The Fourteen Day Soul Detox (16 page)

Carl looked up from wiping the bar,
glanced over at the clock, and continued wiping the bar, shaking his
head. “Congratulations, we’re all so impressed,” he
mumbled

“Good job,” Nancy said,
bumping her hip into Carl as she walked by. Nancy was barely more
than head and shoulders taller than the bar, but her black hair was
blow dried big today, giving her a little more height. Her dark red
lips stood in stark contrast to her otherwise makeup-free beautiful,
pale face.

I rolled back my shoulders. “I
rushed here thinking I could avoid getting evil mutterings from
friendly over there, but next time I’ll just be late.”

Nancy set the tray of clean cups on the
under bar. “Just ignore Carl,” she said, waving a hand.
Her painted nails made black lines through the air.

“Uh huh,” I said as I
crouched down, quickly checking that all the bottled beers were
stocked. Finding them all full, I moved on to checking the alcohol
bottles, which were also all full.

“Hey Jamie,” José
said from behind Carl. “Nice to see you today. Have you been
enjoying this fine weather?” He elbowed Carl as he said it.
José had a big smile across his baby-face.

Appearance wise, Carl and José
were as different as a fish and a bird. Where José’s
features just screamed ‘wholesome’, Carl struck me as the
ultimate bad boy. His pale muscular arms had two full sleeves of
tattoos. His dark hair made his light blue eyes stick out in a way I
swore could only be contacts.

“I have enjoyed the weather,
José, thank you for asking. I went to the beach and to the
pool, it was very nice. How was your day?”

“We worked,” Carl said,
giving me an insincere smile.

“Well, you don’t need to
work anymore, Carl, your shift is over. I’ll finish cleaning,”
I said as kindly as I possibly could.

“Yes, boss,” he said under
his breath.

“Hey, if anyone can be the boss
here, I’ll give it a stab. Carl, take a hike, your station is
clean,” Jose said, clapping Carl on the back.

Carl shook his head, chuckling, but
gave me a glare as he passed toward the communal tip jar.

Taking his place at the bar, I went to
check my sugar and salt containers, but they were fresh. My fruit
tray was also practically overflowing.

Gritting my teeth, I turned. “Thanks
for setting up my station, Carl.”

“That’s what a good
bartender does,” he said, not looking over.

“I don’t do that. It’s
supposed to be the bartender’s job to set up for themselves at
the beginning of shift,” José said, shrugging.

“It’s also a little hard to
set up for the morning crew the night before, though I restock the
bottles if it’s not too busy,” I said as I washed my
hands under the bar.

“That’s what’s great
about day shift, it’s never busy. You should try it,”
Carl muttered under his breath.

“She has a kid,” Nancy
said, hitting Carl with a towel.

“You here until closing?” I
asked Jose.

“Yes siree. Hopefully things pick
up, it’s been pretty dead since I got here an hour ago,”
he said.

“Dead all day,” Carl added
from behind us.

“I saw a lot of people on the
street, my guess is we’ll get an after-dinner rush,” I
said.

“Good for you,” Carl
mumbled again.

“Shut up, Carl,” Nancy
said.

“Alright, I will. Later guys,”
he said.

“See you tomorrow, buddy,”
Jose said, waving.

“See you later, alligator,”
I called over my shoulder.

When the door to the staff room closed
behind Carl, I said, “That guy hates me so much.”

“Don’t take it personally,”
Nancy said.

“I don’t, but it’s
unpleasant to deal with,” I said.

“At least you don’t have to
ever work shifts with him. And he set up your whole station just to
prove something to you. I mean, he can say
eff
you to me
anytime by doing my work,” José said.

I shrugged. “True. As you are
both busy, and I have nothing to do, I guess I’ll check if
anyone needs a refill.”

“Thanks babe,” Nancy said.

I walked around the bar, going table to
table getting drink orders. After pouring two shots of whisky over
ice and a pint of beer, I brought the drinks to their tables. As I
was crossing back to the bar, a crowd of people came in all at once.

When several people sat in my section,
I quickly filled their orders. I poured myself a tall glass of
caffeinated soda, sipping it between orders. The musician on the
stage strummed his banjo a few times, and then a fiddler did the
same. I looked up just as the group started playing a lively blue
grass song.

“Should I keep your tab open?”
I asked a well-dressed, middle-aged woman who handed me her card.

“Yes,” she said, smiling
and turning back to her companion. Walking to the little plastic
filing bins we kept next to the register, I flipped through the
cardboard pieces until I found the first letter of her last name. I
filed her card and turned back to the bar, but I stopped suddenly.

Smiling, I walked over to Patrick, who
sat at the end of the bar in my section. “Hey, here for that
free drink I promised you?”

He grinned back tentatively, looked
down to the bar, then looked up and offered a stronger smile. “Sure,”
he said.

“What can I get you?” I
asked.

“Scotch, on the rocks,” he
said.

“Alright, you have a preference
or do you want me to pick?”

“You pick,” he said.

After pouring the drink, I handed it
over. “Not much of a Scotch drinker myself, but this one is my
father’s favorite and everyone else seems to agree.”

He tasted it. “Great,” he
said as he pulled out his wallet.

“No, this one’s on me.
Unfortunately, if you need to order drinks for clients, I can’t
comp you those.”

“I’m not here with
clients,” he said.

“Oh, okay. Well, do you need any
other drinks?”

“Another one of these?”

“Just a heads up, it’s
sixteen dollars a drink, that cool?”

“Sure,” he said.

I poured the other drink, handed it to
him, and then took his card. “Do you want this open or closed?”

“Open?” he said like a
question.

“Okie dokie,” I said. I
filed his card under his last name—Kelly. When I was done, I
wrote down his drink on the comp list, writing my name and the drink
next to the cash value. I turned to go to the next customer, when
Patrick said my name.

Turning to face him, I saw that instead
of grabbing his drinks, Patrick set them down and leaned over the bar
toward me.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Can I say something to you? It
will only take a minute,” he said.

“If you don’t mind waiting
for me to help all these customers first,” I said with an
apologetic smile. “I can come find you; it might be a little
while.”

“Thank you. I’ll come
back,” he said, drumming his fingers against the bar.

Turning to the next customers, a group
of young looking girls, I said, “IDs please.”

Two of them rolled their eyes, while
the other one smiled and handed her ID over as if she had it ready.
After they’d each showed me their IDs, and I’d checked
them thoroughly, I poured a couple mixed drinks, and then moved down
the bar. After about forty-five minutes of serving drinks nonstop, I
grabbed a towel and walked toward where Patrick had sat down a couple
minutes ago.

“I’ll just be one more
minute,” I said as I passed.

Starting at the end of the bar, I
gathered all the empty glasses, setting them in the dirty dish tray.
I also grabbed up any tips left behind, sticking them in our communal
tip jar. Last, I used my towel to quickly wipe up all the spills.

After I had finished, I stopped in
front of Patrick. “I’m here, but I apologize in advance
because I might have to run if a new customer comes.”

“I’m sorry for bothering
you at work. I just couldn’t get what I said to you out of my
head. I was driving my brother and sister-in-law nuts being so
preoccupied all day. She insisted I come apologize and my brother
drove me. So, I just want to apologize for what I said.”

“What you said?” I frowned.

“Or how I acted when you said you
didn’t go to college… Obviously it wasn’t as
upsetting to you as it was to me.”

“Oh. I’m sorry Patrick;
it’s been a really long day.” I looked him in the eyes.
“Like, a year long. And no worries about the college reaction,
I wasn’t as offended as you probably thought I was.”

“I was being a pretty big dick,”
he said.

“Can I be honest with you?”

“Always,” he said.

I pointed at him, smiling. “You
might regret that answer some day.” Shaking my head, I
continued, “It just seemed like you had some sort of list in
your head you were comparing me to, and I was falling short.”

“I have no list, and you
definitely don’t fall short of anything,” he said
quickly.

“Okay, let me put it this way:
I’ve had a crazy, beautiful, adventurous life, and I have not
regretted a single decision I made. And I really don’t feel
like letting someone I barely know regret the choices I’ve
made.”

He leaned back in his barstool,
twisting his lips into a contemplative expression. “You might
be right. I may have a list in my head. And now that I think about
it, it wasn’t a list that worked out in the past.”

I shrugged. “I probably do too.
But, I really appreciate you coming out here to apologize.”

“I’m getting a feeling that
the ‘maybe so’ answer you gave me earlier is much closer
to a ‘no’ now.”

Biting my lip, I played with the towel
in front of me. “Can we try friends, and then get back to that
question down the road?” I looked up at him. “I need to
be fair with you; there is another guy in the picture. We’re
not really together, not officially anyway. And, I’ve decided
to end it. But, there are feelings there and out of respect for him,
I need to end things before I even consider moving on.”

“Oh.” He drummed his
fingers on the bar again. “I guess I’ll be straight with
you too. Being a single, full-time dad, and having a full-time job, I
haven’t gone on a date in two years, I haven’t wanted to.
And, I like you. I know I don’t know you that well, but I
noticed you long before your friend Beza tried to set us up. Getting
to know you in the past day and a half just makes me want to get to
know you more. So yeah, I’d be honored to be your friend. But,
down the line I am definitely going to ask you out again.” He
exhaled heavily. “Wow that was a long speech… And a
little embarrassing.”

I grinned at him. “Accepted. Do
you want another drink?”

“I think I need one,” he
said grinning.

“How about for your brother?”

“Yeah, two of the same, please,”
he said.

“You got it, and then I have to
head over to refresh drinks, okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” he said.

After pouring two more shots of the
scotch, I told him I’d talk to him later, and headed down the
bar.

Nancy came up to the bar. “Who’s
the sexy older guy?”

“He’s not older, he’s
my age,” I said.

“Oops, sorry, I forgot you were
old,” she said with a teasing smile.

“No, you’re just a baby.
Don’t worry, you’ll get your growth spurt someday,”
I said.

“Oh, I’m going to get you
for that one. Well, anyway, I have a drink order for you if you’re
done talking to the hottie.”

“Go for it,” I said.

She rattled off a list of drinks, and I
got to work. Setting a tray on the bar, I set the drinks down one by
one.

“So did he ask you out yet?”
I whispered over to her, shooting a glance toward José.

Her shoulders sank. “No.”
She looked up at me, biting her lip. “Um, so, I guess Carl did
though.” Her face tensed.

My brows rose. “What did you
say?”

“I said yes. Don’t hate
me,” she said in a rush.

My head rocked back. “Really?”

“He’s nice to me, Jamie.
And during morning shifts we flirt, like, constantly.”

“Well, it’s how he treats
you that matters. I just hope you don’t start hating me for his
benefit someday,” I said.

Her jaw dropped open. “I never
would!”

“And what about… you
know?” I gestured over to Jose.

“I don’t think I’m
his type,” she said.

“Trust me, you are, it’s
completely obvious,” I said.

She shrugged. “If you say so.”
With expert balance, Nancy grabbed up the tray of drinks and carried
it across the floor, dropping off drinks at tables.

As I went down the line, refilling
drinks or filling new orders, I peeked over at Jose every so often.
He kept moving, filling drinks and chatting up customers, but every
now and then, his gaze would find Nancy.

The bar steadily picked up pace with
more people coming in. Soon I had a line of customers standing behind
the barstools. I poured myself a second half-cup of soda, though I
barely had time to drink it. Lining up drink after drink, I eyeballed
shots and poured mixers with quick, precise movements.

A hand on my back made me turn around.
“You’re on double duty for the next thirty minutes, and
then it’s your turn for break,” José yelled over
the sound of the crowd and the odd notes of bluegrass we could hear
over the crowd.

“Sounds good,” I yelled
back. I went down the bar, working as quickly as I could covering his
orders, mine and Nancy’s when she brought hers to me.

What felt like a few minutes later,
José tapped my shoulder again. “Your turn, Jamie,”
he said.

“Thanks, José,” I
said as I finished shaking a Kamikaze shot and pouring it into a
tumbler. Handing it over the bar, I told the pretty young brunette
woman who ordered it, “Six dollars.”

She handed me eight, giving me a
crooked smile and said, “The change is for you.”