Wayward Love

by Rhys Everly

“Go home. If you want. I’ll take over,” I told Johnny.

  I didn’t like sending my guys home. They all relied on me to pay their bills, but what else could I do?

  “You sure, boss? I just started. Maybe Rachel wants to go home,” he said.

  “I can ask,” I said.

  Rachel had three mouths to feed and a sick husband. She was the last person I wanted to send home, but I couldn’t play favorites.

  When she came up to the bar and asked Johnny for another beer, I turned to her and asked.

  “Can I?” she said. “I was gonna ask anyway. I really need to pick up the kids from school today. My nanny let me down.”.

  “Isn’t your nanny your mother?” I asked.

  Rachel laughed.

  “Yes, but she had some errands to run in New Harlow and now she’s stuck in traffic,” she said.

  “Fine. You can go. What’s happening with the tables?” I asked.

  Rachel ran through the tables with me and what they needed, not that it was hard to figure it all out. Three of the tables were just having drinks and another table was waiting for their entrees. After she changed, she came back around, gave me and Johnny a kiss, and left us to handle everything.

  She was a great girl, but how long before she realized she couldn’t afford to work for me anymore? No one could. I tried to pay them all generously for their time here, but without making much every day and almost no customers to leave tips, working here didn’t just put a dent in my finances, but theirs, too.

  The kitchen bell dinged, and I made my way inside to pick up the order for my table. There were two double burgers under the hot light, and both plates were filled to the brim with fries. My breath caught, and I had to remember to inhale. Was Eric trying to give me a heart attack?

  “Eric,” I called the chef, and he came up to me. “Why is there so much food on the plate?” I asked.

  “What do you mean so much food?” Eric chuckled.

  This wasn’t a laughing matter. What the hell was he trying to do? We couldn’t afford to serve so much food on a plate, especially when our prices were so low to begin with.

  “No, this is way too much food on here. Take some of the fries off so we can serve them later. And why are we double-stacking burgers now?”

  Eric stared at me in disbelief, but I wasn’t backing down.

  “So?” I asked him.

  “Oh, you’re being serious? Andy, we’ve always served double-stacked burgers with loads of fries. Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Well, starting now, we aren’t. Just one patty per person and hold the fries, okay?” I said, picked up the two plates, and walked out of the kitchen.

  “I dunno what’s gotten into you, but... okay, boss,” Eric muttered under his breath as if I couldn’t hear him.

  I could hear him just fine, and none of this was his fault. He was right. God, I really needed to get my act straight. This was too much. I was starting to lose myself. If I hadn’t already.

  The rest of the evening wasn’t much better. We had a mild rush between six and seven and then another one at nine, but for the most part, we remained quiet. And even during our busy time, we still weren’t at full capacity.

  If Friday nights were gonna get this quiet, then there was no doubt about closing the doors of Andy’s Bar for good. The question was when it would happen and would I have any say in it?

  Maybe I did need Kyle’s help after all. I couldn’t exactly imagine what a twenty-one-year-old could do that I couldn’t, but at least he could brighten up this place with his smile.

  I shook the thought of him out of my head and put my mind to work. When we finally closed a little after two in the morning, I took the register tills to the office and counted them down. There was barely enough to pay Rachel and Johnny for their hours, let alone myself.

  In all fairness, I hadn’t taken a salary in forever. It was always a little money here and there for things that Summer or Maya needed, or when Yaya went to the grocery store, or to fill up my tank. The truth was, if anything broke down in the bar or the house, we were screwed.

  When I put the tills into the safe, I spotted a letter on my desk that wasn’t there the night before.

  Already dreading the contents before I even opened it, I took my letter opener and sliced the top part of the envelope.

  “Your electric bill is overdue. Please make a payment by…” it read.

  And this was exactly the reason why having Kyle here wouldn’t do any good. Everything was already at risk. Everything was overdue. Customers were non-existent.

  The last thing I needed was an inexperienced kid to come in and change everything and piss off the few customers we did have.

  And what if he saw the state of this place? What if he saw the letters coming in? The companies weren’t exactly discreet with their envelopes. What if he found out how royally fucked up my business was and reported it back to Nathan. Nathan wouldn’t keep it a secret, that’s for sure. And then the whole family would know what a big failure I was.

  But then again, did it matter? I was gonna have to bite the bullet sooner or later, anyway. And when that happened, my big secret would come out and I’d be the laughing stock of the town.

  Might as well get it over and done with.

  Fuck!

  I needed a miracle.

  The next day, I woke up with one thought circling in my mind.

  Kyle.

  I went through all the scenarios in my head of how things could go wrong and in how many ways while going through my morning routine. Would he drive my business into the ground? Or would he just stay in the background and pretend he was studying for his class?

  What kind of blowout would there be when he told Nathan? Would Yaya have anything to say?

  Of course she would. Unless she decided to give me the silent treatment, which would be worse. What would Dad think? If he ever came back long enough to notice his kids.

  At a certain point, I had to just let it all go and get on with my day before I drove myself insane.

  Thankfully, the morning started rather busy. I had some people come in as soon as I opened the doors at twelve, and they helped ease the demented scenarios playing in my head. Most people had omelettes or pancakes and some coffee, and by the time Rachel walked in at two, the bar was busy and I’d forgotten all about Kyle.

  Until I spotted him a few hours later.

  He walked into the bar five minutes to five wearing skinny blue jeans that cut at the ankles, white tennis shoes, a loose fitted black and yellow t-shirt, and a denim jacket tied in a knot in front of his belly. To top off his out-of-this-world cute look was a blue patterned shawl wrapped around his head.

  It was hard not to notice him. He stood out in the bar like a patch of color in a black and white movie. No wonder other people turned to look at him, too.

  I had to remind myself this young man was going to be my employee and I needed to act like his employer. Even if he was doing this for free.

  What a messy situation.

  Kyle approached the bar and leaned closer to greet me by my last name.

  I gave Rachel the glass of wine for her table and approached him while Rachel inspected Kyle from head to toe.

  “Please, call me Andy,” I told him as soon as I stood across from him.

  “Okay, Mr. Andy,” he said, and I shook my head to correct him again.

  “Are you ready to do some work?” I asked, and he tilted his head so I felt the need to explain. “I thought you could help Rachel on the floor tonight so you can see how everything works around here.”

  Kyle gave me a smile and my heart fluttered a touch.

  “Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.

  “Follow me.” I came out from behind the bar and took him to the office. “You can leave your stuff here if you want. Like your phone and wallet. And your jacket. It will get hot in here after a while.”

  “Sure,” Kyle replied and took his denim jacket off, revealing his sk
inny freckled arms.

  Just watching him undress, even if it was just the one article of clothing, made things happen to both my heads, and I had to look away as he tucked his stuff on a chair because I was in danger of getting a boner.

  God, why am I being such a perv? I seriously need to get laid. Especially if I’m gonna start lusting after my son’s male friend.

  “Here, put this on,” I said when he told me he was ready. I opened one of the filing cabinet drawers to give him an apron, and he wrapped it around his tiny waist.

  “Is everything okay? Am I not wearing it right?” he asked, and I had to force my gaze to meet his.

  “Huh?” I grumbled.

  Kyle turned around himself, looking at the apron, and I realized I’d been staring at his body and he thought he’d done something wrong.

  Fuck.

  At this rate, he wasn’t gonna go to Nathan and tell him his dad was a failed businessman. He was gonna tell Nathan his dad was a creep.

  “No, you’re fine. Let’s go,” I said and came out of the office after prompting Kyle.

  We returned to the floor and I introduced him to Rachel while I took back control of the bar with Johnny. Since it would be peak time soon and we’d be inundated with customers, I wouldn’t be able to gawk over Kyle or worry about how he was doing. I just had to trust Rachel to ease him into everything, which I was sure she would.

  When it quieted down and I’d managed to catch up with washing all the glasses and wiping down the bar, Rachel and Kyle came to stand close to me.

  “So? How was it?” I asked.

  Kyle shrugged and put his elbows on the bar top. “Is it always this quiet?” he asked, and my face dropped.

  What did he mean quiet? Saturdays were our busiest days still, thankfully. If we didn’t have Saturdays, the bar would have closed a long time ago.

  “Most times,” Rachel commented and sat down on a barstool.

  Wait, what? She thought it was quiet, too? Since when? Did we live in different dimensions?

  “I mean, it’s a good thing it wasn’t any busier because us four wouldn’t be enough, but look at this,” Kyle said and turned to look at all the occupied tables. “Half the bar is empty and it’s not even nine yet.”

  This certainly wasn’t a good start. How dare he criticize my bar? I’d been doing this stuff longer than he’d been alive. Was that how this “work experience” was gonna go?

  “You can go if you want,” I said, and from the look Rachel gave me, I could tell it’d come across the wrong way. Kyle stared at me. “I mean, it’s quiet now, and I know you gotta drive back to New Harlow,” I added to clarify.

  Kyle shrugged and smiled at me, even though I wasn’t worthy of it.

  “Come with me. We’ll get your stuff from the office,” I said and took him back the same way as when he’d arrived. “What did you think? Can you save us?” I laughed.

  Isn’t that what they always said on TV when one celebrity or another came to rescue a hotel or restaurant from bankruptcy?

  Kyle picked up his jacket and put it on, making sure to tie the knot on the front.

  “I’ve got lots of notes,” he said. “First, the menu has gotta change. I mean it’s humongous, and you don’t sell half the dishes anymore. Also, the music is dead boring. It’s like a funeral out there. The vibe is another thing. It’s so meh at the moment. Just way too bright. Maybe we could add some candles on the tables to add some ambiance—”

  Was this really happening? Was he going to list everything wrong with my bar as if it was a grocery list?

  “Relax, kid, I was just kidding,” I said.

  “If you want, I can put it all in an email and we can go through them next week?” Kyle said, undefeated by my words.

  Who did he think he was? Coming into my office, my safe space, with all this…negativity.

  “That won’t be necessary,” I said.

  “Wh-what do you mean?”

  “If you want to help out here, you can. But don’t tell me what’s wrong with my bar. You’ve only been here five seconds, so cut it out,” I said before I could control myself.

  His smile disappeared, replaced by a sadness which made my insides feel like crap.

  What had I just done?

  Six

  Kyle

  “What should we do today? Chinese?” Mom asked as soon as Nathan and I walked through the door.

  She was carrying her tablet and pen and didn’t stop doodling, even when Nathan leaned in for a kiss.

  “Busy day, Mrs. B?” he asked her.

  Mom’s nostrils flared and her nose turned red, as it often did when she was getting irritated.

  “Don’t even. This stupid publisher gave me a deadline, and what do they do? Push it forward because, as they said, ‘the author is ready to publish.’ So now I have to rush this damn picture book because he’s ready. What about me? What about when I’m ready?”

  Nathan knew better than to say anything when Mom went into one of her rants, as did I, so we let her go on about her commissions and schedule and “frigging publishers” until she picked up the phone and placed an order for Chinese.

  She might be complaining, but the truth of the matter was, she loved her job. After working her way up the hospitality ladder, opening her own café that failed to take off, then going back to waitressing, she’d take rushed commissions and demanding authors any day of the week over restaurant patrons. She hadn’t failed to say so a hundred times, either, especially in situations like this. Designing picture books was her dream job.

  “Whatever you do, Mrs. B, it will be awesome. You’ve got talent like no other, even when it’s rushed,” Nathan told her, helping himself to a soda from the fridge and taking one of his class books out to read.

  “Aw, thanks sweetie,” Mom said. “Food will be here in thirty. I’ll try and finish another fold. Give me a shout when takeout’s here.”

  Mom returned to her studio, and I switched the TV on, browsing through all the channels but not really interested in any of the programs.

  “Are you tryna give me a headache?” Nathan asked, glaring at the monitor that barely settled a second on each channel.

  “I’m sorry,” I said and put the remote down, settling on a rerun of Cheers.

  “What’s up with you?”

  “He’s been like that since he came back from work on Saturday,” Mom said behind me.

  I turned to stare her down, but she ignored me.

  “I thought you were busy,” I said.

  “I’m just getting a glass of water. Sheesh! See what I’m talking about?” she said, the last part directed at Nathan.

  “What happened on Saturday?” Nathan asked as soon as Mom disappeared to the back again.

  “Nothing,” I said.

  Thanks, Mom. So much for keeping quiet like I’d asked her to. Nathan didn’t need to know what a crap day I’d had at his dad’s bar. Well, not a crap day. It had actually been a great evening. The customers, as few as they may have been, were all adorable and so was the staff, who treated me like an old friend.

  But then I had to go and ruin it all by being myself.

  “Earth to Brady! Do you copy?” Nathan waved a hand in front of my eyes.

  “Really, Nathan. It’s nothing,” I muttered and picked up the remote again.

  “Did my dad say something? Did he do something? I’m gonna kill him,” Nathan started.

  I shook my head.

  “No. It’s fine, Nathan. He didn’t do anything, okay?”

  “Then what?”

  I searched for courage on the ceiling, but of course, there was none. Neither was there any on the four walls surrounding us. I made sure to check.

  “I just ruined everything by being Kyle.” I sighed.

  Nathan flinched. “What? There’s so many questions in that sentence I don’t know where to begin.” Nathan straightened himself on the sofa and leaned closer to me. “First of all, you can’t ruin anything by being you because that’s simply i
mpossible. But what do you think you ruined? How did you ruin it? And how did you ruin it by ‘being Kyle?’”

  “Well, I just started waffling about all the fixes I wanted to do and…Let’s just say your dad didn’t take so kindly to them,” I replied.

  Nathan grimaced.

  “That’s not your fault. That’s Dad’s fault. You were just doing what you were hired to do. You’re not there to serve tables and look pretty, you’re there to help him improve his business.”

  “What are you trying to say?” I tried to make light of the conversation and patted the back of my head as if I was rearranging my hairdo.

  Nathan rolled his eyes and told me I’m still pretty. “I’m being serious, Kyle.”

  “Yeah, I know, but—”

  “No buts, Kyle. You did nothing wrong.”

  “This is what happens with me. I get overly excited and I forget my place, so it wasn’t his fault. I know what I did was wrong. And now I’ve screwed up my chances of passing my class and my year,” I said.

  “What do you mean you’ve screwed up your chances? How?”

  “Well, your dad never told me when to go back to work and I haven’t heard from him, so I’m assuming he doesn’t want me back,” I said.

  “No, that’s not gonna happen. He agreed to it. He can’t just backtrack. And will you stop moping? Just because my dad told you off doesn’t mean you should be looking like the Grim Reaper,” Nathan said.

  “I don’t look like the Grim Reaper, thank you very much. If I look like anything morose it would be the Corpse Bride,” I said, but I didn’t feel the lightness in my tone like I usually would have.

  “There you are. Creeping back in. Don’t worry Kyle. I’ll talk to Dad. What he did was unacceptable,” Nathan said.

  “No, no, no! Please don’t. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be? You can’t do that to me, Nate. Please don’t,” I said and got down to my knees to beg him.

  Of course he ignored me and just waved me off.

  “You can beg all you want. I am gonna have a little chat with him anyway,” he said.

  “That’s so humiliating. Oh God! He already thinks so little of me, if you talk to him, he’ll never call me back.”