Chapter 3 #2
Ethan got out of his truck, his long legs reaching the ground easily.
She had to use the running board to step up, and even then it was a bit high.
He met her eyes through the window and touched the brim of his hat.
She’d kind of fallen for men in cowboy hats since moving down here.
New York men didn’t wear them. And those who did, didn’t wear them… the same way.
She nodded back and saw Fred look where she was looking. “Seems like you know everyone here,” he said.
“I live twenty minutes away,” she said, still watching Ethan. He’d shifted his attention to Manny.
Manny said, “Looks like your cuz-in-law wants a word. You give me a yell if you need anything.” Then he turned, meeting Ethan at the door, and the two of them went to a table way on the other side.
She was curious. Surely Ethan hadn’t driven all this way just to have tacos, not the way his aunt fed people under her roof.
And he’d had something in his hand, a folder.
She’d been so busy watching his eyes and his mouth and wondering what his lips would taste like, that she hadn’t noticed it right away.
Could he have known she’d be there? Lily wondered. On a date? With a man? Who wasn’t him?
Manny and Ethan sat opposite each other at a little table just the other side of the juke box, left of the bar and double kitchen doors.
There were only a handful of patrons at tables in between.
Gringo Sombrero sat in his usual spot, all the way over by the right wall, his long legs stretched out, boots crossed at the ankles, drink in front of him.
There was a couple she saw there often, and a table full of out-of-towners.
There were a few locals she recognized. She was getting to know folks in Quinn.
“This has been fun,” Fred said, again making her realize she’d been ignoring his presence.
That was rude and not like her. She might want to be rude sometimes, but she almost never gave in to the urge.
It’s not the way her mother would have acted, so it wasn’t the way her only daughter, namesake, and doppelg?nger, should act.
“I’m sorry, Fred. I don’t mean to be so distracted. I just have a lot on my mind.”
“Oh?” Shoot, he was waiting for her to elaborate. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No,” she replied. “It’s personal.” She couldn’t help that her gaze slid toward Manny and Ethan sitting on the other side. Ethan slid his folder across the table to Manny. Manny shook his head and slid it back.
“Okay, good.” Fred got up and she faced him again. Oh, shoot, he looked pissed. He took a ten-spot from his wallet and dropped it on the table. “See you at work,” he said.
She got to her feet. “Wait, are you…angry with me for some reason?”
“No, I like going on dates and being ignored,” he said.
“Well, it’s gonna take another five to cover your half of the meal and tip there, Prince Charming,” she shot back, loud enough to be heard inside. She damn near clapped a hand over her mouth. Who the hell’s voice was that?
Fred sent her a furious glare, pulled out his wallet, found a five-dollar bill, and dropped it onto the table, not caring that one end landed in the sour cream.
Then he pivoted and strode away, straight out of the Cantina.
He slammed his car door to show her how mad he was, and pulled out way too fast. What a jerk.
She looked at the tacos, at the money, decided to leave the cash for a tip, and pay with her card, and got up to take care of the bill—because, honestly, she was dying to know what was going on between Manny and Ethan.
She went up to the bar, which brought her within earshot, and slid onto a stool to wait for someone to come and take her payment.
“You don’t understand, Manny,” Ethan was saying. “I don’t want it.”
“ You don’t understand, Ethan,” Manny replied. “ I don’t want it.”
“Well, we’re at an impasse, then.”
“No, we’re not,” Manny replied. “ You own it. Says so righ’chere. I, on the other hand, am about to start plannin’ my retirement party.”
“How can you—what do you mean? A loan shark swindled you out of this place. Why wouldn’t you want it back, if only to sell it again?” Ethan spotted Lily just as he completed the question.
She saw him wondering how much she’d heard and tried to cover her intent listening by bringing her phone to her ear and speaking low into it while turning her back to the two men.
Manny said, “Loan shark? Where’d you get that idea?
” He picked up the papers. “I sold the place willingly. New owner took care of the operatin’ expenses, and I got to keep all the profits for as long as he lived.
He even provided me with a bookkeeper. Took all that worry out of Rosa’s hands.
” He shrugged. “I presumed it was a tax write-off or some such. What I don’t get it is why he would’ve signed it over to you. Did you know this fella?”
Lily realized she could see Ethan’s face in the big mirror behind the bar. He looked stunned. As she watched him, he nodded, but didn’t speak.
“Look,” Manny said, “this feller de Lorean and me, we agreed that upon his death I’d retire to make way for the new owner.
I been sockin’ away money ever since, and we have Rosa’s retirement, too.
Now, I’ll he’p you with the transition any way I can, Ethan, but—I cain’t do more’n that.
This thing with my heart’s made me realize I might not have as much time left as I always thought.
I gotta live my life now. Tell ya the truth, the timin’ couldn’t be better for me. ”
Again, he shoved the papers across the table to Ethan, then he crossed the room and moved behind the bar, coming over to take Lily’s card from her while she pretended not to have heard a thing.
As he ran it, Ethan was gathering the papers back into his folder.
Lily signed the receipt and headed out before he finished, and since he hadn’t locked his truck, she climbed in and waited.
He didn’t see Lily at first, but then he felt her there in the passenger seat, or smelled the shampoo she used, or something. He turned his head and met her eyes. They were wide in the darkness.
“Date ditched me,” she said. “I rode down with Dad. Wanna give me a ride home?”
The word date hit him hard. He was quiet for a moment, and then he nodded. “Lover’s quarrel?” he asked.
“First date,” she replied. “I don’t think he’ll ask for a second.”
“Then he’s an idiot.” He started the engine, backed the truck out. When he glanced her way again, her cheeks were pinker than before.
She averted her eyes and said, “So what’s all this about you owning Manny’s? I mean, I couldn’t help but overhear.”
“Yeah, you could’ve.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I could’ve. But you changed the subject. What about the cantina?”
He thought for a moment, then said, “Other than my folks, nobody knows about this yet.”
“I’ll never tell.” She locked her lips and tossed the key.
“I don’t even know what I’m fixin’ to do about it just yet.”
“Run it,” she said. “What’s better than a country singer with his own honky-tonk?”
“I’m not that big a country singer.”
“You will be.”
“The words one-hit-wonder mean anything to you?”
“So you take that one hit and you milk it for all it’s worth. Have CDs and T-shirts on sale behind the bar. Deck the walls with album covers?—”
“There’s only just the one.”
“—and shots of you on stage, and shots of you with other famous people. Use song titles and lyrics in your menu items, maybe even rename the place. Country Kind of Saloon—something like that.”
He pushed his hat back on his head. “You’re just full of ideas.”
“Yeah, I’ve been getting ideas about this place for a while. Been helping out around here since Manny’s heart attack,” she explained. “I felt so bad about what happened, I?—”
He held up a hand, school room style. “Why would you feel bad? I heard you saved his life.”
She bit her lip. “I didn’t really do anything. He came to and I held his hand and waited for the ambulance.”
There was something more, he could see it in her eyes.
“Anyway, they needed the help, and I know my way around a restaurant, so?—”
“Cause your dad’s a chef?”
“The owner of the diner where he worked back east made him manager,” she said.
“He just wanted to cook, but the owner insisted he could do both. And he loved cooking there too much to give it up. It was short-order, but he’d created signature sandwiches and fancy sides the patrons loved.
So I started helping him out and taking courses to learn what I didn’t know.
Next thing I know, I’m the manager. Unpaid. ”
“How old were you?”
“Mmm, I helped Dad run the diner all through my teens,” she said. “We didn’t have entertainment, just food, but—we did all sorts of special events, holiday themes, private parties, and promotions. Gosh, those were great times.”
Her eyes were sparkling. He hadn’t yet started the truck. He was kind of lost in learning new things about Lily Ellen Hyde. And when she talked about this particular thing, she lit up.
“I was thinking you could knock out the east wall. Build on an addition with a stage and dance floors. Maybe install a second bar out there. And you could plan a huge grand opening and advertise the heck out of it. Bring in every act you’ve met on the road to perform.
Make this little taco bar into a true honky-tonk.
” She gazed out her side window, then behind them.
“You’re gonna need a bigger parking lot. ”
“And I’m gonna do all this…when, between gigs?”
Her face fell. It was like a flame had been doused. “I guess I thought—I mean, is all the touring what you really want out of life? Forever?”
He shrugged. “It’s what I do.”
“Yeah, but is it getting you anywhere? Is it making you happy, or is it just keeping you busy?” She bit her lip when he looked her way. “I’m sorry, that’s none of my business. I’m projecting, anyway.”
“Projectin’? What, you’re not happy being a nurse?”