CHAPTER 15
The day passed swiftly, and the bad weather drove people inside, so the bar was hopping. Finally at three, the sun came out, and people poured outside, but that just meant the deck was busy. I didn’t hear any new gossip, but didn’t have much time to think about my predicament, either. Around 4:30, we had a lull. Joaquín called for me to come to the bar.
“What?” I asked, eyeing the tray he’d covered with a clean white bar towel. It had suspicious-looking lumps and bumps under it.
“We need to start your training for the barback competition.” He waved a hand at the tray. “I’ve gathered a series of ingredients, and you need to make an original drink with them.”
“I think Vivi just called for me.” I gestured toward her closed office door.
“She’s out,” Joaquín said, narrowing his eyes at me. “Are you trying to get out of practice?”
“Yes. Yes, I am. I won’t be any good. I’ll let you and Vivi down. I’ll bet no one else is practicing.” Did I sound whiny or what?
“Everyone is practicing.” Joaquín whipped the towel off the tray. “You have sixty seconds. Starting in three, two, one.”
There were three bottles of various sizes. None of the bottles were labeled. There were also peach slices, limes, and lemons on the tray, as well as a rocks glass and a flute. I opened one with what looked like alcohol and sniffed. No smell. It must be vodka.
“Fifty seconds,” Joaquín called.
Good grief. I grabbed the peach slices and dropped two in the rocks glass. I took a mortar and squished the heck out of them. Joaquín would call it muddling. I grabbed the medium-sized bottle, opened it, and sniffed. It smelled like simple syrup—a sweetener often used in drinks. I poured some over the peaches and squished it all together. Then I poured in a healthy amount of vodka, scooped ice into a shaker, dumped the contents of the rocks glass in, gave it a good shake, and strained the mixture into the flute. I dropped in another slice of peach and stepped back.
“Disqualified,” Joaquín said.
“What? You haven’t even tasted it.”
“You were five seconds over.”
I shook my head. “Why didn’t you warn me?”
“No one’s going to warn you in the actual competition.” Joaquín picked up the flute, took a sniff like it was fine wine, and then tasted it. I swear he was letting it roll on his tongue like this was some highfalutin competition. His face was neutral. He’d give Deputy Biffle a run for his money with that expression.
Joaquín handed me the glass. “Taste it.”
I took a cautious sip. Hmmm, not bad.
“Anything you would have done differently?” Joaquín asked.
“I think a squeeze of lemon juice would have offset the sweetness with a bit of acidity.” Personally, I loved a sweet drink, but I’d been reading up on making cocktails and balancing ingredients over the past few months.
Joaquín beamed at me. “Absolutely right.”
“A little rosemary or basil would have been nice, too,” I said. I wasn’t big on herbs in my drinks, but it was a thing in the cocktail world right now.
Joaquín grabbed me, gave me a spin, and dipped me. “Look at little Chloe, learning the bartending trade.”
I shook my head. “I’m part owner of the bar. What do you expect?”
Joaquín’s face became serious. “For reals? I keep waiting for you to grow weary of small-town life and hightail it back to the city.”
“Really?” I was surprised. “I moved all of my stuff down here last January. I’m in a relationship and own a house, boat, and part of a bar. And you think I’m not going to stay?” I paused. “Does Vivi think that, too? Is she just waiting me out so she can have the entire bar to herself?” Had they been talking about me when I wasn’t around? I was hurt. Way more than I would have thought.
“No. No!” Joaquín pulled me to him for a moment.
That was a relief.
“Life can be slow here. There’s no museums or theater.”
“There’s the Indian Temple Mound Museum in Fort Walton Beach and the Destin History and Fishing Museum. And Northwest Florida State College has plays and symphonies. There’s culture here if you want it. You are not getting rid of me that easily.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to get rid of you. I just know that when I first moved back here, I missed some of the excitement of Los Angeles.”
“I miss my family. Some days. But I love it here. It suits me, and I would have never known if it hadn’t been for Boone.”
“I’m glad, Chloe. Really. Let’s try another challenge.”
I whisked an order pad off the top of the bar. “Oh, look.” I pointed out to the deck. “Someone out there is probably ready for another round.” I smiled sweetly at Joaquín and took off.
* * *
I was home by six and went for a long run, heading east, away from the Sea Glass. After missing my runs the last two mornings, this felt good. As my feet pounded the firm sand, I took in the tangy smell of the salt-spiced air, the whoosh of the waves that curled onto the beach, and the calls of the seagulls as they circled a family who threw food up to them. That made me shudder; being circled by hungry birds wasn’t my idea of fun. I’d watched the movie The Birds with my grandmother and had never looked at birds the same way again.
I’d been running about twenty-five minutes when I spotted Lisa Kelley running toward me. Her strides were long and looked effortless. I hoped she had just set out, or else it meant she was in way better shape that I was. That depressed me a little, and it wasn’t just about the barback competition. Nope—I realized I was a little prouder about my running prowess than I’d ever realized.
Lisa didn’t notice me at first. Probably because the sun was to my back and getting lower in the sky. When she got close enough to see me, she broke her stride for a minute. I stopped and ran in place until she came up beside me.
“Come on,” she said. “I might as well check out the competition.”
I turned and ran with her back toward my house. Lisa was a couple of inches taller than me, which meant I wasn’t going to match her stride for stride. When she sped up, so did I. This is usually why I ran alone. I liked to set my own pace, based on my mood, not anyone else’s. I lagged behind only by about a half step. After five minutes, we were both panting and sweating.
Lisa slowed, so I did, too—no need to show off, and maybe she’d think I wasn’t much competition to worry about. A cool April breeze blew from the north, and even though I was hot from running, I almost shivered.
“So you’re staying in the competition?” I asked Lisa.
She glanced over at me. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I just thought since you were close to Enrique, you might not want to go on with it.”
“Whatever gave you that idea? That we were close?” She almost snorted.
“Pictures and stories online.”
Lisa shook her head, dismissive-like, but not before an expression somewhere between anger and frustration passed over her face. “That was a long time ago.”
“It looked pretty volatile.”
“Enrique.” She shook her head again. “He said the publicity would be good for us. He called a couple of tabloids so they knew where we’d be.”
“So you threw a glass of wine in his face for publicity?”
This time, she did snort. “No, that was because he was a cheating bastard. Him. Cheating on me. I should have known better than to fall for his charm.”
We were even with my house at this point. Normally, I’d peel off, but I really didn’t want Lisa to know where I lived. It was one thing to run with her out on a beach dotted with other people waiting for the sun to set, but there was a possibility she had murdered Enrique. The less she knew about me, the better. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rip, sitting on my back steps. He stood when he saw me. I dropped behind Lisa for a moment and waved him off before catching back up.
“Men can be scum,” I said. “Enrique seemed to have quite a fan base, though.”
“I don’t care. I got over him a long time ago.”
She may say that, but her body language was tense and her voice close to sputtering with fury. I didn’t think I should point that out to her. And I knew it didn’t take her off my list of suspects.
“I’m the one who got him the gig with Two Bobs.”
I almost stopped in my tracks at that. “Really?” Was that so she could kill him out here, where it was less likely people would find out they knew each other?