Blackbird Read Free

had gone to school together and their parents had been friends. Everyone had been pushing for this union since they were kids and now it was finally happening. After years of playing the field, Robert Cole, the most eligible bachelor in town, was going to settle down. He had always resisted dating Billie because he knew once he did, the courtship would play through to its logical conclusion. Now, after having just turned thirty, he was finally willing to admit the whole idea made sense.
                  “Holding down the fort?” he said, smiling down at her.
                  “Yeah, no major incidents. Just had to straighten one employee out just now. I mean, we’re their bosses not their friends, right? They’ll walk all over us if we don’t let them know that we’re the ones in charge.”
                  Robert wholeheartedly disagreed with that but it was too late to argue. All he wanted to do was have some dinner, then go home and watch the hockey game. Before he could answer there was a frantic knock on the door. Whoever it was didn’t wait for an answer before barging in. “Hey Boss,” it was Lisa. Thin and pale, she had been a fixture at the bar for the last ten years. She’d obviously seen something that made her queasy. “Ricky just tossed his cookies in the bathroom. He can’t come out. He’s pretty sick I don’t think he’s gonna be able to stay.”
                  Shit! There goes my night.   “You go home,” he said walking away from Billie. “I’m gonna have to take over.”
                  “What?” Billie was turning slightly crimson with anger. “But I thought we were having dinner.”
                  He turned back to face her, taking her face in his hands. Billie liked running the bar but didn’t yet realize the full extent of the responsibility. The other bartender was on vacation in Cuba and so Ricky was the only option, and if Ricky couldn’t do it that only left him.  “I’m sorry sweetheart. This is how it goes sometimes. You head out and I’ll see you in the morning.”
                  Billie gave a frustrated sigh and broke free of him, exiting the office without as much as a goodbye. He could see Lisa felt embarrassed for him, but he simply and calmly locked the office door and made his way to the bar, slipping behind it and changing the channel to the hockey game. The music was on but not overly loud. If he had to be stuck behind one of his bars for the next four hours couldn’t it have at least been the sports bar a few buildings down? At least then he would have been able to hear it too. Of all the luck.
                  He began serving drinks and taking money as people and staff came up to the bar with their orders and the din of the crowd melted together into a level of chatter that was a certain kind of soothing. He’d been tending bar ever since he was old enough and could probably do it in his sleep. His mind emptied and the only thing he focused on where drinks and money, taking the occasional glance up at the game to check the score.
                  After he had been serving drinks for a good twenty minutes he realized he had taken drink orders from everyone except Chelle. He noticed something else too. Picking his head up he noted a shift in the air, the awkward pause that everyone had taken from their night out. All eyes were focused in one direction, on the missing waitress who was walking toward him, tray in hand.
                  She faced him, head up and eyes steady. The tray however trembled in her hands. “I need two shots of Crown Royal and two Buds.”
                  Robert was silent for a moment, watching the crowd behind her in confusion. Chelle had just taken the order of two young men at a table directly behind her and one of them was making a gagging motion with his finger as he looked at his friend. He put the