their shitty days. I was going to sit at the bar and complain about my day.
I sat on my usual stool at the very edge of the bar, farthest away from the action. It was where Nelle took a break when the action was slow. It was the best seat in the house as far as I was concerned. I could see everything and everyone, and yet, no one really paid much attention to the corner.
I ended my phone call to the flower shop that insisted they couldn’t get the tulips my client wanted. I very nicely told them to look harder. I flopped down on the stool, my laptop bag on the bar. I looked around and knew there was no way I was going to get any actual work done. I was fried and really uninterested in hashing out the details of an all-vegan, gluten-free menu. That needed to be done on a fresh brain. I was beat. I slid it under the bar between my legs and the solid wood and waited for Nelle to notice me.
“You can drink coffee or water, but you are not getting another damn drink from me,” Nelle snapped.
There was an older gentleman leaning forward in a drunken stupor as he lifted one finger to waggle it in her face. “Listen, young lady. You might be pretty, but you can’t tell me what to do. Only my wife gets to do that, and she isn’t here.”
“I’m not telling you what to do,” she replied and leaned closer to his face. “I’m telling you what you are not going to do. You’re drunk. You are not getting another drink. Have some coffee.”
“I don’t want coffee,” he replied, sounding a lot like a spoiled kid who refused to eat his dinner. “I want a beer.”
“No.”
“I want one.”
“No,” Nelle said again and poured him a cup of coffee. She put it in front of him and waited.
He looked at it and frowned. “That’s not a beer.”
“No shit?” she said with feigned surprise. “Pretend it is and we’ll both be happy. Be good or I will call your wife. You know what she said last time.”
That seemed to sink in. “You don’t gotta call her,” he slurred.
“Then drink the damn coffee!”
He pouted but did as he was told. Nelle sighed and came toward me. I smiled at her, noticing she barely looked ruffled at all.
“Just another Tuesday, huh?” I asked with a small laugh.
“He lost a big account or something,” she said with a shake of her head. “I felt bad for him but now he’s pissing me off.”
“Poor guy,” I said.
She shrugged. “What about you? You have been working your tail off again.”
I sighed. “Yes. The normal. I didn’t work Sunday though. Not all of Sunday anyway.”
“Did you go to the park?” she asked.
I smiled and nodded. I was excited to tell her about Xander. “I did. And I didn’t go alone.”
“Your dad?” she asked as she filled a glass from one of the taps and handed it to a waitress. Nelle was the best multitasker I had ever met in my life. She did it effortlessly. She could carry on three different conversations without missing a beat.
“Nope, a guy.”
She stopped wiping the bar and gave me her full attention. “Woah, woah, woah. When was there a guy in the picture? I talked to you last week. There was no man.”
“I met him at the event on Saturday,” I said, unable to hide my smile.
“Who is this man?”
I shrugged. “I don’t really know all that much about him. I didn’t even get his name until we were at the park.”
She held up a hand. “How did you get to the park with him?” Her eyes bulged. “Oh my god, did you stay the night with him?”
“No! I met him there. Sheesh, I’m not that easy.”
She raised an eyebrow. When I scowled in return, she laughed. “I’m kidding. So, who is this guy?”
“I really don’t know. I noticed him alone at the party and struck up a conversation with him.”
She nodded. “Because that’s what you do. You see a wallflower and you decide they must be drawn into the fun.”
“Exactly. That’s what I do. Literally. That’s what I do.”
“Okay and then it went well from there?”
I grimace. “I think well is a strong word. It didn’t go terrible. He is a really quiet guy. A real, genuine loner. He clearly preferred his own company.”
“And yet you hounded him until you got him to go to the