justin huffed out a laugh.
“Dawn might kick my ass, but see if she’s got any leftover chicken without any spices on it for him.” I nodded to the next person who also asked for a Hot Honey and exchanged a bottle for money.
“Will do.” Justin gave a c’mon gesture. “Let’s go, tank.”
“Elmer,” I reminded him.
Justin shook his head. “What a name.”
Elmer’s head swiveled to me then to Justin with a small whine. “It’s okay. Go with Justin.”
He tipped his head, his ears flopping.But then Justin strode off with my dog waddling behind.
Once they left, I didn’t have time to think. The night blazed on by. Since it was mid-week, the bar closed by midnight and the kitchen closed an hour before. Without food, most people moved on a little after eleven. Especially out on the patio. Even with the solar lights and overhead string lights, it was black as pitch. It was a clear night with a bite to the air since it was still only April.
We buttoned up the outdoor bar then hauled cases of bottles to be reused at the bottling building in the main orchard. On the way back we helped the dining room which was a helluva lot more trashed.
“What is up with people lately? Pigs.” Ronnie said as she cleaned off a table.
“Imagine what their homes look like?” Annette had a bussing bin on her hip, half full of plates and glasses.
“No thanks,” Ronnie answered. “Based on the dating pool, I’ve seen the worst of it lately.”
“Same, girl. Same.” Brandi, one of the other servers, gathered napkins in a soft bag.
The women laughed, but I noticed Annette didn’t join in. A small frown dug between her eyebrows as she tossed plates into the bin.
Justin took the bin from her. “Let me get that, Annie.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “Don’t start that crap.”
“Annie?” Brandi asked with a wide grin. “Aww.”
“I’ve known Annie since we were teens. Her dad worked the fields and used to bring her around. Little Annie with her braids and freckles.”
“Shut up.” She wrenched the bin back from him. “You can do the trash,” she said over her shoulder.
Justin just threw his head back with a laugh. “She loves me, just doesn’t like to show it.”
But he went right over to the trash can and pulled out one of the industrial bags, quickly tying it up and trading it for another. Justin never said no to work that was for sure.
Or to women.
I’d been at the orchard for a while now and I was pretty sure I’d never seen Annette date. The rest of the crew either played in this sandbox or with the patrons that came in. Turnbull was a damn small town and the pickings seemed slim. Not that I had been looking at anyone other than Lennon since the day I landed at the orchard.
Regardless, I was pretty sure Justin had been through the entire town’s female population. And somehow they all still liked him.
Mostly.
I moved on to the main bar when I noticed Lennon struggling with a keg. I moved up behind her and gripped her hips. She quickly swung around and I caught her fist right before it connected. “Hey there, killer.”
“Sorry.” She quickly wound her arms around my neck and gave me a hug.
Startled that she offered up such easy affection in front of people, I slid an arm around her back. “Hey, something wrong?”
“No.” She eased back. “Sorry, just a little keyed up.”
I frowned down at her. “Did something happen?” I glanced into the dining room where everyone was hustling through the closing rituals. Even Landon was helping with flipping the chairs onto tables and he’d been relieved when the doors closed.
“No. Just a few weird vibes tonight.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Since when do you go with vibes?”
She pinched my side. “I go with vibes all the time. That’s why I didn’t take that place in Florida.”
My chest tightened at that. I was glad she hadn’t gone for the club in Florida. Mostly because she’d been so damn distant as soon as it had been time to actually visit it.
I pulled her close again for a moment, resting my chin on top of her head. “You still sure about that?”
I had to ask. She’d been sure that day, but things could change on a dime. I knew that firsthand.
She sighed against my chest and tucked her hands into my back pockets. “I am. I honestly don’t know what I want at this point. Getting my own place has been my entire focus for ten years.”
Funny, I hadn’t put it together that we both had landed in a new ten year cycle. “You know, it’s okay if you don’t have it all figured out. Most people don’t. I know I sure as hell don’t.”
She laughed. “Yeah, and you’re way older.”
“Ouch. I thought mature men were sexy.”
“Sometimes.” She slipped out of my hold. “I’m going to murder someone if you don’t get that tap off the keg for me.”
“Can’t have that.” I eased her around me to get to the keg and tried not to make a big deal that she actually asked me for help. That hadn’t happened since the day we met.
She allowed me to help, but it was because I’d initiated or jumped in to help.
“Think you’ll have to concede to getting a new tap since this happens all the damn time.”
“Yeah, yeah. I like that tap and they don’t make them anymore.”
“Give me the details and I’ll find some refurbished ones.”
“That’s not your job.”
“Who cares?”
“And none of this is your job. I know you’re not on my payroll and yet you’re always here helping.” She had her hands on her hips. The tone in her voice had me treading carefully.
The hiss of the seal breaking finally gave way and I hauled out the empty keg. I straightened up and her face was mutinous.
To hell with treading carefully. “Because this place is yours. Is my brother’s. Is part of the orchard. I like being part of it. Soon enough I’ll be out of your damn hair when the concert lineup is cemented.”
Her hands fell to her sides. “You don’t make sense.”
“I do, you just don’t want to see it. This place makes me want to be a part of it. Not just from the outside like I have been for most of my life, but inside of it.”
Her eyes went soft. “You are.”
“But that includes you too.” I took her hand and put it against my chest, covering it with mine. “Not just because we are having fun right now. But in the hard parts. And if you find a place you want to buy and it’s in Ireland, I’m part of the package.”
My chest heaved as if I’d run a mile.
Her dark eyes went shiny. “Okay.”
“Good.” I lifted her hand to my lips and I nipped at the skin just below her palm and lowered my voice. “And when we get out of here, I’m going to make sure you know it for sure.”
Her lips twitched. “Looking forward to it.”
She slid around me with a laugh.
I turned around to see Elmer at the end of the bar, sitting there staring at us. “Package deal with him too.”
Her laugh rolled out and my heart rate evened out.
Elmer’s face morphed into a smile, just before his big stupid tongue hung out.
Feeling eyes on us, I looked out on the dining room. Nearly all of the crew were trying not to smile just like my damn dog.
Embarrassed that I’d aired all that out in front of her whole crew, I took the keg into the back. I wasn’t sorry, but I probably could have picked a better time to let that bit of information out.
I’d known it for a long time, but I was damn tired of being afraid to let her know.
In the storage room, I stacked the keg into the corner when suddenly the door slammed behind me.
“Hell.” I hurried back to the door and the door didn’t open. “Shit.”
I slapped my hand on the door. “Hey!”
I should have talked to Kira about the locks last time when Lennon got locked in. I couldn’t even put my shoulder into it since the door opened in.
Not that it would do any good, the damn thing was reinforced steel.
I dug out my phone and texted Lennon. She wasn’t great about checking her phone when she was in work mode.
Annoyed, I slid down the door and sat down.
I lightly rapped the back of my head against the door. I flicked through my contacts. Maybe if I called the main taproom line someone would pick up.
I dialed in, letting it ring until a voicemail came on saying we were closed.
Fuck my life.
I swiped my hand over my face then sniffed.
What the hell?
I scrambled up and smoke snaked under the door.
“Shit.”
Voices lifted just outside. Then the shriek of the fire alarms pierced the air.
I slapped my hand against he door. “Hey!”
Like they’d hear me over that.
I looked around the storage room and my eyes rested on the empty kegs. I ran over and took one from the pile and slammed it against the steel door.
The clang rang my damn ears, but I did it again and again.
“Griffin! Is that you?” Annette’s voice came through.
“Hey! Yes, I’m in here.”
I could barely hear the beeps of her putting in the code for the door but then it swung open. “Oh, my God.” She pulled me through the door. “We have to get outside.”
“Where’s Lennon?”
“She’s checking to make sure everyone is out.”
The whole hallway was full of smoke. How the hell had that happened so fast? I wasn’t in the back that long.
“Griffin!”
“Here!” I coughed.
Lennon’s voice seemed too far away.
I grabbed onto Annette’s hand and hauled her down the hall to the main dining room. I pulled my shirt over my nose and mouth, coughing. My eyes stung and the room was blurry as my eyes watered to try and get them clear. “Lennon!”
“I’m here.” She had a bundle in her arms. “Elmer was hiding behind the bar.”
I took him from her. “Okay, go. Get out of here.”
Reassured when he whimpered, I ushered her through the dining room to the back door. The smaller, side door was open. I ran down the stairs with Elmer and set him on one of the Adirondack chairs before I hauled ass back up the stairs.
Lennon was right beside me as we wrestled open the accordion doors of the dining room to get the smoke out.
“Did you call 911?” I asked.
She nodded, her own shirt over her mouth and nose.
“How long was I in the back?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Where the hell is it coming from?”
The patio filled with smoke as it poured out into the sky, but I still couldn’t see inside the dining room.
She turned around to the patio and I could see her counting.
“Who’s missing?” I stumbled down the steps gulping in fresh air.
Lennon was coughing, her eyes streaming. “Where’s Ronnie?”
I glanced around. “Ronnie!” I called over the shrieking fire alarms. Fear crawling up my spine as I ran around the side of the building.
“Do you see her?” Justin followed me around the building.
“No.”
We both ran for the picnic tables along the back of the kitchen. The smoke was thicker there.
Kitchen fire?
The kitchen had been closed for well over an hour. No one was cooking.
“Where the hell are the firetrucks?”
“Coming from Crescent Cove. Our town is too small for anything other than a small volunteer unit.” Justin said around bouts of coughing.
Fire was dangerous for an orchard at the best of times.
This needed to be contained. Justin ran up the stairs to the kitchen. He stopped for a quick second to tap the handle of the doorknob then shouldered his way through the door.
The smoke was thick and acrid as it rolled over us. I crouched low as I followed him in. Flames curled up from the grill and licked up the walls.
“Over here!” Justin yelled.
I spotted a hand in the dim kitchen. The lights were already out since the kitchen crew had been gone well before midnight and the smoke was overwhelming.
Justin struggled to his feet, a woman in his arms. As I got closer, I noticed Ronnie’s dark hair covering her face as she lay limply in his arms.
The dark hair so much like Lennon’s stalled whatever breath was left in my chest. Then I noticed her full crimson lips and I almost lost it. Too much like her.
The fire along the grill top was spreading and danced its way across the duct work. Suddenly sparks fanned out from the wires above the door.
“Shit.” I pushed Justin toward the other exit leading into the taproom, my vision darkening at the edges.
I shoved the prep table away, the metal already hot to the touch. Justin kicked the door open and we both rushed through the dining room.
The big doors being open cleared my lungs a little as I coughed out the smoke.
“Back here!” Lennon raced along the path between Ronan’s workroom and the taproom to the front. My eyes locked on her as she disappeared from view.
My ears felt stopped up, but I was pretty sure I finally heard real sirens over the awful fire alarm.“Thank God.”
Justin’s knees buckled near the stairs and he sagged against the railing. I hauled ass over to him and between the both of us we got her down to the patio.
Annette rushed over to us as we rolled her onto her back.
Justin put his ear to her chest. “Fuck, fuck.” He positioned her head and started compressions. “She’s not breathing.” Then he started humming something.
Was that the Bee Gee’s?
But he was doing the chest compressions as he sang, then paused and pinched her nose to breathe into her lungs twice then resumed the compressions. “C’mon Ronnie. Come on.” He started humming “Stayin’ Alive” again for the beat.
Annette was right next to Justin, sobbing. “No, no.” She swiped her face with the back of her hand leaving a streak of soot.
“Move out of the way!” Came a voice from behind us. Paramedics hustled through along with cops and firefighters.
I pointed to the side of the building. “Kitchen,” I managed to say around my closed throat and the firefighters took off.
Suddenly Ronnie heaved out a wracking cough and the paramedic pulled Annette out of the way.
“We have it from here, sir.” The paramedic gently eased Justin out of the way.
Justin fell back onto his butt, his face streaked, his baseball hat still on backwards. “Is she okay?”
“She’s going to be.” The bald man placed an oxygen mask over Ronnie’s face.
Her summer blue eyes were blurry and her lashes thick. She reached out a hand to Justin. She mumbled something, but the paramedics were loading her onto a stretcher board.
One of the other paramedics asked, “Is anyone else hurt?”
I looked up and the whole crew was shaking their heads. CJ and Brandi were huddled together with Elmer between them.
Annette was wiping her eyes, staring straight ahead.
Justin crawled toward her, but she didn’t seem to notice.
A few others from the waitstaff were on the far side of the patio, all with shock on their faces.
I felt her before I heard her say, “Griffin.” Lennon nearly pushed me over as she threw herself into my arms.
Thank God it wasn’t her.
I cupped the back of her head, the heavy rope of her braid under my hand helped bring my adrenaline back down. She pressed her face into my neck and we just rocked as the sounds of firefighters calling out orders barely dented the howl of the fire alarm.
The blast of water hitting the building broke the haze.
The crew all moved to the hill just above the patio and we watched white smoke climb into the sky overhead.
How the hell had this happened?