Just One Night (Black Alcove #2) (11 page)

“Okay, so your first
interview is at eleven— that’s in twenty minutes. The next one’s
at one and then again at three today. Same for tomorrow and
Wednesday.” Liam pulls up a seat next to me at the bar. “How many
people do you plan to hire right now?” he asks, marking something
down on the clipboard in front of him before flashing me a grin. “Oh,
and the bank called. You need to sign some more papers that your
father wired over first thing this morning, and I know you signed the
liquor contract, but they haven’t sent us a copy of the liquor
license and we need that.”

It’s
a good thing Liam is here to keep me on task.

Before I left Wind
Valley, I made a few rules for myself. It’s not that I don’t
trust myself or anyone else, but I made them to help Logan stress
less. Even though he has no idea what these rules are or that I even
have them.

One of the rules is to
never be in a closed space alone with Liam. The office is too small
of a space. All our work will now forever be done at the bar top and
I sit in the seat one over from his.

“I was thinking six
for now,” I say. “We can get three in to start training right
away, and the other three can come in about a month before opening.
I’ll want twelve to fifteen total, but the others can wait till we
at least have glasses and stuff to train with. And I’ll take care
of that other stuff at some point today.”

“Did you make those
plans or did your father?”

I smirk at him. “What
plans? And do you really need to ask? You and I both know if I had my
way, I’d hire as many people as it took to get this place ready and
open in the next week.”

“Yeah, I’m
surprised your dad is moving things as slowly as he is anyway. That
and I thought he gave you this bar, but it doesn’t really sound
like it.”

Something in Liam’s
words hits a sore spot. This
is
my bar, or at least it will be. As soon as those papers
come in.

“Are the three
interviews today your friends?” I ask, changing the subject.

Liam has a few buddies
who want part-time jobs and I agreed to interview them. Two of them
are in a band. Liam’s idea is to hire them now as bartenders and
later promote them as our official Saturday night band if things turn
out well. His plan is one I like and one that might possibly check
two things off the opening list. I just hope his friends are as
responsible as Liam. I want a fun and laid-back place to hang out,
but I also need people who can keep the place running.

“Well, two today and
one tomorrow. I hope you know you don’t have to hire them for my
sake. Everything is 100 percent your call.”

“Oh I know.” We
both laugh at my lack of hesitation to respond. “I’m sure they
will be just fine.”

“Knock, knock.”

The front door opens
and a tall man walks in. His shaggy hair is clearly dyed black from a
box, his left eyebrow has three piercings, and his nose has one of
those bullrings through it. At first glance he is a little
intimidating, but he smiles and aims a mouth full of bright, white
teeth our way, relaxing me a bit. He has on an outfit entirely in
black and loud boots that clunk as he drags his feet. He strides
toward us without waiting for our greeting, and when he reaches us,
he extends his hand toward Liam.

“You must be the boss
around here. I’m Mark; I have an interview with you.” He glances
at me and winks. His jaw moves quickly as he chomps on what I hope is
gum. “Damn, if you are any sign of the fine-ass women I could be
working with, I better make sure I nail this interview.”

My jaw drops and my
eyes go wide. Is this guy for real? I cannot seriously interview him
now.

“Well, you just lost
any opportunity at an offer.” Liam steps forward and begins to show
the man out. Thank god Liam’s here. If guys like that walk in
whenever they want, the door will always be locked or I won’t ever
come here without Liam.

“You’re shittin’
me! You’re only saying that because hiring me means you have
competition.”

“Nope, you’re a pig
and you won’t ever be working here,” Liam says in a firm voice
and then slams the door closed behind him. He raises his hands in the
air. “Not my friend. I swear.”

“I sure hope not.”
I laugh. “Did that really just happen?”

“Yeah, it did. And
what a dick for assuming I’m the boss.”

“It doesn’t
surprise me. Most men are like that.”

Liam nods. “Oh, now
you’re judging the guy who was judging you?” He chuckles. “What’s
next on our agenda?”

I stand and clap my
hands together. “We shop for décor and hope that my next two
interviews are much better than that one. Oh, and will you please be
here for the interviews over the next few days? I don’t want to …
” My voice trails off because I don’t want to go into detail on
what could have happened without Liam.

“Of course,” he
says and his eyes meet mine. “I won’t let anything happen to
you.”

* * *

“Hi, you must be
Sara.” A woman about five foot five, same as me, greets me. “I’m
Andi Liam’s friend,” she says, tucking her A-line, black hair
behind her ear.

“I am.” I smile and
reach forward to shake her hand. “Please, have a seat.” I point
to the bar top where I was sitting when she came in. My chair
screeches when I pull it out and hers does the same, sending a shiver
down my spine. It’s like nails on a chalkboard.
We
really need to get pads under these stools.

“So, Liam tells me
you’re the lead singer in a band. That must take a lot of
responsibility,” I start right away.

“I am, and yes, it
does. I started out as a guitar player. Then the lead vocal got
pregnant with the other guitar player’s baby. Now she’s a
stay-at-home mom and I’ve been singing for two years.”

“Oh, wow. This is an
odd question, and for the record, it isn’t part of your interview,
but is it normal to have relationships with other band members? I
mean, it’s kind of like they are your coworkers, right? Has that
ever caused any problems?”

Alright, so this is
sort of a work-related question. I’m not big on coworkers forming
relationships. It’s not good for business. Bad breakups usually
include new hires after someone quits. Kelsey and Ethan were the
exception. And me and Logan, too.

Damn.
I really have to enforce this rule. I don’t want to go into this
thinking I’ll have a band here only to find out they broke up from
something silly.

“Well, Jim replaced
me as a guitarist and he’s already married. Brian and Kathy, she
was the last vocalist, are married now, Lewis plays the drums and
he’s single. He is usually the one who brings in the ladies. So we
don’t have to worry about anyone hooking up and breaking us up. If
I weren’t into women, I would totally be into Lewis, but as of
right now he isn’t my type.” She shrugs like it’s no big thing.
Which, it isn’t.

“Oh, well, that’s
great to hear,” I say, glancing at the paper in front of me. I
should get on with the interview before I start to come off as
creepy. Although I may have already passed that point. “Before we
begin, do you have any questions?”

“Nope. Let’s do
this thing. This would really be a neat place to work. And Liam was
right about you.”

I hesitate before
asking, “What did he say about me?”

“That you were kind,
honest, and would make me comfortable.”

I smile.

“He also said you
were beautiful and smarter than people actually give you credit for.
He’s a nice guy. You did well in hiring him.” I sit there for a
moment just watching her. Liam really said all those things?

I force myself to get
back on track before I spend her entire interview chatting about our
friends and before I know it, her interview is over and she leaves.

“Hey, how did it go?
I kept the office door cracked to listen, but honestly I wasn’t too
concerned with anything going wrong. Andi can kick any male or female
ass.”

I turn to Liam. “I
believe it.”

“So, ready for your
next one?”

“As long as they turn
out just like her, I sure am.”

“Grayson is one of my
closest friends, and he will bring in a lot of female cliental, I
promise. But even so, he’s a great guy. You’d be smart to hire
him.” Liam snaps his fingers and claps his hands. “Well, I better
go get that liquor order you made out.”

I’m starting to think
there is entire side to Liam I don’t know about. I’m not even
sure I should know about it, considering I’m his boss and I’m
dating Logan, but if I’m honest with myself, Liam is becoming a
friend. I trust him and I feel comfortable around him. He really is a
nice guy who I’m thankful to have working for me and I don’t want
to do anything to ruin that.

Logan

This has been the
longest week of my life. I work hard to guarantee I’m home when
Sara calls me. Except every one of her calls have been past midnight.
She says it’s because they have been working late. She told me she
hired a few more people to start working part time next week to help
her and Liam put the place together. I feel like a dick for
suggesting they hire someone to come in and take care of things like
wall décor, tables, stocking the storage room, or even organizing
her office so that she doesn’t need to be in Rockland, but Sara
said that isn’t what they did with the BA and it isn’t what they
are going to do now. I see her point and I understand that doing it
herself assures it gets done by the day she wants it done, but work
can also be an excuse for hiding the truth.
What
if she isn’t really working because she is with Liam?
What am I saying—she’s with him either way.
Is that the reason she can’t come home for 4th of July weekend?

“Logan?”

My head snaps up.
Conner is standing my kitchen, a duffle bag hanging over his shoulder
and another held up by his left hand.

“Ethan told you I was
moving in today, right?” he asks. “I knocked, but you didn’t
answer.”

“Yeah I was—” I
point to the TV. It’s off.—“sorry, man, I must have really been
zoning out."

“It’s cool,” he
says, glancing around. “Left or right?”

“Left.”

Conner makes his way
down the hall without looking back. I rub my neck and push off the
couch. I need a distraction. Between not talking to Sara and Tyler
not texting me back with an update on my sister, I’m going crazy.

“Do you have more
stuff to move in?” I say loudly enough for Conner to hear me.

“Just another bag of
clothes.”

Well,
that idea’s out.

“You want to go see
if there is a game we can join in at the rec?” I ask. Shooting some
hoops sounds like a great de-stressor.

“Yeah, give me just a
minute.”

Connor steps out of his
new room in shorts and a cut-off shirt, ready to go.

“How’s Sara doing
in Colorado?”

“Good.”

“Just good?”

“Yep.” What more
can I say when I barely speak to her? “The opening is still on
schedule,” is what I come up with.

“We should go down
there one of these weekends. Check out the competition in the area.”

I nod. That isn’t a
half-bad idea.

Sara

“My father’s on his
way here.”

“Right now?” Liam
asks. “This place isn’t ready yet—it’s getting close, but not
yet. I thought he said he wasn’t coming back until the place was
finished.”

“Yep, I know. I told
him that much, but he insisted.”

My father hasn’t been
here once since he moved me here. I have no idea why he thinks he
needs to come now. He knows the bar isn’t ready. I really hope this
isn’t his way of trying to prove I can’t do this. It wouldn’t
be like him to act that way with me. He’s taught me everything I
know about this business. If anything, he’s coming to see if I was
paying attention all these years.

“He didn’t say
anything to you over the weekend we were there, did he?” I ask,
since Liam was staying with my father—which I still think is weird.

“Nope. He mentioned
something once about distractions and how if you keep letting them
get in the way, it’s going to set things back. But I wasn’t
actually part of that conversation and didn’t catch it all, so I
didn’t ask about it. Probably shouldn’t have even told you since
I have no idea what he was talking about.”

“He thinks I’m
distracted?” But everything is on schedule. Nothing has happened to
delay the opening.”

Liam shrugs. “Yeah,
like I said, I probably missed the main part of that discussion.”

“Well, who was he
talking to?”

“I don’t know. I
just turned around and went back to the guest room.”

What’s my father
thinking? Nothing is distracting me. I’m doing everything that he
wants me to do. That could have been the reason he had Liam stay with
me in Rockland this weekend, instead of going up to Wind Valley, so I
wasn’t distracted. Sometimes I really wish I knew what was going on
in his mind, but at the same time, if I’m this paranoid when things
go as planned, I can’t even imagine what process his mind goes
through.

“I’m sure if it was
something important, he would tell you.”

“Well I’d hope so,”
I say. “Let’s get some things done in here to make it look
presentable. I don’t feel like giving him anything to say today.”

* * *

I watch in almost pure
agony as my father walks around the bar. He’s going slowly and
making sure to inspect everything he sees. It’s driving me mad.
Liam is standing next to me trying to hide a smile. He knows how
stressed I get when my father is around. One mistake and my entire
career path could be taken away from me. Yeah, I’d still have a
business degree, but I I’d have to find a whole new business to be
in. I’d have to start over from scratch with nothing, and I don’t
want that. I don’t think I could handle working from the ground up.
I don’t care if I sound selfish. My father may have started this
business, but for the last two years I’ve done a damn good job
helping him keep it running. If it weren’t for me and maybe Ethan
handling the BA last year, Dad wouldn’t even have this place to
open right now. My place.
Damn
it.
I better start acting like the boss.