I shook my head and headed back to the back of the bar to get in my office. I sat down at my desk and pulled up the computer. We had gone through the beer that the other bars had loaned us, at a price, and were now working on the cases that were delivered on Tuesday. They wouldn’t last forever and I surely didn’t want a replay of the past weekend. I had to do something to figure this all out and that something had to be fast.
I skimmed through pages and pages of resources that I could have possibly utilized, from other suppliers that might be a little cheaper, to corporations that would start buying out parts of the business. That part made me sick. I didn’t want to lose the bar that my dad and grandpa had worked hard to build up.
I was busy scanning pages and pages of information over the internet, when there was a knock on the door. I looked up to find Brayton standing there.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“There’s a rowdy table out there and they’re asking for the manager.” He shrugged. “Sorry, Trevor.”
I groaned and pushed myself away from the desk.
“What’s their problem?” I asked as we left my office and headed back out to the bar.
“I’m not sure,” Brayton said. “Something about their service not being up to par with other bars around the town.”
Just what I needed was to have to respond to some negative feedback, when I was trying to get the bar back to the success it once was. He pointed me to a table and I rolled my eyes when I saw who they were. “Gee…thanks a lot.”
Brayton laughed. “They wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
I had no doubt that was the case. I moved away from the bar counter and to the table of the so-called rowdy table, where a few of my friends were laughing and carrying on. They looked up.
“Hey hey…the man of the hour has arrived,” Dylan yelped. “Whoop whoop!”
I rolled my eyes and then glared at him. “You do realize I have work to do, right? I can’t just come out here and jump at your beck and call.” I scanned over the table. There was Dylan, the real estate broker, Marcus, the banker, Damon, a professional football player, and Daxter, a firefighter turned professional model. Each man had passed through my life at some point when I needed a friend to talk to and through the years that brought us all together. I couldn’t imagine them not being my friends, but I was going through some tough things right now and really needed to focus on that.
“Come on, Trevor,” Marcus said. “Sit down and take a load off. You work way too hard.”
I glanced at him, then chuckled. Marcus, more than anyone should know what I was going through. He’d been on the ride of mergers and acquisitions with his business of banking. He was always on the hunt for a good deal and hoping things didn’t go bust, so it was interesting to hear Marcus being so light and carefree.
“Brayton, my man, give this boy a beer,” Dylan called out.
I groaned. The last thing I needed was to waste the beer on me. I almost objected, before Damon grabbed my arm and pulled me into a waiting chair.
“Just one beer,” I said, finally conceding.
The men laughed and they started eagerly chatting about their days past. Brayton brought me a beer and I thanked him with my eyes and then took a long sip. Then the chatting turned into women and I shook my head and tried to stay back from the conversation.
“You should have seen the hot babe I had last weekend. Ahhhhh…” Dylan said. “Doesn’t get much better than that.”
“Dude…you’re always finding the hot ones. Leave some for us.” Marcus laughed as he took a drink.
I chuckled and took another drink. All the guys, with the exception of Daxter were on the prowl. Daxter had a live-in girlfriend and I was interested to see how that was going. It was still pretty new. So, I switched the conversation from women that were only looking for sex to the woman that Daxter nearly shared his life with.
“So, Dax…how’s things going with Jenna?” I asked, taking a drink.
He sh
ot me a look and there was pride in his eyes. Jenna and he had been high school sweethearts; their worlds revolved around one another. So, she was with him, when he switched his career from firefighter to modeling. I had always questioned why they didn’t just get married, but it seemed like their relationship was one to be holding strong.
“Well, things are going quite well. In fact, there might be wedding bells in the near future.”
The table went nuts.
“Are you serious?” Dylan asked.
“That’s great, man,” Damon said.
I smiled. “Good for you two. I hope it all works out.”