The Running Series Complete Collection: 3-Book Set plus Bonus Novella (57 page)

Anxious to be as far away from that situation as possible, I put Maddy back on her leash and we retrace our steps, heading home.  The lonely fisherman has gone, and before long we are home again, back on our deck where I do a few cool-down stretches, and then head into the house to shower and get ready for my day.

M
arcus and I have plans to meet with the bartending staff to do some final staff training and finalize the drink menu.  I’m the first to arrive this morning, as usual.  I like to arrive early just to look around.  Exactly on time, Derek and Marcus come walking through the doors together and join me behind the bar.  Each man has established his own routine already.  As the General Manager, Marcus sets his sights right on inventory, checking on stock and seeing that we have everything needed on hand.  As Head Bartender, Derek gets everything behind the bar ready before the rest of the staff arrives.  He starts prepping the fruit and condiments, filling the speed well, and checking on the beer taps. 

While the boys are getting things prepared, I turn on the projection system and the music.  I like to be entertained while I work and clean.  As the owner, I take great pride in our appearance and making sure everything stays sanitary and organized at all times.  I look up at the white wall above the booths on the back wall and I’m rewarded with a picture of Evan in his football jersey on the practice field at Liberty Stadium.  The projector loops pictures of Evan and the entire New Jersey Sentinels team.  Laced among the sports photos are historical photographs of Asbury Park as well as pictures of desserts and cocktails.  I find myself staring at the slideshow, waiting for the next image of Evan to appear.  Eventually, a picture of Evan wearing his UMD Terrapin uniform flashes on the screen. 

I’m rocked back into the present when a bar towel snaps me on the ass.  “Ouch!  Derek, you jerk, that hurt,” I reprimand him, swatting him on his chest.

“Well, if you’re done ogling pictures of Big Mac, how about you get your little ass back here and tell us what you want done, boss lady,” Derek retorts.

“All right, all right.  You made your point.  Is the drink menu finished?  Did you guys get it narrowed down to less than ten house drinks?” I ask, hoping the answer is yes.  There are only a few days left until our doors open, and these details need to be ironed out quickly.

Marcus chimes in, passing me the final list.  “We have exactly ten house specialty drinks.  They are all completely different and uniquely original.  Can I make you one that I think you’ll really like?”

“Hell yeah, I can’t wait,” I tell him. 

I love watching Marcus make a drink.  He was a great bartender and an excellent teacher.  He taught me how to mix a drink with flair.  I only know one move, a flip-and-turn toss-and-catch move, but Marcus knows lots of moves.  He puts a few ingredients into the shaker glass and I’m so mesmerized watching him flip the bottles as he pours, I don’t even notice what he’s using.  He pours his concoction over ice, garnishes with a lemon wedge, and hands it to me for inspection.  It looks beautiful.

“It looks great, but what’s in it?” I ask.

“Tell you what, taste it and tell me what you think is in it,” he replies.

I take a swig and I’m fairly sure I can identify some of the main mixers.  “I definitely taste apple liquor.  But I think there’s also some cinnamon and ... I’m not sure ... maybe caramel?”

“Excellent!  You got it.  It has Goldschläger, that’s the cinnamon you tasted.  There’s some caramel vodka in there, too.  Can you guess what we named it?” Derek challenges me.

“How should I know what you named it?  Can you give me a hint?” I ask.

“Okay.  Think of a dessert that has all those flavors.  The name of that dessert is also a football term,” Derek explains.  He looks at me with a hopeful look in his eyes.  I’m going to ignore the reference to football, I’m afraid I don’t know enough yet for that to be helpful.  I concentrate instead on the cooking ingredients – apples, caramel, and cinnamon.

“Apple Pie?” I venture a guess.

Derek and Marcus both look at me and shake their heads.  “Jette, you can do better than that.  Even you know there’s nothing called an Apple Pie in football.  Come on, try harder,” Derek demands.

“You’re right.  That was lame.  Let me think.  Apple sauce?  No, that's not it.  Apple Crumb?  Definitely not.  Apple Fritter?  Apple Strudel?”  The boys just look at me and roll their eyes.  “Wait, I’ve got it – a Turnover!  That’s a football word, isn’t it?  Turnover?”  I’m so excited, I think I figured it out.

They both applaud my guess even though it took me a while to get there.  “Well, what do you think?  Do you like it?” Marcus asks.

“No, I don’t.”  I try and put on my most serious face.  For a moment, I think they actually buy it, too, because they suddenly look worried.  “I LOVE it!”  I give each of them a hug and a squeeze.  “Do all the drinks have football names?” I ask.

“Marcus and I struggled with that one for a while,” Derek explains.  “We decided on a compromise.  Half the drinks have football names, the other half have dessert names, five of each.  Here, look.”  Derek hands me the rough draft of the menu and I glance down at the names.  They sound great and look like they will taste even better.  I particularly like the Red Zone cocktail that contains Red Bull – clever.  Too bad I have no idea what a red zone is.

“Derek, would you mind running this over to the printer?  I want to talk to Marcus about a few things,” I tell him, handing him back the specialty drink menu.  Derek agrees, and off he goes.  I want to talk to Marcus in private before anyone else gets here and the bartenders should be here any minute now.

I turn around to speak with Marcus, and as a true professional, he’s cleaning up after himself.  I know Evan and I did the right thing when we brought Marcus on as General Manager.  My concern right now lies with our head chef, my best friend from college, Reese.  As GM, Marcus needs to stay on top of things in the kitchen, too.

I take a seat on one of the bar stools and ask Marcus to join me.  Marcus has a very intimidating way about him that can be misunderstood easily.  It probably comes from his military training.  Marcus was a Reserve Soldier, serving in the Army Reserve for three years.  His service ended before I even met him.  But I know him and his fiancée, Camilla, well enough to know that he’s really a great big teddy bear.

“Listen, I need you to be completely honest with me,” I tell him.  “How’s Reese doing?  I haven’t seen her in days.  Is she ready?  Is her staff ready?”

“She seems very confident and says she's ready.  She gave me her menu last week.  It looks pretty good.  We both agreed to a limited menu for the first month or two until she and her sous chefs get a good handle on things,” he explains.

“Isn’t that what this week is for, Marcus?  Running through everything over and over again so we’re ready when the doors open?”  I’m not convinced she’s ready.

“Do you want me to call her in right now?  Have her make you a tasting?” he asks. 

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea.  But let’s not do it today.  Do it tomorrow.  Let’s call in the servers so they can taste from the menu.  This way they will know what we’re serving.  Evan and I have plans, so I won’t be here.  Can you handle it without me?” I ask.

“Yeah, I should be able to handle that,” he tells me.  As he does, the door opens and Emmy strides in, ready to get back behind the bar.  At least I know Derek is getting his bar staff prepared.

We need to cut our conversation short.  The last two bartenders arrive, ready to start their final training sessions before the Soft Opening.  Last week, Marcus hired two new bartenders, Blaine and Clare.  Blaine will be working mostly nights while he attends college during the day and Clare will be bartending mostly day shifts while her twins are in preschool.  I leave Marcus to teach them the new drink menu and I know they are in excellent hands.

W
hen I step into the living room, I find Evan sitting on the couch with the playbook in his lap, listening to Queen’s Greatest Hits.  The music is so loud and his concentration is so deep that he doesn’t even hear me enter.  I don’t mind, really.  It gives me a chance to appreciate the beautiful man that can still make my heart skip a beat.  It’s not his perfection that appeals to me the most, it’s the small imperfections that I’ve come to know and love.  The unshaved whiskers on his face that tell me he’s been too busy to shave.  The messy, unkempt hair that suggests he hasn’t left the house since his shower.  The slightly crooked angle of his nose from being broken one too many times on the football field.  The bare feet propped up on the table tapping away, keeping beat with the music.  Those are the things about him that I adore. 

A smile slowly etches itself on his face, and I know he’s acutely aware of me watching him.  When we are in the same room, even after all these months, there is still a tension that fills the air and has a profound effect on both of us.  He shuts the book and closes the distance between us in three long strides.  He sweeps me up into his arms and kisses me long and hard.  When he finally releases me, I can hardly stand straight.

“Wow!  What was that for, chief?”  I’m not complaining, of course, but I am curious.

“Guess who was at the training center today, Juliette.”  His eyes are sparkling with such joy and excitement.  It’s my second guessing game of the day, and I’m afraid I’m not going to do any better this time.

“Um, let’s see.  Was it Jeff Probst asking you to be on the next season of Survivor?” I tease.

“No, but that would be pretty cool,” he admits.  “Guess again.”

“Gee, I was pretty sure about my first guess.  Could it be NASCAR calling to offer you a spot on the circuit this year?”

“No, but again, that sounds great, too.  Should I just tell you?  Because frankly, you’re not even close.”

I nod and add, “You definitely need to tell me or we could be here all day.”

“Dr. Geiselman drove all the way down to the training center to meet with the team physicians and they all agreed – I can start weight lifting immediately, a whole week early.  If everything goes well, that means I might be able to start practicing with the team soon, too.”  He can hardly contain his elation.

“Oh, sweetheart, that’s incredible.  You worked so hard, I could tell you’re doing so much better than anyone expected.”  I wrap my arms around his waist and lay my head on his chest.  Evan takes a deep breath, and I can tell a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.  He’s had this cloud hanging over him now that mini-camps have begun.  The team’s been practicing without him and I think he secretly worries that he might lose his second string position if he doesn’t get on the field soon.  “So, how do you want to celebrate?” I ask him.

“If I tell you, do you promise not to laugh?” he replies.

“Why on Earth would I laugh?” I ask him.

“I haven’t used my hand in seven weeks.  What I really want to do, right now, this very moment, is to go bowling.”  Evan looks right at me, waiting for my reaction.  I work extremely hard to suppress my shock.  That is the very last thing I expected to hear.

“Um, okay.  There’s a couple of bowling alleys nearby.  I guess we could pick one,” I tell him apprehensively.

“Juliette, you know I can’t just walk into any old bowling alley without things turning into a circus.  There’s a really cool place in Manhattan called Lucky Strike.  I already reserved their private bowling suite.  Call and invite anyone you want,” he tells me.

“Evan, are you serious?  I don’t know who I should ask.  We just went out with Emmy and Adam last night.  Maybe I’ll call Marcus and see if he and Camilla have plans.  Then again, I haven’t seen Auggie in a while.  Maybe I should call him.”

“Call them all,” he tells me.  “This is a celebration.  I already invited one couple to join us.  Joey Griffin and his wife Maggie Martin are joining us.  I hope you don’t mind.”

Evan and I split the phone calls and we start contacting them all.  Fortunately, they are all so happy for Evan that they drop everything and agree to meet us in the city at seven o’clock tonight.  They don’t even know that Joey will be there.  I decide to make that a surprise.