Page 12 of Waiting for Sunshine

“Oh, my god. Wait, wait, wait.”Lauren laughs as she tries not to spill her wine everywhere.

“So he walked right into you.Blamed you.Then winked at you?” she recaps.

“Yes,” I nod in confirmation.

“Then you snag a killer bartending job, without so much as an interview, and it turns out he is your new boss?” Leah adds flipping her finger back and forth.

“And he’s smoking hot.” Taylor chimes in with a wag of her brow.

“All correct.” I reach for my wine, and sit back on the couch with my throw pillow tucked in my lap.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us this while we were still at the bar. Your life just got interesting as hell,” Lauren says as she shoves a whole cracker in her mouth.

“More like, complicated as hell.” I fall back and groan, covering my face with the pillow I have been cradling. “You know I’m swearing off all men anyways, so this shouldn’t even be a problem.” I shrug, tucking the pillow back under my arms.

Taylor and Lauren start laughing at my unconvincing proclamation. “I’m so glad this is amusing to you two.” I throw the pillow at the two of them, and it lands perfectly between them, knocking the cheese out of Taylor's hand and hitting Lauren in the face. Now Leah and I are the ones laughing. We’d decided to have another girls' night after my first-night bartending so I could fill them in on how it went. They insisted on more details about my“sexy new boss”, and margaritas, so here we are.

“I still can’t believe it’s called Chattahoochies.What kind of name is that?” Lauren laughs, trying not to spill her margarita everywhere.

“I don’t know, I am so curious to find out though. It’s very original.” I make a mental note to ask Ruby or Max the next time I work because I just don’t think you name a bar something so unique without there being a story behind it.

We spend the rest of the night re-watchingPretty Little Liarsand discussing how obviously suspicious they act and how we could have done it better. Man, I missed this.

* * *

It’s only my second shift at the bar but I feel like I’m starting to get the lay of the land. Ruby is amazing at training me because she is unbelievably patient. Which I was sure to tell her around the third time the POS froze after me using it today. POS may usually stand forpoint of sale,but today it’s acting more like aPIECE. OF. SHIT.

“Have I mentioned how grateful I am for you and your endless patience with me?” I lower my head down and stepped back from the terminal.

“When you have a 3-year-old son, patient is all you can afford to be my friend.” She smirks at me as she gets the screen working again. I walk over to the shelf and pull down bottles to start making drinks for the order I had just entered when the phone on the wall starts to ring.

“Got it,” Ruby calls out. “Chattahoochies,what’s your poison?” she answers the phone differently every time and I get a kick out of some of the lines she goes with. “Are you sure?” her voice sounds panicked so I turn to face her. “Okay, yeah. I’ll tell Max and I’ll be on my way. Bye.” She hangs up the phone and I walk over to where she is standing.

“Hey, is everything okay?” The look of concern on her face is answer enough.

“Hendrix is really sick. The sitter said he spiked a fever and just threw up, I gotta go.” Hendrix is Ruby’s three-year-old son and from what she’s told me, her whole entire world. She’s a single mom and works this job to support the two of them. I already admire her for her strengthandpatience and I’ve known her for a whopping three days.

“Of course. You go take care of Hendrix, we’ll be fine here.” She looks at me, worried, and then looks around the bar.

“Ruby,” I snap twice to get her attention. “Really, things will be fine here. Hendrix needs you more than we do right now. Go.” She sighs but gives me a nod.

“Thanks, Shane. Do you mind letting Max know that I had to go?” she takes her apron off and sets it on the counter.

“Marco can help you run drinks on the floor when he isn’t bussing.” She is already grabbing her keys and heading for the door when I respond.

“Yes, I will tell Max, and I’ll grab Marco when I need him. Now get out of here.” I wave her off and smile. It isn’t too slammed at the moment, so I don’t see a reason to hunt down Max, I will just let him know Ruby left the next time I see him.

About ten minutes pass with me behind the bar solo, before Max comes out of his office. Lucky for me only two tables have ordered drinks that Marco has run for me, so I have been able to man the bar with no problem.

“Why the hell are you back here by yourself? It’s your second night. You’re not ready to be running solo.” Max demands as he looks around the bar. His voice is deep and irritated and sexy as hell.

“Where’s Ruby?” I turn to face him, trying to look as confident in myself as possible.

“Ruby had to leave early tonight. Hendrix is sick.” I answer matter of factly. I am notably smaller than Max, but I am not against fighting him if he copped an attitude over Ruby leaving to take care of her kid.

“Oh shit,” he muttered. “Alright. What do we got?” Well, that answer surprises me. Most bosses would show some sort of frustration over people needing to leave early if it left them in a pinch. Especially a pinch with a new hire. He seems much more understanding though. He comes around the back of the bar and throws a towel over his shoulder. Which isn’t normally something to get excited over, but I suddenly wanted to be that towel.

Oh my god, get it together Shane.

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