Whisky State of Mind (10 page)

“You really want to know?”

At his suggestive tone, Sky sent him a dry glance and folded her arms across her chest. “I can put up with asshole employers, shitty pay, and even crappier working conditions, but what I won’t put up with is sexual harassment. Do we have a problem Riley?”

A slow smile stretched his annoyingly handsome face and she clenched her jaw at the stupid butterflies the action sent into a frenzy inside her. “No
, Ma’am. No problems here. But can you say that one more time…I love the way you say,
sexual
. It turns me on like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Really?” she asked, sending him a tight smile. “Does the thought of you wearing a waitress apron do anything for ya
’? ‘Cause that’s what you’ll have to do if I walk outta’ here.”

His slow chuckle rubbed its way along her spine in a way that wasn’t altogether unpleasant, which only managed to annoy her further.

“Just point me in the direction of someone who knows what the hell they’re doing around here and go away.”

“If this is how you talk to your employers, I’m not surprised you got your ass, fired,” he drawled.

“I got my ass fired because of
you
,” she snapped.

“You were too good for that place anyway,” he shrugged. “Now you’re where you belong. I’m glad you’re here, Whisk.”

His abrupt switch from teasing to sincerity sent her off balance and for a moment she was at a loss as to how to reply. Thankfully, though, just then a round figure came bursting through the doorway, shattering the quiet.

“Momma,” Sawyer greeted with a smile as the large woman
, whose age Sky couldn’t even hazard a guess at, came over and grabbed him in a bear hug.

“My sweet boy! I haven’t seen you in a long time. What are you doing down here in the kitchen?”

Sky raised a curious eyebrow. That was interesting;
Mr. Big Shot
didn’t usually grace the working class down in this section with his presence.

Sawyer ignored the question, planting a kiss on the woman’s cheek before stepping back and indicating across at Sky. “Momma, this is Whisky. She’s starting here today. She’ll be out front, waiting tables.”

The woman swung her head in Sky’s direction as though she only just realized she’d been standing there, and looked her up and down thoroughly. A grin broke out across her wide, moon face and the white of her perfect teeth flashed brilliantly against her dark skin.

“This is Johnny’s baby girl?” she gushed. “It’s so good to finally meet you.”

“Sky,” she smiled, putting out her hand politely as she introduced herself to the woman. Her smile soon vanished however, as her hand was ignored and she was dragged into a bone-crushing hug. Somehow she managed to keep her coffee cup high enough not to spill its remaining contents, but almost stumbled as the woman released her to step back and look her over once more.

“Your Daddy’s been talking about you for as long as I’ve been here. He’s proud of his baby. You’re even prettier than your pictures.”

My pictures?
Before she had time to question her, the woman turned on her heel and clapped her hands, calling out orders over her shoulder. In an instant, there was a flurry of activity as pots began clanging, food was pulled from storage containers, and out of nowhere a small army of kitchen hands came into the kitchen, scurrying about like ants on crack.

“See ya’ later
baby girl. Welcome home!” Momma called out as Sawyer ushered her from the bedlam of the kitchen.

“Wow,” she said
, as they moved across the relative quiet of the empty dining area. “She’s like a mini tornado.”

“She’s one of a kind,” Sawyer agreed dryly. “She was our first employee when we opened the
bar. Your dad hired her on the spot after she came in and had Brick and Dog sweepin’ the floor and cleaning windows…and that was five minutes after she walked through the door for her job interview. If she could stand up to those two, he figured she could handle anything this place threw at her.”

“Speaking of my father, where is he?” she asked
, looking around the bar.

“He had to go out for a bit. He’ll be back a little later. He asked me to show you around and get you settled.” Sawyer led her over toward two women who were across the room at the bar, talking to the bartender.

“Yvette and Cindy. This is Whisky, she’s starting today.”

“Sky,
” she automatically corrected as she smiled at the two women.

“You’re Johnny’s kid?” the elder of the two women asked, giving her a brief once over as she chewed her gum and eyed her suspiciously.

“Hey. I’m Cindy. We could sure use the extra set of hands around here,” the other woman cut in with a friendly smile. Sky dragged her gaze away from the woman still eyeing her critically and smiled at Cindy. She was a rather plain-looking girl, around the same age as Sky. She wore her mousy hair pulled back in a ponytail, which swung about jauntily when she moved her head, but when she smiled it lit up her whole face. Sky immediately took a liking to her.

“Where do you want me to start?”

“You ever waited tables before, Princess?” Yvette asked, snapping her gum and making Sky itch to drag her to the nearest bin and demand she spit it out.

“Yep.”

“You don’t look like you’ve ever waited tables.”

“Just show her the ropes—how we do things here and she’ll be fine,” Sawyer said.

Yvette didn’t bother hiding her irritation as she brushed past Sky, turning once she was a few steps away to snap, “Well? What are you waiting for? An invitation or somethin’?”

Sky glanced across at Sawyer briefly and caught his small shrug. Clearly he didn’t have a problem with the woman’s less
-than-welcoming attitude. Holding in a sigh, she followed Yvette across the room toward the front desk. Why was there always
one
in every crowd? How hard was it for people to just be
nice?

“Don’t worry
; she’s like that with everyone. Just ignore her,” Cindy murmured from the side of her mouth as she fell into step beside her.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad as long as she had someone like Cindy around to counter Yvette’s snarly attitude, she thought with a surge of optimism.  A movement across the room caught
her eye and she looked over to watch Sawyer wave a hand in farewell to the bartender and head through the door leading to the office out the back.

“So you think you got a chance with Sawyer?” Yvette asked later as they were moving around the tables and topping up the salt and pepper shakers.

Sky gave a surprised chuckle. “I’m not in the market for a complication like him in my life.”

“So what’s the deal then? You just show up out of the blue and get a job?”

“I needed a job. Sawyer offered me this. No big story.”

“Lucky for some,” she muttered.

“Look. What’s your problem?” Sky placed the saltshaker a little harder than necessary back on the table and confronted the woman. “I’ve been here less than an hour; you don’t know me, you’ve never even seen me before today, so why the hostility? I’ve done nothing to you.”

“Maybe I just don’t like your kind,” she snapped.

“My
kind?
”

“Spoil
ed little princesses, who get everything so much easier than the rest of us.”

Was she serious? “I don’t know where you get the impression I’ve got things easy. I have to work to eat and pay bills just like everyone else.”

“I’ve heard Johnny talkin’ ‘bout you. Your fancy schools and country clubs. Livin’ in your big flash house. Yeah, you’ve been really livin’ on struggle street.”

“It was my grandparent
s’ house,” she objected, then was immediately angry for even bothering to explain. It was none of anyone’s business what kind of school she went to or where she lived. “Maybe you should spend less time listening to other people’s conversations and more time minding your own business.”

“You might have Sawyer and your father fooled, but don’t think you’re gonna’ come in here and make more work for me. I’m not carrying you. You better pull your weight around here just like everyone else.”

Sky didn’t bother answering, but she fumed for the rest of the morning. She didn’t want to be known as the daughter of the boss—she certainly didn’t want to owe her father anything. She was here to work and that was it. She was just another employee.

After the lunch rush, she’d taken her break out the back in a staff courtyard. To her surprise when she went out there, she found her father sitting at a table by himself. He looked serious…as though he were carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. She glanced around, hoping to find a way to slip away before he saw her, but it was too late as he glanced up and she saw a smile light up his face.

Left with no choice, she carried her plate of food and took a seat across from him at the table.

“How’s your first day?”

“It’s been busy.”

“How are you finding Yvette?” he asked, watching her with a hint of evil humor in his eye.

“Truly delightful,” she muttered sarcastically as her father gave a loud chuckle.

She chewed thoughtfully as she looked at him. The sadness of a moment before was gone and he looked years younger. “You look tired,” she said, then lowered her eyes as she caught his surprised glance.

“I’m gettin’ old, baby.”

Sky took her time carving her next morsel of chicken. She hated that his weary voice tugged at her heartstrings. “Maybe you should take a break. Have a rest. Sawyer seems like he’s got things under control.”

“No time to rest, things to do.”

“That hasn’t changed then. You never could sit still for too long.”

“I should have found time to sit still for you a little more though,” he said.

Sky shrugged, keeping her eyes glued to the plate. “I survived.”

“You sure have kiddo. I’m proud of you.”

The last bite of chicken stuck in her throat at his words. “A college dropout, working as a waitress?” she scoffed sadly. “I kinda
’ had bigger plans than that mapped out for myself.”

“There’s plenty of time. You’re only young. There’s no such thing as failure if you’re still dreaming.”

She remembered him saying that often as a child. Maybe he’d drilled it into her subconscious.

“I feel as though I’ve failed. I don’t seem to be getting anywhere and everyone around me is moving forward.” Since dropping out of school, she’d watched Bella moving further away from her—literally in this case. Her internship in Paris had been a huge achievement…she’d come back in a few months, but they’d be stupid not to scoop her up and offer her a full
-time job after she graduated. And here she was, still waitressing tables while her degree floated further and further out of reach each day.

“You know, even as a kid you knew what you wanted and you stuck with it until you got it. Your Mom called it stubbornness, and blamed me for giving it to you,” he said with a grin. “I call it tenacity. You have a strength inside you, baby. You’ll make your dream happen, somehow, someway. It’s not in you to give up.”

Sky stared at the man across from her and saw the sparkle of admiration that seemed to radiate from his eyes.
He’s proud of me,
she realized with a touch of astonishment. No one else had ever looked at her that way before. Certainly not her grandparents. She was used to many expressions from them over the years—worry, disappointment, a strange kind of wariness. She’d tried so hard to make them proud over the years, to show them she could be the kind of grandchild they tried so hard to mold her into…but not once had she ever seen pride shine from their eyes the way it was from this man before her.

“Sky?
”
Cindy called from the doorway. “Oh there you are, sorry to interrupt, but we need you in here. Just had a busload of tourists pull up.”

“No rest for the wicked,” she sighed, collecting her plate from the table.

“You got this, kid,” her father said placing his hand over hers and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

The feel of that big hand covering her own warmed and filled her with a surge of happiness. “Yeah. I got it,” she smiled. She moved away from the table but stopped and turned back to face him. “Thanks,” she added. “For…the pep talk.” It sounded woefully inadequate after the rollercoaster of emotions she’d just been on, but something had happened…a small part of her anger had disappeared and she wanted to acknowledge that. “Maybe we could do this again…it wasn’t
completely
horrible,” she shrugged. She didn’t want him to read
too
much into it after all. 

He gave a gentle chuckle and nodded his agreement
, and Sky turned back to head inside and braced herself for the last leg of her shift.

Chapter
8

The next week, she found her roster had been switched from the lunch shift to the later, dinner one. It was a lot busier with the bar attracting more clientele at night and the noise took a little getting used to.