Chapter 17
Gage
I’ve been deep cleaning the bar and making sure it looks perfect for the past three hours.
It’s always clean, but it’s been too long since it has been scrubbed to this degree.
Every glass sparkles, the tables are spotless, and the black bar top itself shines like it’s onyx or obsidian.
All of the incredible smells coming from the kitchen mean our cooks are hard at work prepping.
Diana will be here soon with newly printed menus, and some fresh flowers to replace the ones that are wilting.
The influencer is coming tonight, so the bar needs to be as impressive as possible.
If she loves everything we offer, and posts some favorable content about the place, it could take El Abrevadero to a new level.
It’s my chance to prove to my dad that I’m up to the task of taking over and keeping the bar moving forward when the time comes.
The fact that everyone is coming out to support tonight makes me incredibly grateful. My dad, Wayne, and Gina will be here of course, with Gina’s parents watching the kids. Gina got her best friend Lyra and her fiancé Taran to come. Carlo and Tania will be here, along with Carlo’s sisters.
Celeste seems the most excited about tonight.
She’s coming with Tania and Carlo, and I can’t help but notice she’s acting squirrelly.
I know she’s planning something, but every time I ask what it is, she playfully glares at me and tells me to butt out of her business.
Mind you, she says this sometimes after we’ve been heavily kissing, so maybe she does like me in her business a little bit.
It’s been well over a week, and I’m still giddily reeling about how everything went down in our kitchen.
The trust she showed me by opening up about what she’s been feeling, and then kissing me, is something I’ll never forget or take for granted.
The kisses themselves have been haunting my dreams. She’s so passionate when she takes control, because she feels safe enough to let it out, and I can’t wait to see how much of an inferno we make if and when she’s ready to go further.
As if I summoned her with my not so innocent thoughts, she, Tania, and Carlo walk in. They take in the space with appreciative eyes, clearly noticing the extra shine going on.
“The place looks great, man,” Carlo enthuses, bringing me in for a bro hug.
Tania gives me a one armed hug since there’s a bag in her hand, and she echoes Carlo’s enthusiasm.
I’m not sure whether Celeste has told her sister and Carlo that we’ve kissed, so I shift a little from foot to foot with uncertainty when it’s her turn.
She takes a beat to read me too, and then her arms are around my neck.
She kisses me right in front of them. Carlo lets out a hoot, causing Celeste to let go of me with one hand and flip him off behind her back.
He shuts up right quick. Those luscious lips stay on mine, though.
When she sadly pulls back, Tania hands her the bag with a knowing smirk.
“Tania gets most of the credit for this, she made it based on what I gave her. I thought this would be a nice addition to the bar’s decor,” Celeste explains, clearly nervous about what I’ll think.
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” I murmur as she hands the bag to me.
“I think it’ll bring good vibes to the place. Go on, open it,” she encourages.
What I pull out of the bag makes me instantly tear up.
It’s a stunning, detailed, framed sketch of me, my dad, and my abuela smiling, standing around a table, with a huge platter of arepas on it.
Up top, it’s titled, “El Abrevadero’s Legacy,” in carefully done block lettering.
All three of our faces look so animated and full of joy.
There’s warmth emanating from every stroke of the pencil.
My throat is too tight with emotion to speak.
“Please say something. Do you hate it?” Celeste’s voice has the distinct note of panic.
I shake my head, haul her to me, and kiss her again. There’s no possible way for me to hold her tightly enough. She melts a little and kisses me back passionately before we pull apart at Tania clearing her throat.
“So you hate it, then?” Celeste teases in a whisper at my ear.
“It’s awful. How dare you have something so beautiful and thoughtful made for me,” I rumble back into her ear.
She smiles against my neck, and gives me one last squeeze before I turn to Tania.
“You are ridiculously talented, my friend. The way you captured the three of us is incredible. Thank you so much,” I tell her fervently.
“My pleasure,” she says with a smile. “It was all Cece’s brain child, I just executed it the way she envisioned.”
“How did you capture our facial expressions and personalities like that in the sketch?”
“Cece sent me pictures of you, your dad, and the one of your abuela and you cooking together. Your faces in those shots already had everything I needed, I just rendered them into a sketch,” she says.
“I provided moral support, that’s about it,” Carlo pipes in, pulling Tania close and gazing at her so proudly. She smiles up at him with pure affection.
“Where do you think it should go?” Celeste asks.
“Right where everyone will see it as soon as they walk up to the bar,” I say, taking the framed sketch with me as I go to the shelves in the very center behind the bar.
Moving a few bottles to the side, I prop it up in its deserved place in the spotlight.
It’s an eight by ten frame, so it commands attention in that spot without it dominating the space.
The overhead lamp shines on it perfectly.
Celeste comes up to the bar and rests her forearms on it, cocking her head to take in the sketch sitting in pride of place on the shelf.
Tania and Carlo seem to want to give us time to ourselves, and make themselves scarce.
They bustle around the front area straightening out chairs, rearranging the flowers, and fussing over table settings.
“I thought it would be a good way to show the influencer how much this bar means to your family,” she explains.
“I love it so much. My pops is going to lose it when he sees it,” I say.
“Some coworkers from the diner, a few friends from the animal shelter, and even a couple of people I’ve become friendly with in my anger management class are going to be here. Hopefully that’ll look good to the influencer, too. A bigger crowd will impress her.”
This woman is quickly wrapping me all the way around her little finger. She likes to be tough, but there is a huge softy underneath, and she always shows up for the people she cares about. I lean across the bar and lift her chin with my finger.
“You’re amazing for doing all of this, you know? I appreciate it more than you can ever imagine,” I murmur close to her mouth.
Her face morphs into pure mischief as she leans even closer to my ear.
“Maybe you can show me how much you appreciate me at home later,” she whispers.
First, my heart swells about three sizes at her calling our place home. Then the meaning of her words sinks in on a delay, and every fucking fiber of my being becomes a live wire. She’s going to kill me before I can even show the influencer my beloved bar.
“There is nothing I want more than to show you how much I appreciate you, but to do that I need to stay alive until we get home. So play fair, mi vida,” I whisper back.
Her grin is wicked as she backs away, shoots me a wink, then goes to join Carlo and Tania up front. It takes me a minute of thinking about sports stats and other mundane things to get my body to calm down, but I somehow manage.
My dad, Wayne, and Gina come strolling in next, followed by Diana.
All of them gasp and start to cry when they see the drawing.
My dad goes up to Celeste and takes her hands, raising them to his lips to kiss both of them.
I don’t miss how his hands shake as they hold hers, but I can’t tell if his Parkinson’s is bad right now, or whether he’s just completely overcome.
“That is such a touching gift, mija. Thank you,” he says, voice rough with emotion.
She looks taken aback by both the endearment and physical affection for a beat, but then she squeezes his hands back and kisses him on the cheek.
He’s going to adore her forever after she showed so much care for our family.
I’m right there with him.
Our servers and bartenders start drifting in to get ready for what will hopefully be a busy shift.
The live band warms up and will no doubt have everyone on the dance floor.
Soon enough, the bar opens and there is a bigger crowd than I have ever seen here.
It’s all hands on deck with Iggy taking lead at the bar, and Diana heading up the front area, giving her megawatt smile to every single soul she greets.
I jump in wherever I’m needed and work the crowd, while my Dad holds court with a bunch of people at a corner table.
Celeste, Tania, Carlo, Lyra, Taran, Wayne, Gina, and Carlo’s sisters all congregate together enjoying their drinks and food.
Everything in me warms to see Gina wrap her arm around Celeste as she says something to make my wife crack up.
As if she feels me watching her, Celeste looks over her shoulder, smiles, and playfully waggles her fingers at me.
I shoot her a wink back, and blow her a kiss.
It makes her roll her eyes, but her smile gets wider.
My attention gets quickly pulled to the door when I see the influencer come in. Her head swivels as she takes in the space with sharp brown eyes. She’s tiny, but has a huge presence that I just know translates on camera.
“Hannah, right? It’s good to meet you in person,” I call with a wave before heading over with my hand outstretched to shake hers.
“Nice to meet you, too, Gage! This place looks amazing,” she says, shaking my hand.
“Thank you. El Abrevadero is incredibly special to my family, so I’m glad you could come to check it out. Can I get you anything?”