Page 44 of A Murderous Crow
Savannah remarked about Rev being a lot nicer than Specter, and he and I shared a laugh.
“Specter has a chip on his shoulder,” Rev said. “Don’t mind him.”
“Agreed,” I said.
“Good to know,” she murmured.
I asked her, “What’s your poison?”
She turned to look at the bar and laughed, saying, “I prefer fruity and girly. Afraid I’m just apt to be made fun of if I ordered what I usually do when it comes to cocktails.”
I chuckled at that and said, “We’ve got wine, beer, cider, some hard seltzers…”
She heaved a sigh and said, “With the day I’ve had, a cocktail is where it’s at, honestly.”
“Prospect!” Rev bellowed, and Savannah jumped in the circle of my arms at the unexpected noise.
Spooky appeared from one of the bathrooms he’d been cleaning and stripped off the blue gloves he had on.
“Yes, sir?” He looked expectantly to Rev.
“Make the lady a drink. Whatever she wants,” he said.
Spook went behind the bar, tossed the gloves, and reached for a glass. Both Rev and I shouted at him at the same time, “Wash your hands!”
He immediately diverted to the bar sink without touching anything, hit the soap dispenser to load a hand with soap, then flicked on the sink with the other hand.
“What’ll it be?” he called back over his shoulder at Savannah, who looked amused, but did her best to hide her smile behind her hand.
“A Georgia Peach, please,” she called just as he cut the water and shook out his hands. He picked up a bar towel to dry them off.
“Uhhhh…” He didn’t know what it was.
Before he could ask, Rev was already there, snapping at him, “Look it up! There’s a whole ass cocktail book right next to you!”
He picked up the bar’s copy ofThe Ultimate Bar Bookand at least had the brains to go to the index to look for it.
“Uh, the only thing in here is aGeorgia Julep. Is that the same thing?”
She laughed and said, “No, juleps have mint, and I’m not a fan of mint in my drinks. A Georgia Peach is simple – one ouncePeach Schnapps, one ounceWhite Rum, stir in orange juice, and give it a float of cranberry.”
“Oh, shit, I can do that,” he said. “Tor would probably make it better, but I can give it a go.”
“Tor?” she asked, looking up at me curiously.
“Torment. He’s an executive chef. Anything he touches when it comes to food or drink winds up magic, so Spooky here isn’t wrong,” I explained.
“Ah,” she nodded. I guided her to a seat at the bar and helped her up. I took the one next to her, keeping myself between her and Rev while Spooky busied himself making her drink behind the bar.
“So, why here?” she asked me as Spook set her drink in front of her and set a fresh beer in front of me.
“Fuck off,” I told him when he looked at me expectantly.
“Rude!” Savannah protested on his behalf.
“It’s part of it,” Spooky said with a half-assed laugh and a shrug of his shoulder as he did what I told him and fucked off back to cleaning the shitter.
Savannah gave me a reproachful look, and she wore the disapproval well on her lovely face. So much so, italmostmoved me, but not this time.
