She smiles widely and throws her hands up in the air. I feel Asher's hand slide off my upper arm. The heat from his touch still lingers.
"Hey, Asher," Chelsea says. "Can I get something to drink?" I look over at him, and he just looks at me, then turns and smiles at Chelsea.
"Give me two beers and two shots of Jack," she says and then holds up her hand. "Three shots."
"I’m not doing a shot," I say, going to get the two beers while Asher gets the shots.
"Four, then," Willow says. "Asher can have one also."
"Thanks, ladies, but I don’t drink on the job," he says with a smile. His charm just rolls off him, and I want to put my finger down my throat and fake gag. He pours the three shots and hands me one. "Cheers."
"To Amelia," Chelsea says, and I just glance at Asher as he gets someone a drink.
"To success," Willow says, holding up her shot.
I hold up my drink and clink it with the other two, taking the shot and wincing as the brown liquid burns all the way down to my stomach. "Yuck," I say and grab the two empty shot glasses and put them in the gray square container.
"We need new shot glasses." I look over at Reed, who is walking by with a tray of dirty glasses. On Saturday, Reed and his best friend Christopher bus tables, making sure we get clean glasses. They pick up and wipe down the tables.
"What do we have here?" Mayson says, coming to stand next to Chelsea. He pushes a guy who was standing too close to her away. I shake my head and roll my lips as the guy looks at him, and it takes one look from Mayson for the guy to move away. "Why are you drinking over here?"
"Well, because," Chelsea says, turning around and looking up at him. She’s been in love with him since she was eighteen years old. Ethan invited him home. "We were doing a shot with Amelia."
"Can I get you guys something?" Asher says, coming to stand next to me.
"I’ll have a beer," Mayson says, bringing Chelsea closer to him.
"I’ll have one also," Quinn says. "And I’m not paying for it either."
"He’s paying double," I tell Asher, who turns and just shakes his head.
"You work here?" Mayson looks at Asher.
"I thought for sure after the week you had, you’d be sitting in a tub of ice water," Quinn says, and I’m dying to ask him where he was all week.
"Hard work never killed anyone," Asher says and hands Quinn and Mayson two beers. Ethan comes over with Emily. "Besides, Ethan helped one day."
I want to ask them what everyone is talking about, but a song starts playing, and Chelsea throws her hands to the sky.
"This is our song." She claps her hands. "You"—she points at me—"get your skanky ass on that dance floor."
I laugh, shaking my head. "One"—I stick my finger up—"I’m not the one with a skanky ass." I turn to Mayson. "No offense."
"I don’t even know what to say to that,” Mayson says as we hear the sounds of the violin, and then I hear my name being called by the band I hired for the night.
"Where is Amelia?" He calls my name. Everyone looks over at me, and I put my head down.
"Go on," Asher says, standing beside me with his hand on my lower back. "I’ve got this covered, and if anything, Ethan can help me." I look over at Ethan, who shakes his head.
"No," he says. "I’m leaving."
Now Emily laughs. "Your two sisters are going on the dance floor." She claps her hands together. "There is no way in hell you are going to walk out of this bar." He glares at her, and she leans up and kisses the underside of his jaw. "And your wife." She turns. "Come on, Willow, let’s dance."
Willow looks shocked when Emily grabs her hand and pulls her to the dance floor. I walk with them. "Okay," the singer says. "Where is she?"
"I’m here," I say, getting on the stage and looking out. "How is everyone doing tonight?" I ask the crowd, and they all cheer. "I have to say a huge thank-you to Gretchen for coming down and playing some tunes for us." I clap my hands and look at her as she nods at me.
"Now someone told me that this song right here is your song," Gretchen says, starting to play the tune again. "Who wants to see if Amelia still has her moves?" The crowd cheers, and I see my brother and my cousin Quinn both hang their heads as they push off the bar and make their way to the packed dance floor.
Asher just stands behind the bar as the dance floor makes a circle for us as I get down and stand in the middle of them . I see some of the girls standing beside the dance floor. The men stand beside them with their beer in their hands.