Chapter 13 #2
Toni and Becks giggled like two schoolgirls. “Well, good thing for you I have my own delivery service,” Becks said, holding up her remote. “Now scoot. I am declaring this section women only. No penises allowed.”
“I am seriously questioning if those drinks are actually non-alcoholic,” Ranger quipped, though truly happy to see his sister having such a good time.
Bending, he kissed Toni. “I’ll be back to check on you in a bit, and I’ll send one of the servers over with your iced tea.
The only lip service you’re getting tonight is from me. ”
Toni smiled saucily up at him. “Sounds good to me.”
On his way up to the bar, Ranger shook hands with several people he knew from town, carefully dodging questions about where he’d been or why they hadn’t seen him around in a while.
Making it up to the bar, a loud beep sounded as Ranger stepped behind the counter.
Ghost gave him a nod as he poured a lager into a frosted glass stein.
“It’s good to see you back here again,” Ghost called over the crowd.
“Good to see it standing again,” Ranger parried. “Hard to believe it’s back up and running.” He reached for a glass to make Toni’s iced tea in. “I’m sorry you had to rebuild it on your own.”
“Trust me when I say I’m not,” Ghost told him, putting the full stein on a tray and grabbing for a second one. “You had more important things to deal with. I’d rather have dealt with all this without you to get you back here sooner than risk your sobriety by putting too much on you.”
Ranger added the iced tea to the tray and informed Marcus to take it to Toni when he delivered the other orders. Leaning against the back bar, Ranger crossed his arms over his chest as he looked around the room. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to work here again.”
Ghost finished the order and sent Marcus on his way.
Grabbing a rag, he tossed it at Ranger before nodding to the glasses that still needed to be dried.
“We’ve already discussed this. Don’t get all morose on me now just because this place is finally back.
Whether you ever work here again, half of it is still yours. That’s never going to change, brother.”
Ranger started drying as ordered. It felt natural, the routine of wiping down the glasses fresh from the dishwasher. “I hate that this is all on you, though.”
“Look,” Ghost came up next to him, resting his ass on the back bar, too. “I understand your reservations. Alcohol was never your vice, though. Even before the heroin, you never abused it. I don’t see how that would change now. Just because you work at a bar doesn’t mean you have to drink, too.”
While that was true, Ranger’s real fear was replacing one vice with another. It was something they warned about in AA, which was why many in the program encouraged full sobriety.
Wanting to keep the atmosphere light, Ranger lifted an eyebrow at his brother-in-law. “Have you ever heard not to trust a skinny chef? I’m sure there’s something in there about not trusting a sober bartender, too.”
Ghost slapped Ranger upside the head. “Not funny. Seriously, I’m not pushing you. If you honestly feel you’re not ready to work here, then you’re not ready. If it takes six months or six years or never, I don’t care.”
Ranger handed him a clean glass. “Let me at least get through my first year. Then I’ll talk to Cross and Rutenberg, and see what they suggest.”
“Did I hear my name?”
Ranger and Ghost looked up to see Cross approach the bar as a young couple moved away. The older man smiled jovially, once again reminding Ranger of a robust version of Santa Claus.
“Hey, man!” Ranger stepped forward to shake his sponsor’s hand. “I’m so glad you could make it.”
“Almost didn’t, but I’m trying to make up for my absence over the past several weeks. Then Loretta texted me a list of what she was making for the celebration, and I am not a fool to turn down your mama’s cooking.”
Ghost offered him his hand, too. “Good to see you. Not sure what your poison is, but we have a new selection of mocktails and alcohol-free beer if you want to try something.”
Cross looked down at the menu Ghost slid in front of him. “Well, this is certainly the selection! I’ll have to try the Heaving Bosom.”
“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask you about the name choices,” Ranger said to Ghost as he started to make Cross’ drink.
“Don’t look at me. The ol’ ladies did the naming at their last meetup,” Ghost told Ranger and Cross. “I’m honestly not sure if it was the sober or drunk ones who came up with the names. They couldn’t stop giggling long enough to tell me.”
Ranger cringed. “Was Cage at that meeting?” A self-proclaimed ol’ lady, Cage was not a voice of reason when the women got together.
“He was the one who was giggling the loudest,” Ghost retorted as he passed Cross his Heaving Bosom. Complete with two maraschino cherries.
Ranger shook his head.
Cross took a sip and hummed in delight. “Oh, this is very good. Normally I have to get sparkling water or something boring at a bar. I like that you have created so many alcohol free options.”
“They have sparkling water on there, too,” Ghost pointed out. “That’s the Holy Water, and then we just add grenadine if someone wants some flavor.”
Cross chuckled. Turning to Ranger, he said more seriously, “I do have an ulterior motive to coming tonight. I feel like I’ve been neglecting my sponsees, and I want to make it up to you.”
Ranger waved him off. “No, man. Don’t you even think about it.
You do so much for us already, and it wasn’t like you didn’t have a good reason.
You can’t be everywhere at once. And not to knock your impeccable sponsor skills, but I actually figured out that I can cope without you even on bad days by relying on my friends and family. ”
“As glad as I am to hear that, others did not have such a smooth time. I know we usually get together on Sundays, but I didn’t want to wait the week to do so.
So I’m trying to gather you all together tomorrow for dinner at my house.
And please don’t tell your wonderful mother,” Cross added.
“My guilt is high enough currently without her feeling like she has to cook for us after she’s done all this.
” He gestured to the bar. “I’m ordering pizza and we’re going to have a nice mini meeting. ”
Ranger bounced the idea around in his head.
“It’s Toni’s day off tomorrow. We’d planned on spending it on the bike.
” He hated disappointing Cross, but he also didn’t want to ditch Toni on her day off.
Plus, if they were already out and about, he’d have to drive her home then go back out to Cross’ before heading back to pick her up before a meeting.
“Bring her,” Cross encouraged. “In fact, I’ll tell the others to bring their spouses or significant others, too. What’s a few more pizzas?”
Ranger didn’t want to be a bother. “Are you sure?”
“Of course. Trust me, I am just delighted I get to catch up with all of you after being absent.”
“Then sure. I’ll verify with Toni, but I don’t see it being an issue.” He reached across the bar to shake Cross’ hand. “Thanks a lot.”
“Always,” Cross said with a cheerful smile. “Now, if you’ll point me in the direction of your lovely mother, I’d like to say ‘hello’. Oh, look! There’s Colby, too.”
Stifling a groan, Ranger pointed to his left where his mom, Dee Dee, and Louisa had set up an L-shaped buffet table of goodies in front of the kitchen door.
* * *
165 Days Sober
“We’re going to be late.” Toni tried to sound reproachful through her new helmet’s Bluetooth, but it ended up coming out like a wanton plea—even to her own ears.
The responding chuckle that echoed through her head was like the torch that lit the already primed bonfire.
They’d been driving all day, just cruising through the mountain and surrounding farmland.
Ranger took them on the most obscure path, all to avoid the highway.
It was beautiful and surreal, and exactly what Toni had needed to decompress after a long work week.
The trial for Jett Deininger was about to start, and even though it wasn’t her case, Toni was trying to keep an eye on it for the club.
Her other caseload was building up faster than Toni could ever remember happening before, but as Gwen pointed out, that’s what happened when she was actually keeping normal work hours now that she had someone waiting for her at home.
It was just another reminder of how she’d allowed her work to take over her life.
With Ranger now in her life, she needed to find a balance between the two.
It might result in her taking on fewer cases or spreading them out more.
Some might consider it a sacrifice at the height of her career, but Toni didn’t.
Susie was thrilled for her, loving that Toni was finally breaking away from her heavy workload and was starting to finally experience life.
And the fact that Toni had found a man willing to follow her around a bookstore for hours just watching her pick out books because it put a smile on her face…
? Yeah, Toni had certainly hit the jackpot in that department.
But it was days like this where they would just drive, where it was just them, the bike, and the road, that were the most incredible. Cathartic even. Toni wouldn’t trade them for all the books in the world.