Page 251 of Banter & Blushes

“For the meet-cute.”

“That wasn’t a meet-cute.”

“It had all the ingredients. Chaos. A mop. Public embarrassment.”

I shake my head and grab the stool next to her. “If anything, it was a very specific cautionary tale about not letting strangers behind your bar.”

“He’s not a stranger,” Clara says. “He’s practically a local now. A very helpful, very attractive local who happens to look exactly like a famous actor.”

I stretch my legs out in front of me. My knees crack like old bubble wrap. “Yeah, about that. We should probably start preparing for the incoming conspiracy theories.”

“Please. This town lives for conspiracy theories. Last week someone swore the lighthouse was blinking Morse code at passing yachts.”

“Was it?”

“No, it was just Doug from the marina testing his new flashlight.”

We sit in silence for a minute, the kind of silence you only get after a long shift and a shared disaster or two. Keigan’s still in the back, either looking for the dustpan or reading our inventory list for fun, which honestly wouldn’t surprise me.

Clara bumps my knee with hers. “So? What’s the verdict?”

I frown at her. “Verdict?”

“On him. Don’t play dumb. You smiled at him. Twice.”

“I smile at lots of people.”

“Becky. You smiled and took that water like he’d just finished building you a treehouse.”

“I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean.”

I lean back and close my eyes for a second. The fan clicks overhead, slow and steady.

“I’m taking tomorrow off.”

Clara pauses mid-paper-towel-rip. “What?”

“I’m taking the day off. No open. No close. No frozen daiquiris.”

“You never take days off.”

“Well, I am now.”

Her voice goes high and suspicious. “Is this about him?”

“No. This is about me. And also about you abandoning me with a bar full of tourists and a man who thinks jalapeños are spelled with a G.”

She makes a face. “But I brought muffins.”

I glance at the counter where the muffins still sit, slightly squashed in their container.

“Not enough,” I say. “Enjoy your penance.”

Clara sighs dramatically and flops her head onto the counter like I’ve just delivered her a life sentence.

“But I said I was sorry.”

“And I said I’m sleeping in.”

---