11. Gigi
11
GIGI
STUPID GIRL
“So, give it to me straight.” A couple days later, I leaned a hip against the prep counter and leveled Dante with a stare. “How’s Kai doing?”
Dante, who was prepping the kitchen for open, blew out a long, long, long sigh as he turned to face me. I winced, waiting.
“I don’t know, girlie.” He threw his hand towel over his shoulder and folded his arms across his chest. His dark eyes leveled on mine. The pit of disappointment in my stomach widened to a canyon. I hadn’t realized I’d pinned so much hope on this lark of an idea, but dammit. I’d been hoping real hard.
“Shit.” I pushed my fingers through my hair and sighed. “I really thought they—”
“They’re killing it,” Dante cut in.
My mouth snapped shut, then dropped open again, like a fish gasping for air. “What?”
“I wasn’t too sure at first, but sure as shit.” He shook his head, disbelief on his face. “Something clicked in that kid’s brain, and now they’re running that shit like they’ve never done anything else.”
“You serious?” I narrowed my eyes, looking for signs that Dante was fucking with me. Because if he was fucking with me…
“Yes ma’am. Can barely believe it myself.” He shook his head, a laugh barreling out of him. “When they asked me to train them back here, I thought for sure they’d lost their damn mind. A kid who couldn’t even mop without causing a flood of biblical proportions, in my kitchen? Around open flames and shit?” He laughed again, boisterous and warm. “But, damn. Kid’s got it.”
“Oh, good.” My shoulders sagged. “I didn’t want to fire them. But I didn’t want my brother to question my judgment, either.”
“Well, whatever you saw in the kid when you hired them, you were right.” Dante’s eyes warmed on my face. “You should trust your gut more often.”
I huffed out a silent, rueful laugh. “I don’t know about that. My gut has led me on some fucked up journeys.”
Especially lately.
My mind took me back a couple days. Sitting across from Parker while she talked about baseball butts and bologna. Watching her light up, then claiming there was nothing interesting about her. Asking me for Halle-specific pointers. All while wearing my shirt.
My shirt.
Fuck, that had hit hard. So hard that not even a date with Luke’s most recent overnight guest had softened the blow. Everything was a tangled web of gay angst, and I wanted out.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Dante tossed a wink my way. “I’ve seen that god awful sandwich you make when you’re hungover. Can’t say I’d trust my gut either if I ate that thing.”
“Hey, now. Lay off my peanut butter and mayonnaise grilled cheese.” I pushed away from the prep table and brushed my hands over my jeans. “This is why we keep you in the back, away from all the people.”
It was a joke, but Dante’s face fell the barest bit—hardly noticeable on any other human, but for someone who was always jovial…I noticed.
“Wait,” I said, putting a hand on his arm. “I was kidding.”
He nodded, a bright smile morphing his face. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed me. “Oh, I know,” he said, but something still simmered beneath the surface.
I stepped in front of him, moving into his line of vision to meet his eye. “What’s up, man?”
He looked like he was gonna brush me off for a moment, tell me everything was fine. But then his shoulders dropped and he sighed. “All right.” Looking around the kitchen, he stepped closer. “You’re the first person I’m telling, and you gotta keep it to yourself.”
My skin prickled. Leaning closer, I studied his face. Stoic AF. Uncharacteristically so. Panic seized my chest in a tight fist. “Is everything okay?”
For a long, tense moment, thoughts raced through my brain. Dante was dying. Steph was dying. Was…was I dying?
Why did every thought revolve around death?
Maybe I needed therapy.
What if—
“Steph is pregnant.”
The floor literally jolted beneath me. I grabbed Dante’s arm, a squeal leaving me that, if asked later, I would deny. “Dante!” I jostled his arm. “That’s amazing!”
Dante and Steph had been together for longer than I knew the guy, and had just gotten engaged a few months ago. They were the cutest couple this side of Lake Michigan. Probably the other side, too. They made me sick
And I loved them.
He grinned a grin so wide I thought his face was gonna split in two. “I know,” he said, eyes twinkling. “It’s still early, so we’re keeping it quiet. But…” His grin waned just a bit. “I have something to ask you.”
“Okay. Anything. I mean it. Anything . You want me to pick up extra shifts so you can go to all the doctors’ appointments, I gotchu. Rub Steph’s feet when she blows up like a blimp? No problem. Take care of—”
“Whoa, whoa,” Dante cut in, laughing. “Nothing like that.”
“All right. Then, what?”
“So, I was thinking, since Kai is catching on in the kitchen, and Artie is looking to pick up more shifts, now might be a good time for me to, I dunno, take on more around here.”
I tilted my head, wheels turning. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well.” He grinned one of his effortlessly charming grins. The one he probably used when he was in trouble with his fiancée. “I want your job.”
I frowned. “You looking to take my place, man?”
“Yes and no.” He rubbed his hands together and glanced at the ceiling as if searching for a new set of words. “I’d like to learn your job.” Pacing, he continued to speak. “I was thinking, since we’ve got a baby on the way, it couldn’t hurt to expand my horizons, so to speak. I’ve been in the kitchen for years, you know. And I’m good at my job. Damn good.” Here, he flashed another grin, which made me laugh. “I just figured, why not learn something new? Maybe make more money? Plus.” He stopped pacing and faced me. “You know the wine moms will love me.”
Laughing again, I inclined my head. “The wine moms would offer to leave their absentee husbands for you.”
“And they’ll prove it with hefty tips that’ll put Steph Jr. through college.”
“Or trade school. Or pay for a trip all across Europe. Or—”
“For sure, for sure,” he interrupted. “We’re not putting expectations on our kid, they can do whatever they want with their life.” His eyes twinkled as he said it, as if he was glowing from within. “The point is, kids are expensive, and I want mine to be taken care of.”
“I gotchu.” Folding my arms across my chest, I studied him. “Tell you what, let me talk it over with Vaughn.” He nodded, and I went on. “But I’ll say that I think it’s a great idea. You’re amazing with people, even if you tend to say what they don’t want to hear.”
“Which would make me a great bartender. The wise guy who talks sense into drunk people.” He gave me a once over. “Or sober people.”
“Shut it.” I gave his shoulder a shove. “I’ll let you know soon. And, hey.”
“Yeah?”
“Congratulations.” I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed. “You two are going to be amazing parents.”
“Thank you,” he said, his voice thick. My heart swelled, my eyes burned.
As we parted, I blinked away the sting of tears and sniffed. “Tell Vaughn soon, though, okay? He’d be so butthurt if he was the last to know.”
Dante wiped at his eyes and nodded, a watery laugh leaving him. “Yes ma’am.”
Then, as if we summoned him, Vaughn pushed through the back door that separated the stairs to his apartment from the bar. He slowed as he approached us, his dark eyes assessing. “What’s going on here?”
Almost in sync, Dante and I straightened our shoulders and shook our heads. “Nothing,” I said just as Dante said, “We good.”
Vaughn looked back and forth, suspicion darkening his expression. Dante looked my way, as if asking a silent question. I picked up on it and nodded. Tell him, I said silently. Then, I squeezed his arm as I walked past, heading to the front to get to work.
As I pushed through the door into the bar, I heard my brother make a surprised sound, followed by shouts of congratulations and laughing. I smiled, picturing the two men hugging as they celebrated this huge, happy change in Dante’s life. In all of our lives, I guessed. In nine months, we were going to welcome a new member into our little found family. And if that wasn’t the sweetest idea, I didn’t know what was.
My thoughts were interrupted by the buzz of my phone in my back pocket. Grabbing it, I glanced at the screen. A text from Halle.
I stared at her name, smile falling from my face. She could be texting me for anything. Or nothing. The message could be as simple and unimportant as a meme or a bit of gossip about a former classmate. It could be nothing.
But my gut said otherwise.
Inhaling, I swiped my screen unlocked and read the message.
I know we talked about this, it said. BUT! New girl fell through. Gig tonight at Old Church. I. Am. BEGGING.
My heart leapt into my throat. Fixating on the praying hands emoji at the end of her text, I let the words sink in.
Old Church was a cool spot in uptown Port Agnes. A church turned bar. The acoustics there were incredible. For a moment, I let myself picture it. Saying yes. Showing up. Taking stage. Singing in that amazing space. And, shit. It was a good picture.
If only I didn’t have to work tonight.
Everything in me deflated. I sagged against the counter, heart sinking straight to my toes. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to rein in the storm of emotions raging through me. The battle between what I wanted and what I had to do. The need—the desperate, clawing need—to be selfish and chase the high of happy again.
But that had taken me nowhere good last time. I was still undoing the damage.
As if the thought conjured the victim of said damage, Vaughn walked through the employees-only door, a flesh and blood reminder of why I was here. Why I was running this place. So he could step back. So he could be happy. I’d robbed him of that for years with my absence, with my selfishness. Left him with all the responsibilities, all the grief.
Heathcliff’s was my atonement. And I still had so much atoning to do.
Vaughn’s step faltered when he caught sight of me. “Everything all right?”
I forced a smile onto my face and pushed away from the counter. “Yep. Just…floored by Dante’s news, is all.”
The lie was sour on my tongue, but Vaughn didn’t seem to notice. He smiled, wide and bright. “Can you believe it?”
And just like that, the heaviness in my gut got a little lighter.
Dante’s news was the perfect reminder of my priorities. I had responsibilities to this place, and to everyone who worked here. I could not fuck off and join a band. They deserved more from me.
Spine stiffening, I tucked my phone back into my pocket, along with Halle’s message. Then, I mentally labeled it DO NOT OPEN .
Not even in case of emergency.