Page 84 of The Dance
Me: I know bro. When are you popping the question?
Brandon: Not sure yet, but soon.
Me: Seriously I’m happy for you. Can’t wait to come to Cali for the wedding.
After I hit send, I realized I assumed the wedding would be held in California, but I didn’t know.
Brandon: You’re welcome anytime. We have a guest room.
Oh yeah, Brandon and Spencer bought a house together too. Well, he bought a house, but they picked it out together. Dare I say that I was envious of everything he had and had achieved? Not only had he bought a house and was going to propose to the love of his life, but he had also expanded the Club 24 empire by opening another location in Seattle. Brandon’s story was different from mine, but he was happy, and that was all that mattered.
I, however, was still a bartender living with my parents. But, hey, I’d started business school, so at least that was something. It was online and allowed me to work at The Wild Pony, and since I was living with my folks, I was also saving money for my dream.
Just like most days, I pulled my pickup into the parking lot of The Wild Pony and made my way inside the bar. It was just before the five o’clock work crowd was due to arrive for happy hour, and someone I wasn’t expecting was belly up to the bar.
“Molly?” I walked up beside her and leaned on the wood top as I faced her. “How are you?”
She turned her head and peered up at me. “I’ll be better after I finish this drink.”
She wasn’t slurring her words, but I was almost positive it wasn’t her first cocktail of the evening because her skin was a little flush.
“Bad day?” I asked.
“Bad month.”
“Want to talk about it?” There had to be a reason she picked my bar to get drunk in when it wasn’t near her apartment. Plus, I was used to hearing people’s woes because alcohol sometimes had that effect on people.
She stared at me for a few seconds and then shook her head. “Not today.”
I smiled warmly, and not wanting to push her, I said, “All right. Let me get set up behind the bar, and then I’ll get you another.” I went around to the other side, clocked in using the POS system, and then grabbed the container of limes that needed to be sliced, figuring I could multitask while I tried to get Molly to tell me what was eating at her.
“Whatcha drinkin’?” I asked as I set the limes down.
Molly gave a tight smile. “Long Island.”
“Oh, my specialty.” I grinned.
“Can you make it stronger than that guy did?” She pointed toward Alex, the other bartender. Long Islands were anything but weak unless you used more Coke than booze.
“Need a double, then?”
“Triple or even a quadruple.”
“Oh, so your month isthatbad?” I got to work on making her a stiff Long Island.
“Just”—she stirred the straw in her glass—“you know what happened to Stacey while onthatdate?”
I over poured the vodka at the mention of Stacey’s name. Putting the bottle down, I asked, “You mean when she showed up here?”
Molly nodded. “Happened to me. Same guy too.”
Rage coursed through my entire body instantly. “Are you fucking serious?”
“Do you remember—”
“Yeah, I fucking remember, but how?”
“You want the details?” she challenged.
