“Well, I wanted to see if three of you could head out to Portland for a week to check some places out. I’ve got my eye on a couple properties, and I thought Mason, you, Tyler, and Jordan should get out there and see what’s going on,” Tom said.
There was a momentary pause, and Matt and I exchanged a glance.
“I didn’t think it was set in stone yet,” I said.
“Well, it isn’t,” Tom admitted.
“But it is. If you’re sending us out there to look at places, it means you are pretty set on doing this expansion.”
“Are you against it?” he asked. I could see the wheels turning in his head. I always could. Tom was admittedly smarter than the rest of us. Mason was the kind that could make sure it all happened correctly and the trains ran on time. I was more the type that went along to get along, doing my part to make sure things went well. I did what was asked, and I did it competently until I found something better I wanted to do. If I ever found something better.
“Not against it,” I said. “I just wasn’t aware that it was an absolute thing. Just an idea was what I was told.”
“Yeah, and if we’re doing this, why am I not going to Portland to scope places out?” Matt asked.
“Good question,” Mason added.
“Because Matt needs more experience running the day to day behind the bar,” Tom said. “You both said you’d like him to get more time back there running things. This would be a way for him to do that, plus I don’t know anyone else who would know exactly what we need in a location better than you, Mason.”
I nodded. “That makes sense, I guess.”
“Look, I know it’s a big jump, and it feels like I might be pushing it a little,” Tom said. “But this seems like a really great opportunity for us to grow from a business standpoint. I know I’m always reaching big, and it can be a little much, but if you guys aren’t comfortable, I’ll back off. This only works if we’re all in this together.”
Matt and I exchanged glances once again. I could see the wheels turning in his mind, too. Part of it was Tom’s casual cockiness, but another part of it was the adventure. I was stuck here, spinning my wheels, and hadn’t found myself something better to do. Not if Hannah wasn’t an option.
Why not Portland?
12
Hannah
The bar felt strangely empty when I got to work the next day. I already knew it was Jordan’s night off. He and I compared schedules, and I had gotten familiar with the pattern of the nights he would be off when I would be working, and also the reverse. I liked knowing when I would see him for a shift and when I wouldn’t. It was a bit strange for me to still get those butterflies when I knew I would be seeing him, especially since I was doing my best to think of him only as a friend.
But that night I knew he wasn’t going to be there, and yet there was still an emptier feeling when I walked into The Hollow and looked around. The bar wasn’t open yet, so there were no customers, and everything felt quiet.
Ava walked out of the kitchen and smiled at me as she took her place behind the bar. I walked over to her as I tied my apron around my waist and gave her a questioning look.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Where is everybody?” I asked. “It feels dead here. The parking lot is basically empty.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “I meant to call you to let you know I might need you to jump behind the bar tonight, but you’ll start with just serving tables. Tonight is Jordan’s night off, and Mason and Tyler aren’t here. So, we have Jesse in the kitchen with the sous chef, and I’ll be behind the bar, but I’ll also be acting manager.”
“They all have the same night off?”
That sounded a little extreme, even for a non-theme night on a weekday.
“Not exactly,” she said. “I mean, yeah, but not.”
I laughed and reached over the bar to grab a cup and fill it with water from the soda fountain. “Thanks for clearing that right up for me.”
Ava laughed. “Yeah, I’m good at that. What I meant is Jordan just has the night off. Mason and Tyler went with Tom to Portland on a business trip.”
I was curious about what that could mean, but I didn’t pry. As comfortable as I felt there and as much I was starting to think of these people as good friends, I was still the new girl in a lot of ways. And I was an employee, not a family member. That meant I wasn’t privy to everything going on around the bar. If it was something I needed to know, they would tell me.
“That’s somewhere I haven’t visited yet,” I said, transitioning away from what I felt like was becoming an awkward point in the conversation. “I think I need to plan a time to go and see what it’s all about.”
Ava nodded. “It’s a neat city. Definitely growing.”
I finished my water and hopped down from the stool to bring the cup into the kitchen to wash it. The sous chef and Jesse were deep in the trenches of preparing for the late-lunch and early dinner customers who would be coming in soon. It was burger night, which meant all the prep surfaces of the kitchen were covered with stacks of vegetables and sliced cheese ready to put on the burgers, as well as containers of the special sauces and condiments they created.
I paused for a minute to watch them and let them tell me about the new burger they were introducing that night. The sous chef let on that it was actually Tyler’s recipe they were using, and they agreed he would be bummed to miss seeing the reaction from the customers. But they didn’t want to wait to introduce it. The regular customers expected something new that night, and they didn’t want to disappoint them.
I was nibbling on the corner of a slice of cheese they handed me when I walked back out to the front and found a woman sitting at the bar. It was confusing for a second considering the bar was still closed and I wasn’t sure how she got in.
The way the woman was smiling at me from the bar, however, told me she was perfectly in place. She didn’t feel uncomfortable and hadn’t wandered in on a whim.
“Hi,” she said as I approached. “I’m Amanda.”
She extended her hand, and I shook it, nodding as I realized who she was.
“Tom’s wife,” I said.
She nodded. “That’s right. We’re in town for just a short time, so I thought I would come by and visit. You must be Hannah.”
I was surprised she knew who I was, but I nodded. I expected her to elaborate on that a little, maybe tell me how she knew who I was before I even said anything. But she didn’t. I could only assume it was because Ava or one of the brothers had mentioned they’d hired someone new.
Ava came out of the office and got a bright smile on her face when she noticed Amanda. She waved at her as she headed for the door.
“Hey,” she said. “I’ll be over in just a second. I just need to open up. Have you ordered something to eat?”
“Not yet,” Amanda said.
“Burger night,” Ava said over her shoulder.
Amanda nodded. “I know. Anything new since the last time I was here?”
“There’s something new tonight,” Ava said.
“It sounds really good,” I said. “I was just back there, and they were telling me about it. I might have gotten to sample some of the ingredients.”
Amanda chuckled. “I noticed that when you came out of the kitchen.”
“It was really good cheese,” I laughed.
“Alright. You’ve convinced me. I’ll have that.”
“I’ll go tell the kitchen,” Ava said and headed back to tell the guys.
Amanda and I were chatting a little bit about the bar and how things were going since I’d started when Ava came back out. She sat down on the stool next to Amanda.
“I’m just going to sit here for like ten seconds while I still have a chance. Without so many of the guys here, I have a feeling we’ll be hopping pretty soon,” she said.
“Where’s Jordan tonight? I didn’t think he was going with the others,” Amanda said.
“He didn’t,” Ava said. �
�Tonight’s just his usual night off. I guess I could have called him in, but I try not to do that. He still really likes to keep to a schedule. There are a lot of times I can’t avoid it, and he’s really great about coming in for extra shifts and covering them when I need him to. But he likes having some predictability as much as possible. Maybe he’ll get through that someday.”
Amanda shrugged. “I don’t know. I come from a pretty big military family. Some of them bounce back after they get out and can pretty much go back to a completely normal life. Some have little tics and habits pretty much forever after that.”
“Well, I guess if he was going to hang on to anything, wanting to stay on the schedule isn’t the worst way the military could have stuck with him.”
“That’s for sure,” Amanda said.
I realized I was blushing just hearing them talk about Jordan. I tried to look away so neither of them would notice, but Ava caught my eye and smiled.
“Look at that blush,” she said. “You know, Hannah, Jordan has the same kind of reaction when he talks about you.”
Amanda grinned and nodded. “He does. I noticed that at dinner at mom’s house last night. As soon as he started talking about the new hire here, he started getting all smiley. When he mentioned your name, he smiled even more. I don’t think he blushed, but Jordan isn’t exactly the blushing kind.”
I couldn’t help but think through all of my reactions with Jordan and how he made me feel. Now knowing he was reacting to me in the same way I was reacting to him kind of scared me. I needed to get away from the conversation.
Looking across the bar, I noticed a few of the tables had started to fill up. It was the perfect opportunity to slip away.
“I have to get to work,” I said. “It was really nice to meet you.”
Without waiting for Amanda to respond, I hurried over to the first table and greeted the customers. I recognized them as regulars, and that put me more at ease. For the next couple of hours, I kept my head down and focused on doing my job. It helped me keep my thoughts and fears under control.
During a lull in the night, Ava managed to corner me. I knew she had been trying to get my attention throughout the night, but I had managed to elude her by staying busy. Now I had a few seconds, and she was able to hold me off to the side.
“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable earlier, Hannah,” she said. “I really didn’t mean to. I’ve just never seen Jordan react to anyone the way he does to you. It makes me happy to see. And I thought that maybe if you were reacting the same way…”
I shook my head to stop her. I didn’t even want to hear what she might be thinking after that.
“It’s okay. I just got out of a pretty bad relationship right before I moved here. He was really controlling and could be pretty mean. It wasn’t a good situation. I’m just not comfortable with the idea of getting into anything right at the moment.”
Ava reached out and pulled me into a hug. “I had no idea. I’m sorry you went through that. If you ever need to talk, ever, I’m here for you. I want you to know that. And I’m being totally serious. This isn’t just me saying it to sound nice. If you ever just need to vent or have a shoulder to cry on, you can always come to me.”
I smiled. “Thank you. That means a lot to me. I am so glad I moved here.”
“I am, too,” Ava said. She glanced behind me to the bar, then looked at me again. “You know what? It’s gotten pretty quiet out there. Why don’t we grab something to eat and sit down for a bit? There’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about.”
I nodded, and we went to the kitchen to put in orders for our own burgers. They served them up to us, and Ava and I carried the plates piled high with golden French fries and the juicy burgers to a table in the back of the restaurant. It was one we usually kept reserved for members of the staff because it was out of the way.
“This looks absolutely delicious,” I said. “I got to taste some of the elements of it, but I’m excited to try the whole thing.”
We each took a bite, and it was as incredible as I expected it to be. After a few bites and nibbling down some of the fries, Ava took a sip of her drink and swallowed resolutely.
“Okay, so I wanted to see if you could give me some input. We need something really dynamic for the next theme night. The customer expectations are getting higher, and I want to do something that will really blow them out of the water. There are a lot of the themes that they love and are happy to do more than once, like the classic car night, but I don’t want to get complacent. I want to make sure we’re always surprising them and offering them something that keeps them interested. I usually come up with the themes, but I was hoping some new perspective might come up with something fresh,” she said.
I was thrilled she would even consider asking me for my opinion and ideas. The theme nights were a huge part of the appeal of The Hollow. They had become their trademark, and that came with a lot of responsibility. As much attention and draw as a good theme night could have, a bad one could be disastrous. It was flattering she would trust me even so much as to ask for ideas.
We went back and forth for a few minutes talking about the types of nights they’d had before I started working at the bar and some of the ideas she had been tossing around.
“You know what I absolutely loved in high school?” I asked after giving a couple of suggestions. “Gatsby. We read the book in high school, and I just got totally swept up in it. Then when I was in college, there was a homecoming dance that was themed to that era. Not necessarily the book, but the whole general idea. It wasn’t particularly well done, but I remember thinking it could be amazing if it was done the right way.”
Ava’s eyes widened. “That is such an incredible idea. We’ve never done anything even close to like that. It would be totally unexpected and something brand-new for us to try. I think people would think it was amazing. I’m going to start looking into that and we’ll get planning it.”
I couldn’t help but smile and feel a bit proud of myself. I couldn’t believe something I’d thought of would be turned into one of the special events. It was just another bit of confirmation that I was where I was supposed to be and finally taking control to give myself the life I wanted and thought I might never get to have.
13
Jordan
At the last minute, Tom changed his mind and decided to keep me in Astoria, which suited me just fine. Sending Mason and Tyler alone meant that only a few extra shifts needed to be covered, and Amanda pitched in for some of them while Matt and I took on the bulk of it. It meant long days and longer nights, but at least it kept me busy enough not to dwell too much on the possibility of the change or what was going on between Hannah and me. Not that there was anything to think about really since she and I were so busy we barely had time to talk the entire time. When we did, though, the sparks were just as bright as always.
As I was heading in for another night of work, though, things had changed. Mason had called me the night before, and things were going to start moving a lot faster. It was a surprise to hear just how confident he was on the phone, but on second thought, I shouldn’t have been. Tom was sold on the idea, and while I was a little bitter that we all just went along with whatever he said, I had to admit he was usually spot-on with his assessments. He didn’t miss when it came to business opportunities, and he hadn’t as far back as when we sold peanuts for Scouts or made lemonade stands in the front yard. He was an entrepreneur at heart, and if he said something would work, he was likely right.
When I got to the bar, I immediately found Matt and pulled him aside with me as we did prep work and got the place ready for open.
“I got a call last night from Mason,” I said.
“Oh yeah? Ava didn’t say anything,” Matt said.
“Yeah, he said he was only telling me. I don’t know how much is set in stone yet, but it’s enough that I figured I should give you a heads-up.”
“What’s going on?”
“Well, it l
ooks like they found a place and are headed back today,” I said.
“What? That fast?”
“Yeah. Mason loved the place, and Tyler thinks it has even more potential than here. They should be getting back pretty soon. Tom’s going to handle all the paperwork from his office in San Francisco.”
“Of course he is,” Matt said, shaking his head. “Man, I can’t believe it.” He turned to me, cocking an eyebrow. “Who’s going to run it, though?”
“Not me,” we said in unison.
“Shit,” Matt said.
“Yeah, shit,” I said. “We have to figure this out, because it’s only right.”
“I agree.” He sighed.
“What?”
“I dunno,” he said, but I knew what he was thinking.
I was about to tell him he didn’t have to do anything. He was an adult, and he could tell Tom to shove it if he wanted to. That his life was his own, and he could stay here and be his own man and a thousand other things I had an inkling to tell Tom myself when my voice stopped in my throat. Hannah had just walked in, and my eyes went right to her like magnets.
She smiled when she saw me, and I felt my throat catch. Then she made her way toward me, and I had to look away so I didn’t spend the entire time she was coming staring at the way her hips swayed back and forth. She was mesmerizing.
“Hey,” she said casually as she approached us both. “How are you guys doing?”
“Good,” I said.
“Great. Busy, though,” Matt said. “Matter of fact, I need to get… back… to the back…”
With that, he abruptly turned on his heel and left. It wasn’t the smoothest exit in the world, but Hannah didn’t seem to notice. Or if she did, she didn’t let on.
Boss Daddy: A Secret Baby Romance Page 7