Looking down at the brass key in my hand, my eyes widen. “Seriously?”
She nods. “I know what it’s like to love this hobby. It’s in my heart. It’s in my blood. Something I got from my late grandmother. One day she told me a story about how she was mocked for being thirty and her job was in a bakery. People found it hard to believe that a thirty-year-old wouldn’t have a better job, you know? But she told me to always follow my heart. That if you do what you love, it will never feel like work. That’s why I opened Batter Up. It’s even etched into my skin. I mean, see?”
She lifts her arm to reveal a tattoo on her inner forearm. It’s a black-and-white stamp with a cupcake right in the middle.
“Anyway,” she continues before I can ask more about what it means, “I know what it’s like to need to get away from reality and get lost in a recipe. You can do whatever you want whenever you want and use what we have here.”
The emotions I held back moments ago, fight to come to the surface. Lily barely knows me, aside from hiring me and havinga few conversations with her. Yet she just trusted me with the keys to her business, allowing me to use it freely.
“Thank you,” I say, thick with emotion.
“I’ll do you one better,” she says with a hand on my shoulder. “If you come up with something new, we can put it on the menu. Or,oh my god, we can start weekly specials.” She jumps up and down, flapping her arms as if she’s a bird at the ideas flowing through her head. “Marketing at its finest. Bring people back for something new every week.”
“I don’t see that being an issue for you. This place is perfect.”
Her excitement dies down, but she still keeps a smile on her face. Something tells me that no matter what mood she’s in, she’s always smiling. She seems like the person constantly trying to keep it together, while inside she’s falling apart.
“Not to get into too much detail, but I’ve been struggling a bit to keep this place alive. I’m barely making ends meet here.”
“But you hired me?”
“My brother owns part of this place with me, as well as the bar next door. That’s all his, though. He thought the idea of hiring someone would help me free up some time so my head doesn’t feel like it’s going to explode.”
“He seems really nice,” I tell her honestly. “I hope to meet him someday.”
“Today’s the day!” She does a little country line dance looking move in place and we both laugh. “Lunch is on him so he can meet the new employee.”
“That sounds amazing. I’m starving.”
“Me too. Let’s go.”
Stepping outside, I take a deep breath before following Lily into the bar. Something shifts inside of me as we cross the front door. I can’t tell if it’s because it’s dimly lit and a new atmosphere for me, or something else.
But it feels…off.
That’s when I spot him.
He walks out of the kitchen with a crate of glasses fresh outof the dishwasher. His baseball cap is backward on his head, a dish rag over his shoulder, and he’s wearing the same black and white checkered flannel I saw when I first made eye contact with the man driving past me in the old red truck.
His sleeves are rolled up just above his elbows, and the flannel is unbuttoned, showcasing his white T-shirt underneath. Holding the crate in both arms only accentuates the muscles and tendons in his forearms, which can be seen from a mile away.
As soon as he spots me, he stops in his tracks.
A wrinkle forms between his eyebrows, and I can already tell I’m not welcome in this bar.
Did he not know that Lily hired the “new girl” in town? There can’t be someone else who just so happened to move here the same time I did.
“Griff.” Lily smiles, skipping to a seat at the bar. “This is Blair, the new girl I hired.”
My skin burns as his eyes trail my body.
I want to crawl under the bar and hide.
“You’re fired.”
CHAPTER 9
LEARN HOW TO BE NICE OR LEAVE HER ALONE.
