Second Chances

SECOND CHANCES

After serving a couple of beers to a customer, Katie noticed a very attractive man sitting at the far end of the bar.

“What can I get you?” she asked.

“Can I get a Boulevardier, please.”

“I’m sorry, a what?” she asked.

“A Boulevardier.”

“Is that a drink?”

“Yes. Are you a bartender?”

“Yes. No. Not really.”

“What does that mean? Do you have a liquor license?” he asked.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business. What can I serve you besides a boulevard or whatever you said?”

He got up, walked behind the bar, and stood beside her.

“I’ll make my own, and you can watch me.”

“You can’t be behind the bar,” she said, feeling uncomfortable, but in a good way, with him standing so close to her. He smelled incredible.

“You probably shouldn't be either. Are you watching?” he asked.

“Watching what?”

“You’re supposed to be watching me make this drink. How do you expect to learn anything?”

She was watching him, but not in the way he wanted her to. She was staring at his dark wavy hair, his beautiful blue eyes, and his well-toned physique. He was dressed in a sharply tailored black tuxedo, looking as though he belonged at the altar beside a beautiful bride, saying “I do.”

“I’m not interested in learning how to make that. I’m not interested in being a bartender.”

He was staring at her with a questioning look, when a beautiful woman, dressed in an elegant evening gown walked up to the bar.

“I’ll have one of those, please,” she murmured, in a soft soothing voice.

“Hey, Brooklyn,” he said.

“Are you Brooklyn, the weatherman, I mean woman, from channel four news?” Katie asked, suddenly recognizing the face.

“Yes, I’m the meteorologist for channel four. And who are you?”

“I’m Katie. I was tending bar until your boyfriend decided to interfere.”

He handed Brooklyn her drink and took a sip of his own.

“So, do you have a liquor license?” he asked, directing his question to Katie.

“I don’t need one,” she snapped.

Two people walked up to the bar, and he stepped in to take their order.

“Why didn’t you let me take their order?” she asked, when he walked back over to her.

“Because you can’t be serving liquor if you don’t have a liquor license. So, for the last time, and spare me the cocky responses, do you have a liquor license, and if not, what are you doing behind the bar?”

“Why do you care? I’m just sitting in for someone who couldn’t make it to work tonight.”

“And who is this person that couldn’t make it to work tonight, and left an unqualified person to tend the bar?”

“Her name is Mandy. And this is not brain surgery. I was serving customers just fine, until you walked up and ordered some snobby drink I’ve never heard of.”

“Mandy Walker, the bar manager?”

“Yes. How do you know Mandy?”

“Because this is my bar, and she works for me.”

“Oh shit!”

“Evan, we need to leave soon,” Brooklyn interrupted.

“Evan Cullins?” Katie asked, fearing the answer. Evan Cullins did not own just one bar, he owned quite a few, both in hotels and high-end restaurants. This bar, Second Chances, was one of the smaller, less pretentious ones. It was situated in a nice, reasonably affordable restaurant, which catered to parties and wedding receptions.

“Yes. I’m Evan Cullins,” he answered, turning his attention back to his date. “Brooklyn, I can’t leave here, I would have to close the bar, and I don’t think the restaurant manager would appreciate that. Can you go without me, and I’ll make it up to you later?”

“I guess I don’t have a choice,” she said, while reaching over to give him a sensuous kiss on the lips.

Katie could feel her skin getting hot. She could only imagine how he was going to make it up to her later that night.

As soon as she left, he turned to Katie, and said, “Why don’t you go sit on the other side of the bar and we can discuss this.”

She followed his instructions without hesitation.

“Mr. Cullins, please let me explain what happened. I don’t want to get Mandy in trouble.”

“Explain.”

“Mandy is my roommate, and her sister went into labor tonight, and she didn’t have time to call anyone so I told her I could sit in for her tonight. She said that most people would be ordering beers or simple cocktails. And that’s how it’s been since I came in a couple of hours ago, that is until you showed up. I’m sorry if I was rude to you, but please don’t fire Mandy. She needs this job, and I need her to have this job.”

As soon as Katie finished her explanation, her phone pinged with a text message. It was Mandy.

I really appreciate you helping me out tonight. I’m an aunt. It’s a boy!

“Is that something important, or can we finish this discussion?”

“It’s a boy,” she whispered, as a couple of tears rolled down her cheeks.

He grabbed her hand. “Why are you crying? Is everything okay with the baby?” he asked in a soft voice.

“Yes, but Mandy has no idea what’s going on right now. She thinks everything is okay, and I don’t know what to tell her. I don’t want to dampen her excitement tonight about becoming an aunt.”

“Then don’t. We can talk and get this settled.”

“Okay, I’m just going to send her a congratulations text, and then we can talk.”

As Katie was sending her text, Evan grabbed the barstool next to her and put it inside the bar, so that he could sit on it and have a talk with her while taking care of the customers.

“Before we go on, I want to say that Mandy loves her job and takes it very seriously. She felt like she didn’t have any options tonight, and she was really concerned about her sister, so maybe she made the wrong decision. But in my opinion, family should always come first before any job,” Katie spit out.

“Thank you, for your opinion, but Mandy did have options. She could have called me if she had no one else to fill in. Were there problems with her sister’s pregnancy?”

“Yes. The biggest one being that the chicken-shit father of the baby left her to do this on her own. As soon as he found out about the pregnancy, he flew the coop. Men suck!”

“So, because this man left his baby’s mother to deal with the pregnancy on her own, all men suck?”

“Not all men, but many of them feel like pregnancy is a woman’s problem.”

“Those are harsh words. You don’t think men occasionally get screwed over by women concerning pregnancy?”

“In what way?”

“Secretly stopping birth control without telling their partner, getting pregnant and keeping it from the father, or telling a man he's going to be a father only to later reveal he’s not.”

“Wow. Have you experienced any of those?”

“All of them.”

“Oh shit, I’m sorry. When did that happen?”

“It was a couple of years ago.”

“So, how long were you two dating before she became pregnant?”

“Are we discussing my life, to divert the attention away from the problem at hand; that Mandy left an unqualified person to take her shift.”

“No. I would like to hear your story, but we can talk about Mandy first. Please don’t fire her. She’s been working for you for three years. She has a degree in Hospitality and is looking for career advancement. Like I said, I don’t think she would have done this, if I hadn’t practically forced her to do it. I wanted her to be with her sister for the birth of the baby.”

“I’m going to have a discussion with her tomorrow. You don’t have to stay; you can leave anytime you want,” he said, secretly hoping she would stay.

“I can stay until closing to help you clean up and balance the cash register. I’m an accountant, when I’m not bartending. And you deserve your chance to express your opinion on women and pregnancy.”

Before Evan could say anything, Katie’s boyfriend, Rob, walked in. He spotted her at the bar and headed straight over.

“Hey sweetie, what are you doing on this side of the bar?” he asked, as he kissed her on the lips.

“Long story. Rob, this is Evan, Mandy’s boss. Evan, this is my boyfriend, Rob.”

They shook hands, and Evan got up from his stool, and said, “It’s nice to meet you,” before walking to the other end of the bar.

“Katie, I won’t be able to come over to your place after you get off. I got called in to cover another shift.”

“Rob, this is the second time in two weeks that you’ve had to cover someone else’s shift. We don’t get to see each other enough.”

“I know, I’ll make it up to you. Call me tomorrow. Is Mandy’s sister okay?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, her sister had a boy.”

“Great. See you tomorrow, sweetie.” He gave her a kiss on the forehead, waved a hand at Evan and left the bar.

Evan returned to his barstool after Rob left.

“Well, I can definitely stay to help you close. He ditched me again. He’s been asked to cover someone else’s shift. That seems to be going around tonight.”

“What does he do for a living? I feel like I’ve seen him before,” Evan said.

“Maybe if you had a fire in one of your bars. He’s a firefighter.”

“No, nothing like that. How long have you been dating, and where did you meet?” For some reason, he felt himself wanting to know more about the cute brunette sitting in front of him. She came across as honest and refreshingly down-to-earth.

“We’ve been together for about eight months. What about you and the meteorologist?”

“We’re just casually dating, nothing serious. What type of accounting do you do?” he asked.

“I’m currently self-employed. I don’t have a lot of clients right now, that’s why I need Mandy to keep her job. I need help with the rent. So, tell me the story about your lying ex-girlfriend.”

“It was two years ago. Sherry and I had been dating for about a year and a half when she came to me one day and said that she was pregnant. I was shocked because she had been on birth control throughout our relationship. She said she missed a couple of pills. We were living together when it happened, so we started talking about marriage. I went to every doctor’s appointment, and I was there with her throughout the whole pregnancy. We were planning our life together as a family.”

“So, what happened?” Katie asked.

“During the ninth month of her pregnancy, a close friend of mine came to me and suggested that I have a paternity test done. He said that he had heard rumors that she had been with another man before she became pregnant.”

“What did you do?” Katie asked, resting her head in her hands. She felt like she was watching a soap opera on TV, but this happened to a real person sitting right in front of her.

“I waited until after the baby was born, before talking to Sherry about it. She admitted that she did indeed have an affair. She said she stopped taking birth control and she wasn’t sure who the father was. We had a paternity test done immediately, and I found out that the beautiful baby girl that I had witnessed being born was not my child.”

Katie went over to Evan and put her arms around him in a hug. He was a little taken aback, but he put his arms around her waist. When she finished the hug and pulled back, he could see that she had tears in her eyes.

“I didn’t mean to make you feel sad, but you asked,” he said, as he was wiping the tears from her face.

Katie felt her face flushing from his gesture. She suddenly realized she was in another man’s arms, and she had a boyfriend.

“I’m so sorry, Evan. No one should ever have to go through that. That’s as bad as what Ciera’s boyfriend did to her. He doesn’t even care about the little boy he helped create. So, what did you do after that?” she asked, as she slowly pulled herself from his arms, and walked back to the other side of the bar.

“I ended the relationship immediately. I was so excited about that baby, but she wasn’t mine, and I couldn’t see myself in a relationship with Sherry after all the lies and deceit.”

“Thanks for sharing that with me,” she said, just as her phone pinged with a text notification. It was from Mandy. A picture of the infant baby boy. She couldn’t help herself; the tears started falling again.

“Katie, is something wrong? Is it about Mandy’s nephew?”

She didn’t answer him. She handed him her phone so that he could see the picture. He just stared at the screen, mesmerized.

“He’s a beautiful baby,” he said, with hint of emotion in his voice.

“Please don’t fire Mandy. That baby is the reason she’s not here tonight.”

“I told you; I want to talk with her tomorrow. It’s not my intention to fire her. But I could have been shut down for having an unlicensed person behind the bar.”

“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again. Why don’t you show me how to make that boulevard drink, and since I’m not actually working, I wouldn’t mind tasting it.”

“A Boo-le-vard-ee-ay.”

“Whatever, why don’t you show me how to make one.”

“It’s actually quite simple, with a few variations. The main ingredients are whiskey, sweet vermouth, and Campari—an Italian liqueur with a slightly bitter edge. Some people use rye whiskey, but bourbon balances the bitterness of the Campari and gives it a smoother taste. Once you choose your whiskey, add one and a half ounces of it, one ounce of sweet vermouth, and one ounce of Campari. Add ice and shake until well chilled, then strain and garnish with an orange twist or a cherry. Voilà!”

He handed her the drink and took a sip of his own before asking, “Katie, does your boyfriend ever hang out in one of my other bars, The Main Event, on 17th and Main Street?”

“I’ve never heard him mention it, but that’s close to the firehouse where he works. Why do you ask?”

“That’s where I’ve seen him a couple of times. The most recent time was last Tuesday, when I was visiting the bar.”

“Are you sure it was him?” Katie's heart was racing, mingled with a sense of dread.

“He was wearing a fire dept T-shirt, and Katie, he had a woman with him.”

“Oh my god! He said he was covering someone’s shift last Tuesday.” She suddenly felt weak in her knees.

“I’m sorry, Katie. It could be something innocent.”

“I don’t think so. Evan, can you call the bartender at that bar right now and ask if they have seen someone in there tonight fitting Rob’s description? Please.”

Evan pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and started dialing a number.

“Are you sure you want me to do this?” he asked.

“Yes.”

When someone answered, he put his phone on speaker, so that she could hear the conversation. She held her breath, hoping that this was all just a misunderstanding.

“Hey Kyle, it’s Evan. How are things going tonight?”

“Fine, Mr. Cullins, what can I do for you?”

“Kyle, is there a young man in there, mid-twenties, brown hair, with a nice build, wearing a fire dept T-shirt?”

“Yes. You must be talking about Rob.”

“Yes. Is he there with a woman?”

“He’s here with his girlfriend, Amy.”

“Does she have long blonde hair and a very nice body?” Evan put his hand over the phone for a second and looked over at her. “Sorry, Katie. I’m just trying to see if it’s the same girl.” He hated doing this to her. He hadn’t known her for more than an hour, but he could feel that she was a good, caring person, and she didn’t deserve to be deceived like this.

“Yes, Mr. Cullens, that’s Amy.”

“Okay, thanks Kyle.”

Evan hung up the phone and put his arm around Katie’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Katie. I know it doesn’t help to hear what I’m about to say, but I think it’s a good thing that you found out what type of person he is before your relationship went any further.”

“It seems like we’ve both had our share of bad relationships. I think your experience tops mine, though. Eight months is nothing compared to the time you spent with Sherry in a deceitful relationship.”

“Bad relationships leave scars, but they don’t have to define us. You need to go into your next relationship with an open heart and an open mind, and it could turn into something great,” he said, hating that she’d had to discover the truth about her boyfriend that way. Still, maybe it opened the door to something new for them...

“I believe that being in a relationship with someone who’s been through the same hurt and betrayal I’ve experienced would make me feel safer. They would understand what it’s like... like you do,” Katie said softly. She suddenly felt more than a physical attraction to Evan. Maybe…

“Why don’t we take our Boulevardier’s and toast to new relationships,” Evan said, raising his glass.

“And to the beautiful baby boy whose birth brought us together in this bar tonight, appropriately named Second Chances,” she said, as she raised her glass to his.