Searching for Neverland

by Alexander, Monica

  I pointed at him with my bottle. “She called earlier this evening, and you got upset. Why was that?”

  I grabbed a jalapeño popper and stuffed it in my mouth, resisting the urge to groan. Fried food when I was drunk always made me happy.

  “That wasn’t her on the phone.”

  “Who was it?” I asked once I’d swallowed what I’d been chewing.

  “It was Caleb.”

  “Really? What did he want?”

  Caleb was Jeremy’s ten year-old son. He’d only been five when his father had died, so I knew he was close with Josh. I think Josh felt guilty that Caleb was growing up without a father, so he tried to be there for him as much as he could, even if it was only over the phone.

  “He just wanted to talk. He got in trouble, and he was mad. Typical ten year-old stuff.” Josh shrugged.

  “I think it’s really sweet that you’re close with Jeremy’s kids.”

  Josh had a faraway look in his eyes. “Jeremy would have done the same for me, so it’s the least I can do. And Caleb’s a cool kid, and he does a lot to help out his mom and take care of his sister, Savannah. I’m actually thinking about going back to visit them at the end of the summer. It’s been about six months since I’ve seen them.”

  “That’s cool.”

  He grinned. “You want to come with me?”

  “To Atlanta?”

  “Sure. We could stay in a nice hotel, go to the Georgia Aquarium, hang out in Buckhead. It’ll be fun.”

  I screwed up my face in question. “You want me to go away with you for the weekend?”

  He grinned. “Just as friends. It’ll be payback for making me go to your bitchy cousin’s wedding.”

  I threw my crumpled up napkin at him, and he just laughed. He was right, though. Marissa was a bitch, and part of the reason I wanted to bring Josh to her wedding was because he was so hot. I couldn’t show up with just anyone.

  “Won’t Kimmy be upset?”

  Josh sighed in a measured sort of way and then shook his head. “I don’t know. She was going out with an ex-boyfriend of hers tonight, so she doesn’t have a lot of room to talk,” he said, and my eyes got wide.

  I knew they’d been fighting. He’d been too pensive when I’d asked about her for everything to be okay between them.

  “Like on a date?”

  He shook his head. “No, just as friends. They were going in a group, but she didn’t tell me at first and then panicked about lying, so she called to tell me. She beeped in while I was talking to Caleb.”

  “Were you pissed?”

  “There was some arguing, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about the situation, so it didn’t exactly benefit me to get upset.”

  What a mature response. I’m not sure I would have seen things from that angle. But then again he was also asking me to take a trip with him as a way to get back at his girlfriend, and that didn’t seem too mature.

  “Do you really like her, Josh?”

  I kept wondering why on earth he stayed with her when it was so obvious he didn’t want a girlfriend. Was he torturing himself because he thought he needed to give this exclusivity thing a chance? It didn’t seem like it was working very well to me.

  “Okay,” Josh said, clapping his hands together before he reached for a chicken finger. “New subject.”

  “Fine,” I grumbled, knowing it would do no good to pry. He was like a clam when he didn’t want to talk about something.

  “So, earlier you said you wanted to be my HR consultant,” he said, instead of answering my question.

  “I did.” I stretched my feet out, so they were resting on his lap. “I think it would be fun. Truthfully, I didn’t think you were serious the first time you said something about a partnership since you were so drunk when you asked, and when you brought it up again, I thought you were doing it to piss off Alex, but if you’re genuinely asking, I’m in.”

  He smiled. “That’s awesome. But just so you know, I wasn’t trying to piss Alex off. I mean, as much as I enjoy pissing assholes off, it wasn’t my goal. You should also know that I say a lot of things when I’m drunk that I mean. It’s usually when the truth comes out, and that night I was being honest. I think it would be cool to go into business with you.”

  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, I immediately thought of his proclamation of love and my heart started pounding, so much so that I completely ignored his barb aimed at Alex or the fact that he’d asked me to go into business with him. My mind was one-tracked.

  Had what he’d said to me the night he’d kissed me been genuine? Unfortunately, he kept talking, so I couldn’t question him about it.

  “See, here’s the thing. I’ve been thinking for a while now that I want to do something more than just bartend, and I knew Stu has been entertaining the idea of selling, so I talk to him a few weeks ago, and he offered to sell the bar to me.”

  My eyes got wide. “Josh, that’s so awesome! Are you going to buy it?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I think so, but I’m not sure it’s something I can really do on my own – financially or otherwise. I mean, I have the money for the purchase, but there are a lot of other things I want to do like remodel a little and change the décor, and I know your financial situation is pretty good, so I thought you might want to go into business together.”

  “Seriously?!” Now I was listening. “You want me to be your partner? Like, your actual partner?”

  That was so much cooler than just being a consultant.

  He grinned. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot.”

  I screwed my face up in question. “So would I be like a silent partner?”

  My father had been talking to me for a few years about investing my grandfather’s money, but I wasn’t sure a bar was what he had in mind. But then again, it was my money.

  Josh shook head. “No, I’d really want you to be my partner,” he said, and it sort of hung out there for a few seconds as I considered what he was truly asking me.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah,” he said earnestly. “Think about it. No more wearing business casual or getting up early or having a boss who doesn’t ever think you’re good enough. You’d be your own boss, Tay.” Yeah, that sounded really appealing. “Plus, drunk people are really fun clients.”

  I raised my eyebrow at him. “I’ve seen you kick guys out of this very bar for being unruly,” I said, looking around and seeing the pub differently for the first time.

  He grinned. “Yeah, and it was really fun.”

  “You’re serious about this,” I said, and his expression changed.

  “I am. I like your work ethic, you’re smart, and you have good business sense. Plus we get along, and that’s important to me in a partnership.”

  “Wow, this is really unexpected,” I said, obviously bewildered by this sudden twist of events.

  “Think it over and let me know,” he said, and I was glad he didn’t want an answer right then and there.

  “I will,” I said, still slightly dumbfounded, but a little twinge of excitement had started to build in my stomach as I thought about how cool it would be to own a bar.

  I’d certainly been frequenting them for years, and my background in HR would help, plus my MBA. Sure it was risky, but it wasn’t like I was going into the venture alone or without knowing if the concept would work. O’Donnell’s was busy almost every night and it was profitable as is. If Josh and I classed the place up a bit, we could make a lot of money. And I’d get to work with one of my best friends. It was sort of a no-brainer.

  But Josh had asked me to think about it, so I’d pretend to do just that even though I’d pretty much already made up my mind, and it was starting to race with visions of enhancements we could make inside the bar and drinks we could add to the menu and how we could expand the outside space to create a place for bands to play. I was getting excited just thinking about the prospects.

  Chapter 9

  “Hey partner,” Josh said, grinning at me when I
walked into O’Donnell’s at two in the afternoon the following Wednesday.

  “I’m here for my lesson,” I said in a fake Irish accent. “I’m ready to be a bartender.”

  “Tay, this is an Irish pub. Why are you speaking in a Scottish accent?”

  I frowned. “I was speaking Irish.”

  He laughed. “No, you weren’t, but that was cute.”

  “Whatever. I’m here to learn, so teach me oh wise and sexy barman.”

  Monday night I agreed to be Josh’s partner and go in on purchasing O’Donnell’s with him. It had been one of the easiest decisions I’d ever made, he’d been thrilled, and we’d stayed up half the night making plans. Then I realized I knew nothing about what went on in a bar besides the obvious ordering of drinks and food. So Josh was going to start training me on all the things I needed to know about owning and running a bar, and we were starting with the most important lesson – how to be a bartender – so I could be prepared when we actually took over.

  Josh raised his eyebrow. “Wise and sexy barman?”

  Shit. Since Sunday night we’d inadvertently amped up the flirting we usually did, and it was to the point where we were just plain hitting on each other all the time. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on with us. I knew that things between us had shifted in my room that night, before we’d gone out and before his phone call, and I couldn’t help but wondering what would have happened if Caleb hadn’t called him right at that moment. Would we have kissed? Would I have liked it?

  I was pretty sure I knew the answers to both of those questions.

  But I shook off the thoughts churning in my head, because that had also been before he’d asked me to be his partner and I’d accepted. Now flirting was just dangerous. I couldn’t make out with my business partner.

  Shit, what was I saying? This was Josh we were talking about. I couldn’t kiss Josh, because, well, he was Josh. We were friends, and that was it. I needed to quit initiating flirtatious moments and make sure we stayed strictly platonic.

  I shrugged. “It fits, and you know it,” I said as nonchalantly as I could, trying to downplay my advance. “Now let’s get mixing!”

  “In a little bit. First we have a meeting.”

  “With who?”

  “With me, and what the hell are you wearing?”

  I spun around to find my uncle appraising my outfit with disdain.

  Uh yeah, when I’d gotten dressed for my afternoon of bartending, I wasn’t expecting to run into my uncle. Suffice it to say, I was not exactly as covered up as he’d want me to be.

  “Uncle Stu!” I shouted, loud enough for the whole bar to hear, as I crossed the space between us and flung my arms around his neck. “When did you get back?!”

  He hugged me tight. “Just this morning. Maggie wanted to come, but she couldn’t get away from work.”

  “So things are still good with her?”

  He nodded. “We’re getting married.”

  “That is so great! Did you tell Mom yet?”

  Uncle Stu was my mother’s younger brother, and she’d always been so concerned that he’d end up alone. He’d been practically married to the Tampa Police Department for fifteen years, so he’d never really had time for a relationship. Then when he left the force, he’d focused solely on the bar. But six months earlier, he’d taken a trip to Ireland to look into our family’s heritage, and he’d met Maggie. She was the woman who worked at the records office in Dublin who’d helped him locate where our family was from, and she even visited the town with him, although I’m guessing that wasn’t in her job description.

  My mom about had a conniption when Stu called and said he was staying in Ireland indefinitely. She thought he was nuts, but apparently he was in love. I wasn’t sure how she’d feel about him getting married and moving there permanently. But if he was happy, I didn’t think her opinion much mattered.

  Stu shook his head. “I’m having dinner with your parents tonight, and I’m telling her then.”

  “Good luck.”

  “I don’t need it,” he said, in an Irish accent that was much better than my attempt. “I have the luck of an Irish woman on my side.”

  “Aye, and a pot of gold waiting for you at the bottom of my checkbook,” Josh said, in his own Irish baroque.

  My uncle just laughed. “Right you are, Joshua,” he said, as he pulled Josh in for a hug.

  Stu didn’t have kids, but Josh was like the son he’d never had. I was sure that had a lot to do with his decision to sell the bar. He knew Josh would maintain the integrity of the place.

  “Should we go into your office?” Josh asked.

  Stu raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s your office, and no, I’d like to sit at one of the tables, have a pint and after the papers are signed, be a paying customer again.”

  “You’re money’s no good here,” Josh said, shaking his head.

  “Ah, I always knew you were a smart boy.”

  Josh grinned, as he stepped back behind the bar to pour us a round of drinks. I started to follow Stu to the table, but Josh grabbed my arm and held me back.

  “Here,” he said, thrusting a black ‘O’Donnell’s’ sweatshirt into my hands. “Put this on.”

  I tugged the sweatshirt over my head. It was huge. The arms hung way past my hands, and it fell practically to my knees. I also realized it smelled like Josh, which was going to be incredibly distracting if I had to keep it on during our meeting. His scent was just this side of intoxicating, which was a little bit of a red flag, since it was the second time in two weeks I’d noticed how good he smelled, and I hadn’t ever done that before in the three years we’d lived together.

  What was happening to me?

  “Josh,” I hissed, as he started to turn away.

  “Yeah?”

  “Are we buying the bar today?”

  He grinned. “Yeah, we are.”

  My eyes got wide. “Oh, wow. Okay. That was fast.”

  He closed the distance between us. “You’re not thinking of backing out, are you?” he asked, as his blue eyes darted back and forth berween mine.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m in,” I said seriously.

  Josh nodded. “Good. I’m glad. Now go keep Stu company. I’ll be there in a minute.”

  I nodded and went to join my uncle at the four-top he’d commandeered, thinking that this was the most unorthodox business meeting I’d ever attended when Josh set down a pitcher of beers on the table and started pouring. But in getting into the business of owning a bar, I was pretty sure I’d get used to casual meetings like this one fairly quickly. And I wasn’t exactly complaining.

  “Stu O’Donnell?”

  We both looked up to see a middle-aged woman in a suit standing next to our table.

  “That’s me,” my uncle said gruffly.

  The woman laughed nervously. My uncle was a little assuming at 6’3” and probably close to two-hundred and fifty pounds. He was a big man, and he still kept in shape He’d always attracted women, but it seemed as he’d aged, he’d become more distinguished and attractive to the opposite sex. He was always getting hit on, and I wondered if I was about to witness another woman shamelessly flirting with him.

  “Good afternoon,” the woman said, sticking her hand out to shake his. “I’m Louise Bellingham from the title agency.”

  “Oh, right, Louise. Nice to meet you, and thanks for coming on such short notice. My niece and her friend are ready to be the owners of this bar, and I’m ready to sell it to them.

  “Alright then, let’s get started,” Louise said, as she settled at the table and spread out the papers she was holding.

  * * *

  “Alright,” Josh said when I followed him behind the bar a few hours later.

  I paused, looked around and for the first time I realized that I owned a bar. I looked back at him, and he must have been able to read what I was thinking. He grinned at me.

  “We bought a pub,” I said, still not believing that the papers were signed,
and the place was ours.

  “You’re not going to freak out on me, are you partner?”

  I shook my head and smiled. “Nope, this is the best decision I’ve ever made.”

  A smile crept up on Josh’s face. “I’m glad to hear you say that.”

  He looked out over the pub, appraising the small, late afternoon crowd. When my uncle had left to go to my parents’ house, Josh told me we could practice mixing drinks for a few hours. The place would be busy once happy hour started, so I’d learn what I could, and then I’d sit back and be a customer since my sister was meeting me after work for some celebratory drinks.

  “Cute outfit, by the way,” Josh said, trying to hide the smirk that was creeping up on his face, as I yanked his oversized sweatshirt off. I had trouble moving in it and needed full range of motion if was going to work behind the bar.

  Apparently he hadn’t gotten the ‘no flirting’ memo I’d issued earlier.

  “I thought it worked,” I said casually, looking down at my black boyfriend tank, red plaid skirt and black Doc Marten’s. I’d been going for a Coyote Ugly in Ireland look, and from the way Josh was drinking me in, I’d say it was working.

  “You do realize you’re also dressed like you’re in Scotland, right?”

  I looked down at my outfit and realized he was right. Oh well, I looked damn cute.

  “Stop checking me out, you pervert,” I chastised him and elbowed him in the ribs instead of telling him he was right, before I turned to the middle-aged guy in a suit sitting closest to us. “Can I get you another?”

  “Sure, sweetheart. That would be great.”

  “What are you drinking, sailor?” I asked, leaning my hip against the bar.

  The guy chuckled. “This here is a Yuengling.”

  I winked at him. “One Yuengling, coming right up.”

  I turned toward the taps behind me, grabbed a glass, and started to pour from the Yuengling tap like I’d seen done thirty thousand times in my life. I felt a presence next to me but didn’t stop pouring.

  “What are you doing?” Josh asked

  “Pouring that guy a beer,” I said, as I glanced at my perplexed partner’s face.