“I’m the owner.”
She almost died right there. It was pure dumb luck she didn’t choke on that last bite.
“I just took this on about a month ago. It kind of came out of nowhere. I’m here for the next few weeks to check in on the staff and patrons, and make sure everything is as it should be, and then I hope to take a step back once I know everything is up to par.”
Owner?
She stumbled through each memory of every interaction they’d had, none of which could even begin to be described as pleasant.
Oh, God.
She’d spilled drinks on her boss.
She’d called her boss an asshole.
She’d said the words fuck youto her boss.
To.
Her.
Boss.
And now she wanted to vomit.
He must have seen it on her face, because the laugh he let out was completely genuine.
“Don’t worry, Dr. Sam. You aren’t getting fired.”
“I spilled drinks on you,” Sam stated in disbelief.
“You did.” He nodded with the reply.
“Then I cussed you out at your house and basically told you to go fuck yourself.”
“You did that as well.” He started to laugh once more, and dammit if his smile wasn’t ridiculously, jaw droppingly beautiful.
“Why are you not firing me?”
He swallowed and then shrugged his shoulders.
“Mason wanted to.” He used Mr. Brimley’s first name, which kind of made Sam's skin crawl and further confirmed to her that Mr. Brimley was his employee, which meant he really was no longer just Callum or Newbie-Asshole. He wasMr. Barker. “Actually, he planned to that night after the fiasco with the drinks.”
“Should I call you Mr. Barker or sir from now on?” Her question was completely genuine.
His brows rose as he sucked in a breath.
“Let’s not do that.” His voice was too tight. “Yet,” he added. He cleared his throat as he shifted slightly on the stool.
“Why didn’t you let him?”
“What?” The question seemed to jolt him back to reality and he looked at her with a slightly stunned expression.
“Why didn’t you let him fire me?”
“That’s a tough question. Truthfully, I don’t even know if I have an answer.”
She quickly turned back around, facing the tower of liquor bottles in front of them, and finished her plate, taking care to slowly and thoroughly chew each bite in fear of any more revelations coming to light that might cause another near death scenario. She had thought he would get up then and leave, but he didn't move. He didn’t speak another word. When one of the busboys came to grab her empty plate, she handed it over and turned back to face Callum.