“Hey, how’s your house, Hailey? Any damage?”
She shook her head. “Thankfully, no, too far south. You?”
“No power, that’s it. Maybe by tomorrow night.”
She grimaced. “Are you staying at the shelter, then?”
“No, at home. Mom’s at the shelter until I get power, then I’m bringing her to the house.”
Hailey nodded and turned to Espy. “I thought y’all had left already?”
“No, my sister took one van and four of the guests back. I stayed here to wait for the other van, and while I’m at it, some of the guests and I are helping out.”
Hailey nodded again, her lips pressed together in an almost-smile. “That’s great. You don’t have to do that.”
“I have the time, and the energy,” Espy said. She wanted to add, “What else should I be doing?” But those words could sound confrontational.
“So what can I get you?” Hailey asked.
“Nothing for me,” Espy said, and gestured up at Javi who was perusing the menu.
“The usual for me,” Javi said with a sigh.
Man, he had discipline because Espy would use this stressful week as an excuse to eat whatever she wanted. She was working off whatever she ate, however, and she would be sore in the morning.
Hailey placed the order through the kitchen window and leaned on the bar. “You could have called it in and I would have had it ready for you.”
“Didn’t think about that,” he said, settling on one of the barstools to wait.
“That’s way most people are doing these days.”
“Then they miss out on the pleasure of your company,” he said, and to Espy’s surprise, Hailey blushed.
Did…did Hailey like Javi? How long had he said she lived here? Not long enough to have known him when he was an overweight teenager, so maybe she had been looking at him through different eyes. That was what he’d wanted, right? Someone who hadn’t known him before, but knew him now?
Espy thought she was getting to know him pretty well. Yes, only for a few days, but she felt like she really did know and understand him.
But maybe not as much as someone who had been living here a while.
“Hailey, where did you live before?”
Hailey looked over her shoulder at Espy, her eyebrows drawn together in question. When she turned around to pour each of them a glass of water from the tap while they waited, she said, “ I came from Houston.”
“Do you still have family back there? Friends?”
“Sure, but I don’t get back much.” She set the water glasses on the bar in front of them. “I focused on rebuilding this place, first, then once that was done and I was open, well, it’s just hard to take time off when you own a business.”
“Sure, I get that. It was a big risk, though, you coming out here and starting up this place. By yourself? You didn’t know anyone here at the time, right?”
Hailey’s frown deepened as she leaned back against the counter behind her. “No, but I was ready to get out of Houston, and make a fresh start, and Broken Wheel looked like it was ready to make a fresh start, too. You should have seen this place when I bought it. This was literally all of it.” She indicated the building they were in by making right angles with her fingers. “And it probably had fallen off the inspector’s radar because it had so many issues and yet was operating. The owner took the money and ran. All that out there.” She indicated the outdoor dining area. “That was a field overgrown with weeds and cactus. I killed two rattlesnakes myself when we were clearing it out. But people got curious when they saw what I was doing, and more people started to come by, some just to watch and jeer, if I’m honest, ready for me to fail. But other people like Javi and Poppy came and started lending a hand when they could, and now we have this glorious space, and most of the time I make a profit, so there’s that.”
Espy nodded. “I’m glad your risk paid off.”
“I mean, what about you, though?” Haley pushed away from the counter to refill their water glasses. “You started your own business, too, Twisted Sisters. That had to be an investment of money and time. Maybe not as many rattlesnakes.”
Espy laughed as the tension eased. “Not literal ones, anyway.”
Hailey flashed a grin. “I hear that.”
