Bad Boys Do (Donovan Brothers Brewery 2)

Before he could overthink it, Jamie pulled out his phone and dialed her number. The phone rang five times before it went to voice mail. Jamie hung up. He had no idea what to say. Was he thankful or pissed? Had she violated his trust and privacy or had she done something amazing?

Jamie had no idea. But when he stood up, he felt stronger than he had in years. He felt…proud.

Tessa was waiting for him when he stepped into the hallway. He handed over the book without a twinge of reluctance. “Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be in touch in a few days.”

This time when he walked out, he didn’t look back because he knew he’d return. It was a good idea, and they’d be fools not to go with it. They might drive him up the wall 365 days a year, but his brother and sister weren’t fools.

In a few months, Jamie would be running a restaurant.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

WHEN THE DOOR OF HIS OFFICE opened, Jamie held up a finger and pressed the phone harder to his ear. “Well, I’m glad you’re doing well enough to be busy, but I need you out here to give me an estimate tomorrow. If you can’t do it, I’ll find someone else.”

The electrician sighed. “How late are you guys there?”

“It’s a brewery, man. If you can make it before nine, we’re good.”

“All right. Let’s say six-thirty.”

“Perfect. And another guy is coming at one, so if you want the job, you’ll be sure the estimate is competitive.” He hung up, glad he’d overheard so many of Eric’s phone calls over the years. Jamie was damn good at being the nice guy, but nice didn’t get you anywhere in the world of electricians and plumbers and equipment salesmen.

Someone cleared his throat, and Jamie glanced up to see Henry standing there. “Oh, hey. Thanks for coming in, man.” He stood up to shake Henry’s hand, which seemed to make the young guy nervous. “Sit down. I heard you filled in at the bar a couple of times while I was gone.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you like it?”

“Sure.”

“I want an honest answer about that, Henry. Enjoying what you do is really the number one qualification for tending here. There are no mixed drinks to remember. There aren’t a lot of complicated bills. Yo

u’ve just got to be friendly and happy to be here. Did you really like being at the tap?”

Henry’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down when he swallowed. “I was a little nervous, but I liked it.”

“Okay. You can work with Chester tonight. Close down with him. See how it feels. If Chester give you the thumbs-up, I’ll give you a couple of day shifts this week so I can keep an eye on you. How does that sound?”

“Great!”

Henry scrambled up from his seat and headed back out the door. “Hey, I’m glad you’re back,” he added before he slipped away.

Yeah, Jamie was, too. It felt good. It felt great.

Before he could forget, Jamie opened the Twitter application on his phone and began to type. We’ve got a new guy behind the bar. Come meet Henry tonight. But be gentle. He’s just a pup. He retweeted a couple of kind posts about the new wheat beer, then tweeted that the new apricot hefeweizen would debut next month.

He was actually having a good time, getting things done. In fact, he would’ve been in heaven if thoughts of Olivia hadn’t been niggling at the back of his mind. She hadn’t returned his calls for five days. She hadn’t come to book club. It seemed she hadn’t even been home for the past week. According to the school, she’d canceled class on Thursday due to “an unexpected personal development,” and she wasn’t expected back until to morrow.

Unexpected personal development. What the hell did that mean? He refused to believe it could have anything to do with Victor. Whatever that man wanted from Olivia, she’d been clear that she wanted nothing from him. Hadn’t she?

Jamie cracked his neck. He just wanted to see her. Any sense of betrayal over what she’d done had disappeared. It’d been pretty half-assed in the first place. Now he was back at the brewery and it seemed like last Tuesday was a hundred years ago.

Still, he couldn’t do anything more than drive by her place each evening to see if she’d returned. Jamie forced his mind back to the tasks at hand.

They were still scrambling for more bartending coverage as Jamie would be spending a lot more time behind the scenes for a while, so the next thing he did was pull out his list of fill-in bartenders and the file of applicants he’d never brought in. Most of them were probably out of the job search by now, but you never knew.

“Anthony,” he said when the first guy answered the phone. “It’s Jamie Donovan. I know it’s been a few months since you filled in, but I wondered if you were looking for any work this month.”

A soft knock on the door distracted him from writing down the days Anthony could work. Jamie looked up to see Eric leaning against the doorjamb, his arms crossed. Jamie held up one finger. “Sorry, Anthony, did you say Friday night, too? Great. Why don’t you come in Thursday and Friday from four to close? I’ll see you then.”