“It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to,” Chloe said into her friend’s shoulder.
Julia laughed, patting her on the back. “Okay, fine. Cry if you want to. But you deserve this. Because you work so hard, and you’re a bloody great friend. Even if you do keep me waiting.”
Before Chloe could get choked up, Jesse reappeared with a tray of shots and a wicked grin on his face. “Oh, come on, Chloe, you can’t be crying already!” he said, setting the tray down. “The night’s just beginning!”
Chloe forced a chuckle, wiping her eyes. “I’m fine,” she said. “And I agreed to one shot. There are, like, nine here.”
“It’s your birthday!” Jesse said, giving her that plaintive look she had never been able to resist, even when they were kids. “You have to celebrate. I’ve got work tomorrow too.”
“But your work isn’t exactly…” Chloe waved a hand. “Well, it’s not like mine, anyway.”
“Wow, way to talk down to the warlock and handyman,” Jesse feigned offence, but Chloe knew she had touched a nerve. “We can’t all be Young Small Businessperson of the Year, you know.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you,” Chloe said quickly. “It’s just, sometimes I wish your job was more stable. I’m not saying magic isn’t important, but—”
“You know I help people, right?” Jesse looked pained. “People with problems conventional medicine can’t answer. And I fix their ceiling cracks and wonky plumbing while I’m at it.”
“I know, it’s just…” Chloe tried to find words that wouldn’t insult her brother’s chosen profession. She just wanted to make sure he’d never struggle like they had growing up. “I worry, sometimes.”
“I know,” Jesse said, looking away from her. “But I like what I do, and it’s perfectly lucrative, even if it’s not traditional. You don’t need a desk and an office on Bailey Street to be successful.”
“Too right,” Julia chimed in. “I don’t have an office at all.”
“It’s different for you,” Chloe said. “I mean, you wouldn’t need one with your sort of job.”
“Yeah, it would be hard to lug a desk up the mountain,” Julia deadpanned. “Think I could make my tour groups carry it for me?”
“You could convince them to do anything; they all love you,” Chloe teased. “Remember when that group of brothers from Hungary tried to convince you to come home and marry all three of them?”
“How could I forget?” Julia suppressed a smirk. “They did wonders for my ego. But I don’t have time for one boyfriend, let alone three husbands.”
“Cheers to that!” Chloe said, picking up a shot glass from the tray. “To careers over men!”
Julia lifted her own glass, and they both choked down the harsh vodka with a dash of grenadine. “Ugh, that’s bloody horrible, Jesse.”
“Complain to Kelly, then,” Jesse shrugged, nonchalantly taking his own shot like it was a mild red wine. “She’s the one who hasn’t updated the drinks menu since the early nineties. I think the Macarena was still big news when she came up with it.”
Chloe laughed out loud. “Don’t knock the Macarena! It’s the one dance I can do.”
“And you do it so well,” Julia said. “And even better after you’ve had a few more of these.”
“I can’t; I’ve got—”
“Work,” Julia and Jesse said together. “Yeah, I know,” Julia said. “But you promised me one night without talking about work. And you’ve already broken that by checking your bloody emails.”
“Sorry,” Chloe really meant it, too. She knew how much her best friend and her brother wanted her to relax and enjoy herself. It was just that she was kind of terrible at that.
“I’ll forgive you for that and for your unkind comments about my choice of work if you have another shot,” Jesse said cheerfully. “Come on!”
“Only if you swear not to video anything that comes afterwards,” Chloe warned him. “I’m not going to be awarded Young Small Businessperson of the Year if a video of my dancing goes viral.”
“Probably not,” Jesse handed her another shot glass. “But it would be funny.”
“Your dance moves are safe with us, Chloe,” Julia assured her, picking up another bright red shot of her own. “Now come on, let’s party!”