Page 72 of Dirty Martini
“You guess?” she presses. “Let me put it this way. Do you see a future here?”
“Why are you asking?” I question, wrinkling my nose at the look of impatience on her face. “What?”
She sighs deeply, a bittersweet smile on her lips. “I’m leaving, Rhys.”
My eyes widen. “You’re what? Why?”
“I want to be an actress,” she says, throwing her hands in the air. “You know how hard I’ve worked over the years, but nothing’s come of it. I think if I want a serious shot, I need to go where the jobs are.”
“LA?” I take a guess. “Britt, have you thought this through?”
She narrows her eyes. “Don’t patronize me.”
“I’m not.” Raising my hands in surrender, I argue, “I… It’s going to be rough out there. If anything, I’m worried.”
Her face softens a touch, and she rests her hand atop mine. “That’s sweet, but I’ve always been able to take care of myself. I’ve squirreled enough money away working here that I have a nice hefty savings to tide me over until I find a job.”
“Which you will,” I insist. With a sigh, I shake my head. “Shit. We’re going to miss you.”
“And I’m going to miss you all too, but this is a risk I need to take.”
“How soon?”
“Within the next month.” She juts her chin up to where Davis’s office is. “I talked to the boss, and he said I was free to offer you the position of head bartender.”
“Me?” I point to myself as if another Rhys is going to magically pop up behind me. “I’m not qualified.”
She snorts. “You’re messing with me, right? You’re a goddamn genius and you’ve been working here for years. You know the ins and outs and Davis can trust you. What I need to know is how serious you are about XO. This isn’t like regular bartending. There’s so much more that goes into it.”
I nod. Britt is always busy and not just with actually working the bar. I know she does a lot of administrative work. Always the first one here and the last to leave. It should be a no-brainer for me to say yes, but I hesitate for some reason.
“It pays well,” she adds, wagging her eyebrows at me. “I don’t want to sound like a dick, but Davis pays me bank. You’d have enough to move into your own place.”
“Really?”
That definitely has some appeal. It’s not that I don’t love living with Elton, but I’ve been mostly financially reliant on him for years. He pays my rent, my utilities, practically everything besides gas and food. Not counting the times he’s had to pay for that as well when shit came up that left me short on cash.
I could be independent. Actually stand on my own two feet in a way I never thought I would. But still… “What’s the catch?”
“You’re really not saying yes right away?” She scoffs. “I thought you were supposed to be freaky smart.”
“I am. Smart enough to know that being able to afford my own place in downtown Miami means I’m going to get paid an unrealistic amount.”
As she nibbles on her bottom lip, her hesitation is clear. She glances up at Davis’s office, as if checking if he’s watching. Looking over her shoulder, she turns back to me and drops her voice to a whisper. “The catch? You keep your mouth shut. Whatever you see, whatever you hear, you keep it locked up to yourself.”
“Seriously?” I’m not one who usually gets nervous, but I do now. “What is Davis a part of?”
She shakes her head. “No details. It’s a don’t ask, don’t tell arrangement. If he wants you to know, he’ll let you in.” When I don’t say anything, she rolls her eyes. “Ugh, why are you making this difficult? What’s your hang-up?”
I’m not too sure, but accepting this offer seems so…permanent. Like if I do, I’m closing the door on all the possibilities of the future. It would acknowledge that this is the life I’m living now. Not studying or building roller coasters, but working at a club. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; it’sjust not what I pictured my life looking like. I’d be committing to this and—shit—trusting this good thing being handed to me is hard.
Maybe before, I would have been bitter, but now, I’m just relieved. Relieved there’s upward movement, new opportunities, and that I can finally move on from the life I’ll never live.
Everest and I started a new chapter together, and I think it’s my turn to do the same for myself.
“I’m in,” I say, reaching to shake hands, which she does with a chuckle. “But I have one condition.”
“And what’s that?”
