Chapter 20
Jackson
Sunday afternoon. Bar was dead except for one guy nursing a beer down at the far end.
Haley came through from the back.
“We need to talk.”
Fuck.
I glanced at the customer. If we raised our voices, he’d hear everything. Haley sat on the customer side. I stayed behind the bar.
She set her keys on the wood between us. Full ring, heavy brass with the spring clip. The back door key still chipped from when she dropped them in the parking lot last winter.
Next to the keys, a folded piece of cream stationery.
No explanation. Just there.
“I’ve been here three years, Jackson.”
Her voice stayed calm. Too calm. Same tone she used when she was cutting off drunks who thought they could argue their way into one more.
“I know.”
“Three years. Never missed a shift. Covered for you when you were still figuring this place out. Covered for her when she dropped trays and fucked up orders that whole first week.”
I kept my voice down. Sound carried in an empty bar.
“She’s doing better.”
“She still needs help finding half the day-shift stuff,” Haley said. “You don’t hand lead hours to somebody still learning the register drawer.”
Haley looked straight at me. “I asked if you’re choosing her over me.”
I looked past her at the taps, then back. No easy way out of this one.
I kept my face steady. “It’s not about choosing.”
“Bullshit.” She leaned forward. “She lives with Kevin. Works for you. Makes mistakes and you keep her anyway. And I’m supposed to train her? Watch you hand her the job I earned?”
“That’s not what’s happening.”
“Then what is happening, Jackson?”
I had nothing.
She didn’t stop. “She gets special treatment because she’s fucking Kevin. Everyone in town knows it.”
She wasn’t just calling Lauren a problem. She was calling me obvious.
Kevin and Lauren in the same sentence pissed me off fast. Not knowing if Haley was wrong made me feel stupid too.
“She’s not…” I shut my mouth.
Were they?
I didn’t actually know. Any answer I gave was going to make me sound stupid.
I kept looking back at those keys. Storage room key with the faded red tag I put on three years ago. The 3 in Sharpie almost gone.
Standing there with Haley across from me, I knew who this town would call the safe bet.
“What if I gave you a raise? Manager. More per hour. Official day-shift lead.”
Her face didn’t move. “This isn’t about money.”
I had nothing left. Haley just looked at me like she knew she had me.
My phone buzzed right there on the bar where we could both see it.
Lauren. Text: “Last night went well right? Feel like I’m finally getting it. Thanks for giving me this chance, Jackson. Really.”
My hand closed around the phone so fast it gave me away. The text was too warm and she was standing right there watching it.
I curled my hand under the bar and kept my face straight.
We both stared.
Haley didn’t have to say shit.
She looked up at me. “It’s her or me. Choose.”
She said it about staffing. Still felt too damn personal.
Couldn’t fire Lauren nor lose Haley. Kevin would take it personal, and Dad would be waiting to tell me I did this to myself.
And Kevin wasn’t just Kevin in this. He was the man I’d have to look at after.
Dad’s voice was already in my head, smug: Told you this would happen.
“Give me until morning.”
Haley stood. Grabbed the folded paper, slid it into her back pocket. Left the keys sitting there.
“Monday morning. Before my shift.”
She headed for the door. Stopped with her hand on the frame, didn’t turn around.
“I’ve never asked you for anything, Jackson. I’m asking now.”
Then she was gone.
I stood there staring at the keys. Six of them. Front door, back door, storage, office, register drawer, supply closet. Three years hanging off one brass ring.
The guy at the end lifted his empty glass and glanced at Haley’s keys. He’d heard enough to carry it somewhere.
***
Monday morning, 5:30 AM, I called my dad.
He picked up on the fourth ring. “Jackson? What the hell?”
He sounded like shit. I woke him up.
“I need you to come to the bar. Right now.”
“What happened?”
“Just come. Please.”
He didn’t say anything. I figured he’d tell me to fuck off and call back at a normal hour.
“Twenty minutes,” he said.
I hung up.
I hadn’t slept. Every time I tried, I saw Haley’s keys on my bar and heard her voice saying, I’m asking now. Or Lauren’s text thanking me for a chance I was about to take away.
I got to the bar at six. Flipped on the lights, started setting up.
I stood at the cooler arguing with nobody and calling it practice.
“Dad, revenue’s up thirty percent.”
No. Weak as hell.
“The bar’s growing. I’m expanding.”
Better.
I grabbed a beer case and loaded the cooler.
I kept practicing out loud while I restocked. “If you look at the numbers—” No. “Weekend nights I’m drowning, I need—” Fuck, that sounded desperate. Tried it five different ways. All of them sounded like begging.
The math worked if the weekend numbers held, the supplier kept waiting, and the AC gave me one more month. Great list.
My dad showed up at seven sharp. Walked in looking pissed.
“What’s going on?”
“Sit.” I grabbed the folder off the bar. The spreadsheet I printed at three in the morning when sleep gave up. “Look at this.”
He sat. Stared at me like I’d lost my mind.
I didn’t say I wanted to hire both. That would’ve gotten laughed out. Instead I said, “Revenue’s up thirty percent last quarter.”
He blinked. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I slid the paper across. “Look. Weekends especially. Friday and Saturday I’m getting slammed. Can’t keep up. I need two people on those nights anyway.”
He looked at the numbers. I watched him run the math in his head the way he always does, eyes moving down the columns.
“You could afford two people,” he said. “Maybe.”
“I can.”
“Jackson—”
“I’m hiring both. Haley and Lauren. Different shifts. It works.”
My dad just stared at me. I knew what came next. Just another mistake and another reason he should’ve kept me out of this place.
But he looked back at the spreadsheet instead.
“Numbers work if nothing changes.”
“I know.”
“If revenue drops even a little, you’re fucked.”
“I know.”
He looked up. “Revenue drops, you fire one. Lauren first.”
“And until this proves itself, you don’t touch a dollar that isn’t payroll or inventory.”
My stomach twisted. There it was. The price. But I didn’t have a choice.
“Fine.”
“I mean it, Jackson. You promised me smart business decisions. This goes bad, you cut your losses. Her first.”
“I said fine.”
He stood. Grabbed the spreadsheet, folded it in half, tapped it against the counter twice. Then he looked at me.
“This is a risk.”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t make me say I told you so.”
He left.
I stood there alone. Might’ve just made a dumb decision.
Haley showed up at eight. Right on time. I could see it on her face. She thought I was firing Lauren.
“I’m hiring both of you.”
She stopped. “What?”
“Expanding hours. You take days. Lauren takes nights.”
Days got the regulars and daylight. Nights got the crowd, the cleanup, and me.
“Can you afford that?”
“Barely.” I showed her the spreadsheet. Same numbers I showed my dad. “Revenue’s up. Weekends need two people anyway. It works.”
She looked at the paper. Then at me.
“What if it doesn’t?”
“Then you cut nights or you cut her. You don’t drag me down with her.”
“It will.”
“Jackson—”
“You’ve been here three years. You’re not going anywhere. She’s not going anywhere. I need both of you.” I looked right at her. “Days are yours. Nights are hers. You don’t train her. She figures it out or she doesn’t.”
Night shift meant closing with me, counting drawers with me, the bar emptying out around us. I kept all that out of my mouth.
It also kept Haley off her and kept Lauren on my hours. I didn’t touch that part.
Haley didn’t say anything. Just stood there. I held my breath. If she walked right now, everything falls apart. I’d be back to firing Lauren, and then I’d have neither and be completely screwed.
“Fine,” she said. “Day shift. And I’m not training her. And if she screws up my numbers, she’s your problem. Not mine.”
I had to grip the bar hard to keep my face normal. I thought I might laugh from pure relief.
“Deal.”
She nodded and went to the back.
I pulled out my phone. Texted Lauren. “Can you come to the bar? Need to talk.”
Then I stood there staring at the door, already worked up about her walking in.
She came in with her hair still a little messy and her mouth set tight. I noticed both before I got back to the point.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re hired. Official. Payroll starts next week.” My voice came out rougher than I meant it to.
Her whole face changed. “What?”
I looked away first. I didn’t need her looking that happy because of me.
This should’ve been payroll and schedule. It wasn’t. I kept stepping around that.
“Night shift. You start next week. Real job, real money.”
“What about Haley?”
“Both of you. I’m expanding.” I didn’t show her the numbers. Didn’t explain the tightrope. Kept it simple. “You earned it. Don’t make this harder on me than it already is.”
I didn’t tell her I’d just put money, goodwill, and what little peace I had left on the line to make this happen.
She smiled so big she looked like she might cry.
I looked past her at the bottles and kept the rest of my mouth shut.
“I won’t. I swear. Can you really afford this?”
“Barely. Don’t make me regret it.”
I walked out before her smile got any bigger and made this feel personal. Before she could ask more questions. I couldn’t afford that.
Friday and Saturday were already running through my head. Haley on days. Lauren on nights. One bad week and everything becomes one big ol’ problem.
The numbers worked on paper, but only if nothing went wrong.
Things always go wrong.