82
T. SPEAR
He laughs and she pours him a beer from the tap.
A few hours later, there is a steady stream of people coming in and they are all dressed up like they are from the 80’s. Riley comes over to me and bumps me with her shoulder.
“Ummm, what is going on?”
“There was a fundraiser tonight. Now everyone is coming here.”
“Ah.”
“Tips will be amazing tonight.” I laugh and she nods her head.
Then we get drinks made. We work like a well-oiled machine, teamwork at its finest. We are in tune with everything that is going on. She grabs four bottles of beer; I pop the tops off and she serves. She gets a drink order, she hands me a glass, then each bottle, and by the time I am done adding soda to one, she’s already got the next one lined up. And we work like that for the rest of the night. Finishing what the other starts or starting what the other ends up finishing.
The last person, besides Gennie, leaves at 2:00 AM. We stop serving at midnight, so last call was more about quantity for this crowd.
“That was insane,” Gennie says as she gets up from the bar. “But ya’ll did really good together, I’m impressed.”
“Thanks Gennie.” I say and gather the last of the glass from the bar top. Riley is collecting pizza trays. We completely sold out of our pre-made pizzas tonight.
“Oh uh, Gennie, you know Curtis.” More of a statement than a question. Of course, she knows Curtis.
“Yes.”
WHEN YOU'RE READY
83
“He’s getting married.” as if she didn’t know that either.
“Yes” she nods her head
“Next weekend is his bachelor party”
“Yes, I know”
“You do?”
“Chris told me when I ran into him at the grocery store. Said he wanted to make sure I knew because he didn’t want you to have an excuse.”
“Ah. yeah.”
“I already have someone ready to cover for you. Go, have fun with your friends.”
“Thanks Gennie.”
She waves at me and leaves. I lock the doors behind her and get back to cleaning up. It takes us an hour to get everything done before we can sit down and rest. I grab the tip jar and shake it at Riley.
“I don’t know if I have ever seen this jar so full.”
“Must be my southern charm.”
That charm sure does work on me, so I am sure it worked on everyone in here tonight.
“Yeah, that must be it.”