“You have a sunset sail tonight?” she asked.
He nodded. “It’s a small group. Private party. That group of friends that are here for a week.”
“Right, someone’s birthday or…” She tried to remember.
“Anniversary,” he corrected. “Ten years.”
“Right.” She nodded.
“Zoey’s working tonight. Otherwise, I’d invite you to come along.” He took her hand in his.
“I’d have to pass it up. I had made plans to work in the pool bar. Britt is out sick,” she explained. “Zoey asked me this morning.”
“Then you’ll be around after I’m back from the sail?” he asked.
She smiled. “Yes, I will.”
“I’ll come find you.” He squeezed her hand lightly.
“I’ll look for you.”
Somehow, the time after lunch flew by more quickly. Maybe because she was extremely busy. The phones continued to ring while guests checked out and others checked in.
A couple years back, they had opened a little gift shop in the lobby area, where guests could purchase camp logo items such as shirts, beach towels, cups, mugs, souvenirs, and other trinkets. Guests brought their items to her desk to either add the cost to their bills or pay cash for. After lunch, there was an influx of guests wanting to purchase items. The entire gang that Damion would be taking out on the sunset sail all came through and purchased several hundred dollars of items each.
She was almost half an hour late shutting down the gift shop and the front desk, which meant she had to rush to change into her shorts and camp tank top in order to work behind the bar at the pool.
She slipped her swimsuit on underneath just in case she had time to jump in and cool off at some point during the evening.
By the time she arrived at the outdoor pool bar, there was a line of people waiting for drinks. It was a couple of hours before dinner, which meant there would be a huge rush, then a long lull while guests changed and ate dinner, followed by another huge rush of people returning to the pool area for the evening.
She loved working behind the bar. They had a standard menu of drinks that Britt, the head bartender for the camp, had come up with. The drinks were all named either nautical or tropical names, much like each cabin had its own unique name.
Just another thing about the camp that she and everyone else found utterly charming.
She knew how to make all the standard camp drinks. Usually, when a customer ordered something special, Britt was there to fill the order. Tonight, however, it was just Jules and McKenna, a new hire, working behind the bar. She doubted that McKenna knew much about special drinks, since she was obviously barely twenty-one herself.
However, after the first hour, she realized that McKenna was as good of a bartender as Britt.
“How’d you learn all this stuff?” she asked when the guests started to thin out. Most everyone had left the pool area and headed to dinner at this point.
McKenna, a tall blonde who had the body of a supermodel, shrugged. Her long blond hair was braided in twists and piled on top of her head to make it look like she had a mohawk. Her clothes were extremely fashionable and, from what Jules could tell, far more expensive than anything she owned. They were also tight enough that there was no doubt that she would be making far more tips than Jules would that night.
“Growing up, my mother was a serious alcoholic. She made me mix all her drinks,” McKenna said, leaning against the bar.
“I’m sorry.” Jules felt instantly terrible for bringing it up.
McKenna just shrugged. “She’s clean and sober now, going on five years. But after I graduated, I knew what I wanted to do.”
“Serve drinks to other alcoholics?” she said, wishing she’d just shut her mouth.
McKenna chuckled. “No, I’m saving up to go to med school. This is just something that helps pay the bills.”
“Wow, that’s… amazing,” Jules said, handing a couple their drink orders. That looked like it would be the last one for a while. “I’m going to jump in. Did you wear your suit?” Jules asked.
“We can do that?” McKenna stood up straight and looked at her.
“Sure, if there aren’t any orders. Everyone’s gone to dinner at this point. They’ll be trickling back in about an hour.” She pulled off her shorts and shirt. “Until then, I’m cooling off.”