Page 7 of The Dating Prohibition
“Well, that was at least partially true...” Kendra replied sheepishly. “Maybe he didn’tletBoscoe out, but Boscoegotout because Logan left the gate open.”
“Tell me again why you didn’t go to law school? Ole stubborn head ass,” he teased, nudging her gently, warmth emanating fromhis body. Being near this man was like holding a mug of hot chocolate––cozy and relaxed and conjuring up the best memories.
“Shut up,” she laughed.
Scott rolled four cases out the door and toward the car,handing Kendra an invoice so that she could confirm the inventory she was receiving. She scrutinized the list and then squinted at the labels on the boxes to confirm that each box contained the correct brand and vintage.
“Okay, this all looks good!” She signed the top sheet and kept the bottom one for Shonda’s records.
“Great, thanks so much for coming by, and I’ve made reservations to be there for the launch, so see you tomorrow!”
“Yes! We’ll see you then.” Kendra smiled as Scott tightly shook her and BJ’s hands before heading back inside. She turnedto BJ with wide eyes and sighed. “One more stop!
Kendra dropped bitters onto a brown sugar cube and crushed it before adding bourbon and ice to the shaker. Carefully, shecarved a curly piece of orange peel, which she squeezed to release some of its oils. In her gloved hands, she also broke agraham cracker in half, set a small bar of chocolate and a square of homemade orange marshmallow on it before donning thetop half of the graham cracker. She held the s’more gingerly as she torched the marshmallow’s sides, turning it to char theconfection evenly. She also carefully torched the zest curl before dropping it into the drink. Then she skewered the s’moreand set it on top of the glass as a garnish. “Now—” she set the glass on a cocktail napkin in front of her sister-in-law,whose eyes were wide as saucers “—try this and tell me what you think.”
“This looks sinful,” she gushed as she picked up the glass and held it under her nose, her olfactory senses undoubtedly pickingup every note from the orange and bourbon.
Logan eyed it warily. “It looks like a toothache.”
Kendra let out an exasperated breath. “Must you always be so critical?”
Logan glared at his sister. “The presentation is nice,” he admitted reluctantly.
“Thank you. Notallof the drinks have to be ones you’d like. Some folks don’t drink their whiskey or bourbon neat.”
“Mmm, that orange marshmallow really makes this special.” Shonda’s eyes shone. She turned to her husband. “Come on, babe,what do you think? We could just have it for opening night. It doesn’t have to be a regular thing...”
Logan pursed his lips before giving his wife and his sister the same tight-lipped smile. This variation was more of a “Fine,if it will shut you both up” look.
“Honestly, I just wanted to test it for that speakeasy venture that I’m trying to get off the ground.”
“Oh?” Her brother rotated his hand in front of him. “Say more.” Some might think Logan was a man of few words, but he hada level of introspection that a lot of people never got to experience. He was always quietly observing, analyzing, conceptualizing,building, planning.
“I want to open a bar with a speakeasy supper-club dining room in the back here in DC,” Kendra said quietly. She tilted herhead and waited, pulling her lip between her teeth. She hadn’t shared this idea with her family members, though it had beena concept she’d been pulling together for a long time. She’d been too scared to jinx it until she was ready to take the nextsteps.
“You thinking nearby?” Logan raised his eyebrows.
“Ideally, yeah. I figured we could do some cross-promo, since my dining room will only have one seating per night, and maybesometimes you could send some diners to my bar for a nightcap and to enjoy some jazz.”
He perked up. “You’re going to have live music?”
“That’s the goal. I’d like a stage for a small ensemble.Sometimes we could use it for an open mic night or a poetry reading . . . maybe even to feature some local comedians. What do you think?” She held her breath, her heart pounding in her ears.
He shrugged slightly, but the glint in his eye was unmistakable. “That could be cool.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I can see it. And that sort of vibe definitely fits DC.”
Shonda’s eyes brightened. “It would be so cool to have a bunch of family businesses in the DMV.” She and Logan eventuallyintended to expand PALATE to more than one location, and Logan had always dreamed of opening a cigar lounge, though that wasproving to be more difficult than they’d initially thought, given local regulations on tobacco sales that had been put intoplace.
Kendra nodded, feeling like she’d surpassed the biggest hurdle. As much as she and her big brother butted heads, his opinionmattered more to her than most, and she couldn’t bear the thought of him shooting down the concept. “I was also thinking thatit would be really cool if I could have it in a landmark building—perhaps one that was a part of the Great Migration. It suitsthe nods to Prohibition, and it sheds light on parts of our history that a lot of people would like to pretend don’t exist.”
Logan scrutinized her, poking his lips out suspiciously. “Sounds like you’ve been talking to Dr. Stephens.” He turned to glanceat his best friend, who was unboxing and organizing wine bottles on a nearby table.
BJ stopped what he was doing when he looked up to three sets of eyes trained on him. “What did I do?”
“You two been talking about your research?”
