She laughed.
“Seriously, we are running with a skeleton crew here. Shifts will be long, and I’m gonna need you to work overtime from the start. My rates are industry standard, but I can’t compete with Jumpers.”
She shook her head. “I’ve had enough of that place. Besides, we have no idea if it will ever reopen. Overtime is no problem. I’m a night owl, I love this stuff.”
Logan put out his hand and she took it. “When can you start?”
“Right now?”
“You are amazing. Grab an apron.”
Sarah beamed back at him. Her smile was broad and very white. “In that case, let me go wipe down your tables, then when everything is spick-and-span, I’ll head home and get changed for my shift.”
Logan watched her from across the bar as she bent over one of the tables to clean it. When he realized he was staring at her ass, he pulled his eyes away and set about changing one of the barrels that ran under the bar. Apart from appearing to be very efficient at her job, Sarah was very easy on the eye. His male clients were going to love her. Damn it, he loved looking at her, too, but the girl was off limits now that she worked for him. Logan had a very strict rule. He never dated his bar staff or his customers. Logan had learned a long time ago that it didn’t work to mix business and pleasure.
He sighed, and with friends off limits, too, that left a very limited chance for him to meet women. Logan pulled out his phone and scrolled through his apps until he found Tinder. It had been over six months since he had used his account. In fact, Cassandra was the last person he met on it. Tentatively, he opened it up, but almost immediately shut it back down again. Honestly, he wasn’t sure he was into any of that right now. Before Cassandra, he’d used the app for a few hook ups, and even briefly dated a couple of women he found on there for a few weeks. But really, it was like stabbing in the dark. What was it Harriet had said the other day? A crap shoot. That was exactly what it was like. Boy, he had been on some Tinder dates where he didn’t even recognize the woman he’d arranged to meet. Seems many of the accounts were very misleading, with photos ten, and even on one occasion fifteen, years out of date.
Yeah, maybe he was done with all that crap. Logan checked on Sarah; she was sweeping around the tables. The woman just got on with what needed to be done, and she didn’t require him standing over her. Hmm, which made him question, where was Andy?
Logan headed out back. He’d sent Andy to change a couple of the larger barrels in the cellar over forty minutes ago. When he reached the cellar, the lights were on, and the job was half done. Andy was leaning against the wall on his phone.
“You gonna finish that anytime soon?” As Logan spoke, the guy almost jumped out of his skin.
“Huh, sorry, um, I got distracted.”
Logan narrowed his eyes at his new employee. He wasn’t sure this was going to work out. “I don’t pay you to look at your phone. Go upstairs, and say hi to Sarah, she just started.”
Andy stood up straight. “Huh, sure.”
“And just so you know, she has already done more work than you, and she has only been on my payroll for ten minutes.”
Andy’s cheeks reddened. “Um, sorry, Logan.”
Logan stepped aside as the guy shuffled past him. He couldn’t afford to be too harsh on Andy because he needed the bodies on the floor. Maybe he’d have a word with Sarah and get her to keep an eye on him, perhaps give him some training. Then he realized he was already counting on her. Hmm, if she worked out, he might even get to take a couple of nights off a week, maybe even get a bit of a social life. Wasn’t that exactly what Cassandra had been criticizing him about?
After finishing Andy’s job for him, Logan went back up to the bar and found that Sarah had Andy wiping down the booth chairs. Okay, this woman was definitely going to work out if she could get Andy to do some of the chores.
“Hey guys, I’m just going to head upstairs to grab myself some dinner before we open.”
“You’re good, boss.” Sarah waved him away. “I’ve got this.”
When Logan arrived back in the apartment, he was met by Harriet standing in her robe, ironing a floaty top. His eyes went straight to her legs. Mmm, that woman should wear short skirts, those legs were meant to be shown off.
“How did the interview go?” She looked up from her task and placed the iron down.
“Fantastic, she already started, and has Andy wiping down the booth chairs.”
“Wow, a miracle worker, eh?”
He laughed. “It would seem so. She was the mixologist at Jumpers, and I think she’ll be fantastic.”
Logan watched Harriet as she put away the ironing board, tidied up her stuff, and vanished into her room.
He’d known her for almost eight years now. She’d been a student when he first met her when he carded her in his dad’s bar. Logan was a few years older than her, and at the time, he had been quite smitten by that cute blonde. He’d even considered asking her out, but somehow, she felt out of his league. She was always surrounded by friends, and the boys flocked around her. Not that she encouraged them, she was one of those women that didn’t seem to notice the effect she had on men.
He and Harriet had struck up an unlikely friendship a
