Kiersten squeezes his shoulder in a gesture of their close friendship. I have an odd feeling of gratitude toward him for taking care of this amazing woman and her child.
“Poor baby,” she chides. “The big bad football player being run ragged by a toddler.”
“Thank you for your sympathy,” he responds dryly.
“I hope my child hasn’t driven you to drink alone. That’s not good for you.”
“Actually, I’m waiting for a couple of friends.”
“Speaking of,” I interject. “I need to grab another couple of bottles out of the back. Can you keep an eye on things up here for a second, Kiersten?”
“Sure.” She slides under the counter, still bantering back and forth with her friend.
I take the few free minutes I have to use the facilities and grab a couple of bottles of the higher end liquor. This may be the only time we get some people with money in this place and I don’t want to let them down by serving the cheap stuff.
By the time I get back, two men I recognize from our brief introductions at the barbecue have arrived. Kiersten already has them served and they seem to be enjoying themselves.
“Welcome gentlemen,” I say as I put the bottles away.
“Thanks for having us,” one of them, I think Alex, says raising his glass in salute.
“Heath mentioned this was a low-key place to hang out,” the other guy, Frankie I presume, mentions. “It’s uh… interesting.”
I laugh, wondering what he sees as a first-time customer. “Yeah, it’s definitely got a bit of multiple personalities to it right now.”
“I was telling them you have some plans drawn up to spruce the place up a bit. You should show them.” Kiersten nudges me with her shoulder, then grabs another ale and takes off to deliver it. I assume Dwayne is thirsty yet again.
I’m not really sure they care, but all three of them claim to be interested. What the hell?
Pulling out the very rough blueprints I’ve drawn up, I place them in from of the guys. “You may not be able to read those. I can’t afford to hire a professional, so I had to draw them up myself. I’m hoping to get it started in a couple weeks.”
Heath looks closely at my drawings. “You’re doing the work yourself?”
“We’re not exactly rolling in customers right now,” I admit sheepishly. It’s not abnormal for a business to start out slow, but it’s still a bit discouraging sometimes. “I have to get it done as cheaply as possible.”
“What are you needing done?” Frankie asks as he looks around the room. I wonder if he’s trying to envision changes.
“For starters, I need to get rid of that damn railing.”
I point to the offending spindles and Heath laughs. “Yeah, it is a bit strange to have it in the middle of the room.”
“Once it’s gone, we want to pull down the extension on the stage, move the dance floor over, and give the whole place a fresh coat of paint. I’ve got some new furniture coming that should bring the whole room out of the 80s and make it a little more modern.”
“You need some help?”
I look at Heath, taken aback. “Really?”
“Well, let’s think about this. We head to training next week.” Frankie and Alex nod. Are they offering to help, too? “If there’s any way to do it this coming weekend, we don’t have anything else to do. At least I don’t. What about you guys?”
“Nah man.” Alex finishes his drink and sets the glass on the counter. “I was just going to hang around the house and rest up. But it sounds more fun to do some demo. It always looks fun on TV anyway.”
“I could break some things,” Frankie adds. “Is that too soon for you?”
I’m stunned by their offers of help. I assumed I would be doing most of this alone. This is much better. “Yeah. I mean no. I can get all the supplies by Saturday if you guys are serious. That would be great. I can pay you in pizza and beer.”
“Sold.” Frankie rubs his abs. “Although I’m warning you, I can pack away a lot of pizza.”
The group laughs and begins ribbing each other about Frankie eating too much junk during the off-season. I’m only half-listening, too busy figuring out how to make this transition happen in the next couple of days instead of weeks. It’ll be rough to coordinate but the actual work will go much faster. That alone makes the date shift worth it.
“Hey, man. I think we’re going to head to a table,” Heath says as the other guys stand up and walk toward a larger space. “A couple more guys are on the way so we want to spread out.”
“Sure. If y’all need anything, please let me know. If anyone starts to harass you for autographs or selfies or whatever, grab either me or Kiersten. I’ll escort them out, no questions asked.”
Heath furrows his brow. “You don’t want this place all over social media? Could be some good marketing for you.”
I shrug. “I’m not opposed to advertising and I want my business to do well and all, but not at the expense of my customers. I would rather you guys have a place to just chill without worrying about all that public nonsense.”
“Thanks, man. And don’t worry. We got you covered with the renovations.” He points at me as he walks away to rejoin his group.
A take a deep breath and squelch my excitement. This is exactly the break I’ve been looking for. And I have Kiersten to thank for all of it.
FOURTEEN
Kiersten
The crunch under my feet is a reminder of how loved my son is. It’s also a reminder of how much cleaning I have to do. My apartment is trashed with wrapping paper, bits of tape, and paper plates. This is going to take hours to clean up.
For Carson’s third birthday party, we invited a few friends over for lunch and cake. Lauren offered to make good on Heath’s promise to have it at their house, where we could spread out more, but as much as I love being there, sometimes I just want to entertain in my own space. It’s definitely easier to put presents away without having to haul them home first.
As he’s been doing for the last fifteen minutes or so, the birthday boy comes racing into the living room. “Gimme twase, mommy.”
“Give me trash, please,” I remind him sternly. Again. We’ve had this exact same conversation at least a dozen times already.
He holds his hand out to me, completely unaffected by my tone or my correction. “Gimme twase, pweeze, mommy.”
I hand him the largest piece of wrapping paper I can find hoping it entertains him for a while. His latest obsession is throwing away trash. I don’t understand the excitement that comes with picking a piece of lint off the floor and tossing it in the bin, but I freely admit the apartment floor has never looked cleaner.
I smile when my sister Nicole rounds the corner from the bathroom and begins helping me breakdown boxes for the dumpster. I love having her here. I’ve missed her.
“I can’t believe he got this much stuff for his birthday.”
She’s obviously never been around my friends.
“Yeah, they like to spoil him.”
Clearly, she does, too. When I mentioned the small party for Carson, Nicole immediately decided to make the five-hour drive from her school so she didn’t miss it, despite it being on a Friday evening and her having an afternoon class. He and I were both thrilled when she arrived this afternoon, just in time for the evening festivities.