“Summer’s hard to judge. When the bars downtown fill up, we seem to get some of the spillover, along with our usuals.” Nell wiped the edges of a dish clear, then deposited it under the heating lamp to be collected. “Long as they keep coming and paying, I’m happy.”
Joe and Vaughan were keeping busy. A second waitress, Stella, had finally arrived to work alongside Rosie, considerably lightening the load. Where Rosie seemed friendly, Stella kept her distance. Though with the less-than-warm looks Nell was shooting her way, I would too. She was early twenties at a guess with short jet black hair and a nose ring. Very cool.
The night only seemed to get busier. For every table cleared, another party would enter. I’d offered to go catch a cab home, to let Nell work in peace. She’d ordered me to stay put. So I taste-tested dishes as directed, chatted with her, and slowly sipped iced water in the impressively shiny kitchen.
“He’s watching again; quick, look happy,” said Nell.
I turned my head, gave Vaughan a finger wave. “Does he usually worry this much?”
“Not in my experience. But then, it’s been years since he’s been around.”
With a lethal-looking knife, she made short work of dicing onions. Not a single tear was shed. Next she moved onto testing a boiling pot of pasta. “Went and visited him on the Coast a few times. Things were always crazy busy. They’d be in the middle of recording or on their way to a gig. It’s not like we really got time to talk.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Then once we opened this place, my life revolved around it. I’m here working or I’m at home catching up on sleep.”
“I bet.” I’d never run my own business, but I could imagine.
“Since our parents passed, Vaughan’s been even harder to get ahold of. I don’t know, I guess most families grow apart, right?”
“I’m probably the wrong person to ask. Mine was never close to begin with.”
“Yeah?”
“I was an accident. Reproduction never featured on my parents list of things to do. They were always working, trying to make things better. Have the money to buy a big shiny house with the latest everything.” I shrugged. “It just never quite worked out that way.”
Nell frowned. “Dad worked a lot, but Mom was usually home.”
“I don’t mean to be nosy. But do you mind if I ask how your parents died?”
“Car accident,” she said, the volume dropping on her voice. “Happened at night. It’d just started raining and there was oil on the road. Dad lost control and they hit a tree. Mom died on impact but Dad lasted longer. They’d managed to cut him out of the vehicle and were on their way to the hospital. Luckily he never regained consciousness after the accident. He never knew Mom was gone.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah.” She shook herself. “Anyway, Vaughan and I were tight through high school. Pretty much part of the same crowd. It was weird when he left, I was so used to having him around.”
She stopped to pass me a small dish of feta and olives.
“That’s how I met my ex, Patrick. He was a friend of Vaughan’s. I stole him. Probably why he’s so worried about trusting me with you.” She winked. “He’s worried I’ve changed teams,” she said sarcastically.
“Mm, sorry. I’m going to have to decline.” I popped a black olive into my mouth. Delicious. “You’ve got a hot bod, but you’re too complicated. I’m currently avoiding any and all complications of the romantic kind.”
“Ha. I guess we’ll have to be just friends.”
“I’d like that.”
She smiled and checked on the progress of some gourmet pizzas, then plated them up with precision. Halloumi, pumpkin, spinach, and pine nuts. It looked divine and smelled even better. “Me too.”
“This place is a lot nicer than most dive bars I’ve been in.” To be honest, it was more along the lines of some hipster restaurant/bar with a small stage set up in a corner. “It’s much brighter and the floor isn’t sticky.”
“We inherited that name,” explained Nell. “Andre Bird, the guy that owns the building, his dad opened the Dive Bar here back in the seventies. He died behind that bar six years ago. Heart attack. One minute he was pouring beer, the next minute, gone.”
“Huh.”
“Pat swears he saw the old guy’s ghost late one night when he was locking up. But I think he’s full of it.” A shadow of a smile lingered on her lips. Then she shook it off. “You know Stage Dive did their first public gig on that tiny stage over there.”
“No.” My eyes bulged.
“Yep. I was here. They were absolutely awful.” She laughed. “Took them a few years to get to the point where they were actually worth listening to.”
I stared at the stage, mind officially blown. Then I quickly checked out how Vaughan was doing. He was busy restocking the beer fridge. Seemed all good.