“Last time I checked.” He grinned.
He looked a little thin, but since I had no idea what he normally looked like that might just be his physique. He was also walking with a cane, which again I had no frame of reference to know if that was a new thing or a post-surgery addition. “How are you feeling? Can I get you anything?”
“Oh no, I’m doin’ just fine.” He patted his chest. “Got the ol’ ticker fixed and I’m good as new.”
I adjusted the ice bucket in my arms that was getting a little heavy. I’d forgotten how physically demanding bartending was. The good news was I might drop some of the baby weight I’d been carrying around for the past five years.
“Well, it was so nice to meet you. And, please, let me know if you need anything.”
“Same to you, young lady.” He tipped his ballcap.
As I walked back to the front, I was thinking that there were some people that from the first moment you met them you just knew they were special, and you loved them. I’d felt that way the first time I met Milly, Mrs. Birch, and now Ray.
And Hank, a tiny voice in the back of my head piped up.
The ice crashed into the steel bin as I tipped the bucket then set it to the side to help a new face that was seated at the bar. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on who he reminded me of or where I’d seen him.
“What can I get for you?”
“Can I get a Hanky Panky, Fountain of Youth, Death in the Afternoon, Horsefeather, Cameron’s Kick, Bijou, Corpse Reviver, and a White Lady please?”
I froze in place, complete deer in the headlights, and my brain processed what had just been ordered about as well as that poor animal two seconds before it goes splat. Maybe math wasn’t going to be the hardest part of this job.
“No problem.” I smiled and went back to my training. Take it one drink at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed. Besides memorizing all of the prices, I’d also committed to memory all of the specialty drinks. Which was a good thing because he’d just ordered damn near all of them. “You said Hanky Panky, Fountain of Youth, Death in the Afternoon, Horsefeather, Cameron’s Kid, Bijou, Corpse Reviver, and a White Lady, right?”
“He’s messin’ with you.” Billy slid behind me carrying several pints. “Skylar meet Jimmy the youngest and most annoying Comfort.”
Ah, that is why he looked familiar. There was a picture of Hank and his siblings hanging behind the bar.
“Damn, Billy did you see that?” Jimmy shook his head back and forth as he called out to Billy who was now at the other end of the bar. “She repeated my drink order like it was nothin’.”
I was glad that was how it came off because inside I’d been freaking out.
“We only hire the best!” Billy called back.
Jimmy turned his attention back to me. “I’m impressed, and I don’t impress easily.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Thanks. Did you want those drinks?”
Jimmy shook his head. “Nah, I just stopped by to meet the woman who broke my big brother.”
“I’m sorry?” I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but I assumed it had to do with Hank and not Billy his other big brother.
“Hank dropped Sherlock off tonight and was grinnin’ like a fool. I didn’t even know his mouth turned in that direction. I thought it was set to perma-scowl.”
He was the second Comfort man to tell me that. And Mrs. Birch said that I put a pep in Hank’s step that she’d never seen before. My heart raced and my cheeks flushed at the thought that they might actually be right. Was I making him smile? Had I put a pep in his step? And if that were the case, was he going to do something about it? Or was I?
Jimmy slapped his hands on the bar before standing. “I don’t know what you’re doin’, darlin’, but keep it up.”
I watched as he joined a group of guys that cheered when he approached their table. I wished I did know what I was doing because if I did, I would definitely keep it up.
CHAPTER 19
Hank
I couldn’t count the number of times I’d walked through the back door of Southern Comfort. It had to be in the tens of thousands. But this was the first time in a long time that I could remember feeling excited to be there.
Before Mama passed, I’d loved coming to the bar. I loved bussing tables or helping Ray with whatever repairs needed to be done. But after she was gone, it stopped being fun and started being a huge responsibility. Thankfully, some staff had been able to be a stopgap in terms of running the day-to-day and given me a crash course on the business side of things. And Ray had been a big help. I was plannin’ on heading up to see him after I took care of the business that I’d come here for.
And that business was why I was happy to be walking through those doors tonight.
“Wasn’t expectin’ to see you tonight, son.”
I turned around and saw that I wouldn’t have to make the trip up to Ray’s apartment, he was cutting up lemons at the prep station in the storage room.
“I could say the same. Shouldn’t you be upstairs resting?”
“Ahh.” Ray dismissed my statement with a wave of his hand as he stood and grabbed the container of lemons in one hand and his cane in the other.
At least he’s using a cane, I thought to myself. He looked tired, but no worse for the wear. I’d check in with Billy who was keepin’ an eye on him since he was here every day and make sure that we didn’t need to put in a call to Dr. Wilson. Ray never married and didn’t have any family to speak of, but he was family to us and we made sure he was takin’ care of.
He walked down the hall and I followed behind him. When he stepped through the swinging door, he stopped. “Would ya look at that?”
I stepped beside him and my gaze followed his and found Skylar behind the bar.
A sense of dèjá vu came over me. It was exactly the scene I’d imagined right before Skylar had walked into the bar and asked for an application. Skylar was wearing a white V-neck T-shirt and jeans, her hair was loose around her face in waves, she was smiling and talking to several regulars.
My mama used to say that she’d see things. Flashes of things before they happened. Like sometimes she knew before someone would come to the door and the reason they’d be there. Or the color of the next car that would drive by.
Pops used to say that if she knew the future, they should play the lotto. But Mama said it didn’t work like that. She didn’t have control over when she had her visions.
She’d always told me that I had the “gift.” But just like the “curse”, I’d never put any stock in it. Mainly because so many things in life had shocked the hell out of me. The universe had pulled the rug out from under me one too many times to be a believer.
This was the first time I’d ever wondered if there might be some truth to what Mama had said.
“Bernie would be happier than a tick on a fat dog seein’ his granddaughter in here.”
Bernie Thompson had never really taken a shine to me or my brothers, so I’d never really gotten to know the man. To me, he was the cranky old man that was always yellin’ at us to stay off his property. In fairness, my brothers weren’t choir boys. They’d put rats on his front door, TP’d his house on numerous occasions, and used his back shed for BB gun target practice.