Page 46 of Single Girl in the City
That bit of information had him looking panicked, which was the appropriate response for someone whose business would collapse if he lost one more employee. “How do you know this?”
“She told me.”
He didn’t appear to believe her. “She just came out and said, ‘Oh hey, by the way, I’m entertaining other offers?’”
“Actually, she said she’d just come from an interview at the Whiskey Depository.”
He relaxed. “She’d hate it there and she knows it.”
“She needs the money,” Abi said. “I asked her why she wasn’t applying for the manager position, since it was open and she was clearly more than qualified. She mentioned that she’d brought it up to you in passing and you weren’t responsive.”
“She asked for more responsibility, so I let her close a night or two and …” he broke off and groaned. “And I’m an idiot.”
“That was my assessment too.”
He ran a hand down his face. “She’s never managed before. Do you think you could train her in the time you have?”
“I know I can.” She closed the laptop. “Just like I know that overlooking her as a candidate was a mistake. It may have been unintentional, but still a mistake.” When he didn’t say a word, she nudged his thigh with her hand. “You don’t make mistakes.” When he didn’t deny it, she stood and sat next to him on the desk. “If you don’t like running this bar, why don’t you sell?”
He froze. “Who says I don’t like running the bar?”
“The stress lines around your eyes.” She ran a finger down his jaw. “That you don’t smile when you talk about it.”
“I smile.”
“Not the real kind.”
This information didn’t seem to take him by surprise. He let out a breath. “This was my dad’s place. I couldn’t stomach selling it.”
That was a kick to her heart. “Then why did he leave it to you?”
“He left it to the six of us, but I was the only one available to run it.”
“For eight years?” He’d not only sacrificed his time but also his dream of running his own shop.
“As soon as I walk away, my dad will forever be gone. Every last trace.”
Abi tried to imagine what it would feel like to be so close to one’s family that they were willing to walk away from their dream to keep someone else’s dream alive. But she couldn’t. Her parents weren’t big on dreams, they were more practical, wanting Abi to go into finance or medicine instead of psychology, especially because she wanted to be a teacher not a psychologist. “If you could leave, what would you do?”
“Open my own tattoo shop.” He paused. “How about you?”
“Go back to teaching. I have a job waiting for me teaching English to corporate types overseas.” Far away from the disappointment of her parents.
“Would you ever consider working with kids again?”
“No.” She refused to look at him. “Would you ever consider going back to tattooing?”
“I think about it all the time,” he admitted. “That was the big plan when my dad got sick and I had to put it on hold.”
It took her a moment to speak through the guilt. It was one thing to feel bad about what she’d done to his dad. It was another to see how Owen had suffered because of it. She’d started this dangerous game of deceit and now she didn’t know how to get out of it. “Do you still tattoo?”
He shrugged. “When I can. I rent space across town. But it’s been a while.”
“Were you an art major?”
“Most people think I was a high school dropout. But yes, I studied in fine arts.”
“I’ve always wanted a tattoo.” Something to remember Jenny by.
