We got to work, and while my brothers and I spent some time celebrating together, she went into the office to get some work done. We headed outside to meet the delivery truck, and I noticed Ava standing at the doorway watching as we unloaded it. She got up on the balls of her feet and kissed my cheek as I walked inside. Her mouth came to my ear.
“It’s so hot watching you unload all these heavy boxes,” she said quietly.
In that moment, life couldn’t get a whole lot better.
25
Ava
“Well, this is a decidedly different experience than when we were hiring you,” Jesse said a few days later as we prepared to do the interviews for the bartender and cook positions.
When we posted the spots on the same job opportunity site I had responded to, I thought it would take a few days to get a response. Instead, we ended up getting so many applicants on the first day we took the listing down.
Worst-case scenario, we were unable to find anybody suitable and could put it right back up, but I didn’t want us to get overwhelmed with the number of applicants and not be able to do a thorough interview with them.
“It’s a pretty amazing turnout,” I said. “And these are the ones I’ve already screened.”
“Can you believe this?” Matt asked, coming up to lean on the bar and look out over the people waiting to be called in for their interview. “I just overheard one of the applicants say there’s so much of a buzz because everybody wants to work here. The theme nights are really drumming up a lot of interest in us all through the neighborhood and the surrounding areas.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Why do you sound so surprised?” Jesse asked. “You’re the one who said if we did theme nights our business would increase. Turns out you were right.”
“Well, yeah, but I just didn’t expect something quite like this. It’s a good thing we came in early to do the interviews. It’s going to take a long time to get through all these people. I want to make sure we are completely done and ready to get set up for tonight before opening,” I said.
That day we were trying out something new. Mondays and Tuesdays were always our slowest nights, unsurprisingly. Most bars and restaurants had their lowest crowds on the first two nights of the week. That was why it wasn’t uncommon to see especially small restaurants close on Monday nights. But we wanted to boost our crowds. Since we were closed on Sundays, we wanted to find something to rev up business and get our week off to a strong start.
As a fix, we were jumping in with a new type of theme night. It wasn’t going to be as big and elaborate as our other events, but we hoped it would carry on as a weekly thing to bring in more people. Trivia night was done in countless other places, so we figured we might as well try it, too.
Not only was it a chance to bring more people out, but it could appeal to another demographic. When we were forming our plans for the theme nights, we talked about appealing to a wide variety of people. We didn’t want The Hollow to be pigeonholed into only being for a certain type of clientele. Having a wide variety of different types of themes for our events helped to reach out to more people.
But the truth was, we were still narrowed down to the potential demographic of people who liked exciting nights out. They wanted loud music, dancing, lights, all those thrills. While that was a lot of fun for a lot of people, it left out the group who was looking for something a bit more low-key.
Trivia night was the perfect solution. Still fun, still with the opportunity for drinks and music, but quieter and calmer. To be honest, I was really looking forward to it.
“Where are you doing your interviews?” Jesse asked.
“I thought I would interview them right here at the bar,” I said. “If they’re going to be bartending, they should feel comfortable here. And this would give me the opportunity to ask them to come back and show me some of their skills. Somebody taught me that you can tell a lot about a potential bartender by watching them mix drinks.” The guys laughed. “And I want to see them pull a beer.”
“A beer?” Jesse asked.
“Yep,” I said. “Something I’ve learned in my time here is how important it is to be able to pour a beer well. I want to narrow down the options, then see who is able to give me the best pour.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Jesse said. “I’ll do my interviews at the tables toward the back, if that works for you.”
“Absolutely,” I said. “It’s up to you. You’re the one who needs to be able to work with this person and believe in their ability to help you do what needs to be done. You pick the one who’s best for you.”
My managerial pep talk over, we went our separate ways and started up running the interviews. It wasn’t completely foreign to me. I had been responsible for forming teams and overseeing projects in my former career.
As soon as that thought went through my head, I paused. My former career? Was that really how I thought about it? Coming back here to Oregon was supposed to be a temporary thing. From the very beginning, it was supposed to just be long enough for me to help Dad through his recovery and give Mom the support she needed. When that was done, I was heading right back to Michigan. To my life there.
Now all of a sudden, I was thinking of that time in my life as being behind me. It wasn’t the career I had paused or the one I was going back to, but my former career.
That was both surprising and exciting. I tucked the thought out of my mind, deciding I would continue to dwell on it later. I dove into the interviews, and three hours later, I still hadn’t made a final decision. I went over to talk to Jesse. He walked over to me with an expression on his face that said he was in just as much indecision as I was.
“Any luck?” I asked.
“There are a few people who seem promising,” he said. “But I haven’t been able to make a final decision yet.”
“Neither have I,” I told him. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we sleep on it? Choose the top contenders, and we’ll call them back for second interviews later in the week.”
“That sounds great,” Jesse said.
A few minutes later, Mason showed up. I was behind the bar taking a minute to drink some coffee, and he came over to give me a kiss.
“How did the interviews go?” he asked. “Did you pick anybody?”
“They went really well,” I said. “They were really enthusiastic and motivated to jump in. But I couldn’t make an absolute decision yet. There are a couple of them I want to talk to again, so Jesse and I each narrowed down the field to five people. Each position will have a second round of interviews later in the week after we think about it some more.”
Mason kissed me and smiled encouragingly. “You are amazing, and I know you will make the right decision. And Jesse is perfectly sufficient, and I am confident he will make a decision that you will later modify to make it work.”
He slid his eyes over to the side to where Jesse was standing. The younger brother shot him a look, and Mason laughed.
“It’s going to be great,” I said. “I’m just happy that business is already good enough for us to be able to do this. Having those extra people is going to make a huge difference.”
“I know,” Mason said. “The last time we added somebody, it worked out really well for us.”
I grinned and gave him another kiss. Since we were in such a good moment, I decided to broach the uncomfortable topic that continued to hover around us.
“So, have you had a chance to talk to Tom yet?” I asked.
I wasn’t as worried about it now as I was at the beginning. Mason had already come right out and told his oldest brother that he loved me and we were together. But I knew he wanted to have a full conversation with him and talk the whole situation out. So far, they hadn’t had the opportunity to sit down together.
“Not yet,” Mason said. “He had to fly back to San Francisco for some work emergency. I don’t think this is the sort of conversation we should have over the phone, so I have to wait until he comes back.
But he said he’s planning to come back in a week or two. When he gets here, we can sit down and discuss it. All three of us.”
He slipped that in right at the end when I had started to turn away to put my coffee mug in the dish bucket. I paused and turned back around stare at him incredulously.
“Excuse me?” I asked. “What do you mean all three of us?”
“Well, this obviously involves you. I think you should be there to be able to talk about it and speak for yourself,” Mason said. “It’ll probably mean a lot more to him when he sees us together and were able to both explain to him how we feel.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “That makes me really nervous.”
Mason shook his head. “It shouldn’t. There’s no reason for you to be nervous. Tom really likes you. He always has. Besides, it’s not going to make any difference to our relationship in any negative way. No matter what he says, you and I are together.” He reached down and took my hands, holding them between us. “This is real, and it’s not going away. I don’t care how he feels about it.”
“Really?”
“Really. The only thing it could do is make things better. I’m not asking for his permission. I’m not asking for his blessing. All I’m doing is giving him the opportunity to accept our relationship and be happy for us. If he decides not to, then that’s his problem,” Mason said.
“Alright,” I said. “We don’t have much time. Let’s get to work getting everything set up for tonight.”
“Yes, Boss,” Mason said.
I shook my head, and we started getting everything together. We were almost ready by the time Matt and Tyler came in. Mason’s arms were around my waist, my back to him as he tickled me, and I giggled. I squealed as he scooped me up and swung me in a circle.
Matt and Tyler grinned as they watched us. When Mason put me back on my feet, Matt came over and patted him on the back.
“It’s good to see you happy again, brother,” he said. “You too, Ava.”
“I am definitely happy again,” I said.
Mason grabbed me and dipped me back, giving me a long, deep kiss.
26
Mason
It took almost a week for Ava and Jesse to settle on who to hire for the bartender and cook positions. But it was finally the day for them to start, and everybody was excited to see how they were going to fit in. That was going to be the biggest test. We talked about that a few days before when they were still struggling over who to choose.
Both said there were a couple of different people who had great skills, a lot of experience, and came recommended by other people in the industry. They were applying to work at The Hollow either because they didn’t have the type of position they wanted at their former place of employment, they had just moved into the area, or they had left the industry for a while to do something else but were coming back.
It made it difficult for them to decide which one of them would be the best fit. Eventually, they realized the only way to really decide would be to see them in action. It wasn’t just about how they used their skills in the context of an actual workday. It wasn’t even about how they were able to respond to pressure or deal with how things could change moment-to-moment.
In the end, it was really about how they fit in among the five of us. By that point, we had gotten so accustomed to working together. We all knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses; we knew each other’s personalities and how to deal with different challenges that might come up.
Just as important as all of that, though, and possibly even more important, we all liked each other. There wasn’t one of us who stood out or who caused problems for the rest. Not that it was always rainbows and butterflies. There was conflict and attention just like anybody would expect from a business run by a set of brothers and managed by the girlfriend of one of those brothers. But at the end of the day, we really did have fun together. That’s what we were looking for in a new employee.
We needed somebody we could feel comfortable with and who wouldn’t disrupt the general flow of work. Once we established that, Jesse and Ava were both able to settle on the candidate they thought would work out best. Now it was time to put it to the test and see how it was going to work out.
I was already looking forward to the benefits of having more employees. It wasn’t lost on me that having more people around meant the potential for more time off. More time off meant more time with Ava. She might be managing the bar now, but that didn’t mean she never got to breathe again.
Once she felt confident the new people were settled in and performing well, I was going to convince her to take a couple of days off a week. It probably wasn’t practical to think the manager was going to take the weekend off, but I would settle for weekdays. After all, we spent all week in a bar together. There really wasn’t much need for us to go to a different one together on the weekend.
Ava and I weren’t spending every night together. As much as I would have liked to, she said it would be better if we took things a little more slowly this time than we had before the incident when Tom first arrived. After we first reunited, we were together nonstop. We rode to and from work together every day. We spent every night at one of our houses or the other.
It felt comfortable and easy. But Ava pointed out that that was the problem. We had just fallen into a routine. Rather than getting to know each other again, we were relying on our existing feelings. And that’s where we stopped communicating. If we focused more on that, the whole misunderstanding wouldn’t have happened to begin with.
These weren’t necessarily things I would have thought of myself. In fact, I was a bit stunned when the Ava brought them up. But after she explained it, it all made sense. We were still in love with each other from when we were kids, but the reality was, we weren’t those people anymore. Not entirely, at least.
We had both grown up and experienced life away from each other. That meant we needed to move through all the stages of this relationship. We had to take our time.
And it was fucking killing me.
I loved Ava. I wanted things to be great between us. But I also wanted to be near her more. I liked being able to reach over in the middle of the night and touch her. I like waking up to her kissing me. We got those nights a few times a week, but I looked forward to that number increasing.
The night before the first day of work for the new employees was not one of those nights, so I drove into work by myself. When I got to the bar, Ava was already there. She and Matt were showing the new bartender around, explaining her duties to her.
She looked up as I walked by, and we exchanged a smile. I headed into the kitchen to help unload and organize the newest food supply order. We’d gotten to the point where we were ordering three times as much as we used to. That night was our busiest of the week, which meant we needed to be prepared.
When I walked into the kitchen, I found Jesse with the new cook. Tyler looked at me nervously when I met him in the storeroom.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I really wish the new guy could have started on a less busy night of the week,” he said. “What if he isn’t as good as Jesse says?”
“Both Jesse and Ava are really confident in this guy. He’s apparently really good,” I said.
“Okay, so maybe it’s not just the cook I’m worried about,” he said.
“Then what is it?” I asked, opening a new box of produce and putting it up on the shelf.
“Jesse and Ava asked me to work in the kitchen tonight,” he said.
It all came tumbling out of his mouth as one mix of syllables.
“You’ve helped out in the kitchen before,” I said.
“I know, but like putting salads together and filling out bowls of tortilla chips. They want me to help make food. Like real food. What if I poison somebody?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I think you’re going to be okay. I doubt they’re going to have you make puffer fish on your first night out of the gate. You’re going to
be just fine.”
The few words of encouragement seemed to help, and he gave a nod. I was sure it was going to work out just fine for him. It wasn’t like he was going to be up for any James Beard awards or anything anytime soon, but he knew his way around the kitchen well enough to put together plates and do some basic prep.
If I knew Jesse as well as I thought I did, I was confident that was pretty much all he would let Matt do anyway. He was so wrapped up in the menu he had planned for that night. He’d started planning it during the week while he waited to hire the new cook, excited at the chance to do something more elaborate. I doubted he was going to entrust anyone with anything important that night. He would be too worried about making sure every detail was perfect.
There was no gradual buildup to that night. As soon as we opened the door, there was a line of people waiting to get in. I ended up at the front door, taking names and offering approximate wait times. Ava slipped away from the bar and came up to ask how I was doing.
“The next person we hire is a hostess,” I said. “Or host. I am not biased.”
Ava laughed and patted me on the back. “You’re going to be okay. I promise.”
“How are things going with you?” I asked.
“Really well, actually. Everything is smooth so far. Apparently, advertising that we had a new menu tonight was a very smart business move,” she said.
“From my very smart business minded manager?” I asked.
“I mean,” she said, shrugging with playful false modesty. “If we’re keeping score…”
“It definitely looks like people are enjoying the food,” I said.
“They really are. I’ve only heard good things. And Miranda is doing fantastically behind the bar. I had a good feeling about her, and she’s living up to every bit of it. She knows all the drinks, she’s great with the customers, and she pours a perfect beer,” she said.
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