“Well, you are kind of tiny.”
“Yeah. Thanks for pointing that out. As if no one has ever done that before.”
“I think it's cute.” What. Why did I say that?
WHEN YOU'RE READY
43
She rolls her eyes and steps in front of the keg.
“Now what do you want me to do.”
“Sit back and watch, I guess. It may not be too busy tonight, so you should be able to chill behind the bar and watch.”
“Fair enough. But I have been a bartender many times, so this is nothing new to me. Just so you know.”
I let my head fall back with a deep laugh.
“Good to know. It’ll be nice training someone with experience already. This is definitely a job that gets easier the more you do it.”
“As are most things in life,” she says and takes a seat towards the front corner of the bar.
“If you say so.”
She’s not a threat Gray, stop being an ass.
Chapter Eight
Riley
I GRAB A CHAIR and position myself in the front corner behind the bar. And I watch. I watch for an hour before I get bored and tired of looking at the animals. No one has walked in, and Grayson has been standing there, elbows on the bar, watching the news.
I get up and start wandering around, my mind going back to that spot I tripped over.
“What is this from?” I rub my toe on a spot on the floor where it is worn down to the concrete.
“Well, the first one…” He points to one of the not so deep ones.
“…a kid died from a motorcycle accident.”
He explains the whole thing to me. About how the town comes together every time. That the room is full of life and the smell of burning rubber.
“Oh wow.” My eyes grow big, I can’t even imagine how smokey it gets in here, let alone what it looks like having a full-size motorcycle in here. “I was told this is one of the oldest bars in the state.”
46
T. SPEAR
“That it is. It opened in 1916; they recently celebrated one hundred years. This actually used to be the bar and then a hall down to the pool hall. If you look up, you can see where the tin ceiling changes over there.”
He points up at the end of the bar and you can see the difference in tiles.
“There used to be a wall there and the hall led down to the pool hall. The actual bar area was really small. And there.”
He points to the small room at the front that holds slot machines.
“That used to be a woman’s sitting room. That’s why the lady’s room is in the front and the men’s is in the back.”