“Don’t say that.” Aunt Linda stepped out of her office. She wore her usual pencil behind one ear and her bright flower behind the other. “You’ll jinx us.” Her gaze surveyed the entire restaurant, taking in the state of the dining room, entryway, bar, and finally the staff and their uniforms.
“Oh, hon. Be happy. We’re going to make money tonight.” Uncle Eddie danced across the floor, reaching for his wife to join him.
She laughed and allowed him to lead her in a few steps and a twirl. “Okay, okay.” She pushed him away with a hand at his chest. “We have five minutes until we open.” She gave me a pointed look. “Double-check your stations.”
We made quick work of it, which was a good thing. When we opened the front door, three parties of four walked in. Groups and couples kept coming over the next thirty minutes and we had a waiting list by five thirty.
I was on my way to the bar to drop off an order for a sangria swirl, with a sugar rim—if you please—when I spotted a familiar brunette with red glasses. Dani O’Neal. I’d had about as much as I could take of the woman the day before, so I was praying she wouldn’t see me at the end of the bar. Of course I shot a glance her way from behind my order pad to find her staring straight at me.
“I didn’t realize you were a waitress.” She studied my outfit. “I’m not hating. I had to wait plenty of tables after I was laid off from Texas Power.”
“Oh?” This woman made me uneasy. Even though she said she desperately needed the prize money, she was all kinds of crazy. That led me to suspect she had other motives for entering our inaugural event, like keeping tabs on Lucky Straw, plotting his demise, or hitting him over the head with a skillet.
A couple was seated farther down the bar, but their gazes were locked on the Mexican soccer game on the television screen. When the Chivas made a goal, the man slammed his hand on the antique oak bar. “Pay up.”
The woman shot a glance at Dani O’Neal, and then at me and Anthony, who was filling in as bartender until our new employee arrived.
After their attention returned to the screen, Dani patted the barstool next to her.
“Sorry.” I shrugged. “No can do. I’ve got three tables that just ordered their drinks.”
“Later, maybe?” With an air of desolation, she sighed and took another sip of her frozen daiquiri.
“Depends. Who’s with your niece and nephews?”
She gave me a level stare. “What? You think I’d leave them in a strange hotel on their own?”
I flushed. “Not exactly.”
“My sister arrived an hour ago. When I left them, they were watching Dora.”
“Ah, that’s awesome.” I hated to see anyone so depressed and bearing such a heavy air of loneliness. As I returned to the dining room, I still caught myself glancing around the room for those kids, just in case she’d lied about having a sister as well.
About twenty minutes later, I had a lull. Four tables had received their entrées: steaks, pecan-encrusted tilapia, the usual fajitas, and chile rellenos. I retreated to the bar area for a soda water with lime.
“Hey, can you watch the bar for a minute?” The new bartender, one of Ryan’s over-twenty-one defensive ends, glanced in the direction of the little niños’ room.
“Sure, but make it quick.”
He winked and hurried off, remembering just in time to not go through the dining room. “See? I remembered.” He gave me a confident nod and left through the kitchen.
Before her, Dani had three empty Shiner bottles. No way was I about to ask her if she wanted something else to drink. “I’m surprised you’re still in town.”
“I already asked for the days off, and the kids like it here.”
“Speaking of . . . where are they?”
“They’re with their mother.” She lifted one of the bottles to her mouth and tipped it to her lips. Only a drop came out.
“Ha.” I nodded at Anthony, who dropped off an order for three whiskey sours and a Dr Pepper. “Remember, you already pulled that on me, and then you came clean.”
“I did?” Her expression said she was utterly lost. “Oh, yesterday. I was just messing with you.” She smiled. “They belong to my sister.”
“Why should I believe you this time out of the gate?” I made the drinks with care, not wanting to be too stingy or too liberal with the whiskey. “If that’s the case, then where are they now?” The woman was obviously either a terrible liar or a pathological one.
Anthony was making sure not to miss a word, fascinated by our conversation.
Dani gave him a sweet smile. “Hi. What’s your name?”
“Anth—”
“He’s engaged to a girl who used to wrestle on Telemundo.”
He laughed. “She’s a real tiger.” He picked up his drinks and laughed again. “You better watch out for her, she’ll rip out your liver.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. His fiancée was the sweetest, most timid creature I had ever met. Who else would have sewn Lenny’s folklórico costume by hand?
Dani sighed. “They’re at the Cogburn Hotel watching Home Alone.”
“By themselves?”
She frowned. “No. With their mother.”
Argh. This woman was on my last nerve. And where was that fill-in bartender? He should’ve been back by now. I walked from behind the bar and took a peek at my tables. So far, they were fine. In fact, too fine. They needed to move along down the road and make room for another group. A couple sat on a wooden bench just inside the door while a family of four waited outside for their name to be called.
“I was a waitress my freshman year of college.”
“That so?”
“Yeah.” She took a sip of her drink. “I was a cocktail waitress at the Atlantis Beach Club.”
“In the Bahamas?”
She rolled her eyes. “Come on. I meant
