Shattered Identity: The Unknown Luna Princess

Chapter 7

The next day at work dragged on. But I sent the text I typed out last night to Candice at nine during my morning break, and she got back to me pretty quickly. To my surprise, she was working at the bar we had started and ended our night out at the night my divorce was finalized.

Me- Tracks?

Candice - That's the one. I went in and talked to the bartender. The one who took out the creepy guy by the bathroom that night. Turns out he owns the place. I showed him what I could do, and he hired me on the spot.

Me — That was generous of him. Please be sure to thank him again for coming to our rescue that night

Candice — Why don't you come in and thank him yourself? Hes been asking about you

Me- Cam?

Candice - So you remember his name? ;)

Me- Shut up

Candice- hahahahahaha

Candice- Yes, Cam. We both work tonight. Come in for dinner and come say hello

Me- I don't know

Candice - Oh what could it hurt? Just come in for a slice of pizza and a drink

I thought about it for a few minutes before replying. I didn't know the place she worked served food, and I did need to eat something other than peanut butter and jelly for once.

Me- Sure. I'll swing by for some pizza. What time do you go in?

Candice- I go straight from the office. Shift startes at 6

Me- See you tonight

I went back to work, which quickly went by for the rest of my shift. When I got home, I showered and laid down in bed to rest since I hadn't got much sleep the night before.

"Crap," I said to no one but myself when I looked at the clock on my phone when I finally woke up. It was already 5 p.m. My hair was a mess from falling asleep with it wet, so I got up and went to the bathroom to blow dry it the rest of the way dry before running a hot iron through it. Lucky me, I was blessed with frizzy hair. Not something I go out in public showing off without straightening it or using a ton of gel and hairspray to scrunch.

Forty-five minutes later, my hair was done. I did my five-minute makeup routine before throwing on a cute summer dress and sandals. It was the middle of the week, and I was just going for a slice of pizza after all.

At a quater past six, I was finally parking the car and heading inside. This time I noticed the little kitchen to the left when I walked in, but there were also significantly fewer people in here tonight than on that Thursday night we first came here. I saw Candice behind the bar shoving bottled beer into some ice, so I walked that way and took a seat in front of her.

"Hey! So you showed up after all!" she said before laughing slightly, like she thought I was going to flake out. "I said I'd come for a slice of pizza, didn't I? Girls gotta eat," I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

"True," Candice said, as she kept moving about behind the bar. I looked around and noticed maybe two dozen people in the place scattered around either sitting in booths with a whole pizza or sitting at the bar with a bucket of beer. Tonight was nothing like that Thursday when we first came, packed to the brim, and you could hardly move about without bumping into another person. It was also early. Maybe it gets more crowded the later it gets.

Lost in thought, looking around at the other patrons, I heard a thump, bringing my attention back to the person in front of me. "Try this, I think you'll like it. I put your pizza order in. It'll be out shortly." I grabbed the bottle she placed on the bar in front of me and took a sip. She was right, I did like it.

It tasted like crisp apples. I turned the bottle in my hands and looked at the label. "Apple Cider," I said aloud to no one but myself, not realizing anyone was even around me. "What do you think of it? I just got that one in," I heard a deep, familiar voice ask. I turned to see Cam walking towards me with a box in his hands.

I didn't answer right away. Seeing him again, and I mean, REALLY seeing him, his striking features and rugged good looks had me lost for words. The first night I met him, I could tell he was handsome, but seeing him in better lighting had feelings stirring in me that I hadn't felt in a really long time.

I heard him laugh before speaking again. "That bad? Maybe I shouldn't put it on the menu after all." I cleared my throat and my thoughts before answering. "No, no. It's actually pretty good. I'm not a beer drinker, but this tastes more like a dessert."

"Yea, Candice mentioned you don't drink beer, and you'd be the perfect person to try this and give us your opinion. Are you willing to try one more thing and give me your opinion?" He stared at me, which had my heart racing. I couldn't seem to spit out the words, so I just nodded my head.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing towards my beer bottle. I pushed it towards him, still not able to form any words. I hadn't noticed he had grabbed a bottle of cinnamon whiskey but once he had my beer bottle, he tipped it up and poured a little right into the beer. Cinnamon and apples? I can't imagine that will be bad.

He slid it back towards me but not before grabbing another cider and pouring some of the whiskey into it. When I reached for mine, he said, "Put your thumb over the opening and tip it over once to mix the two together." He did as he described with the bottle he just poured, so I followed along. He then took a sip. I did the same with my half-drunk bottle.

My eyes instantly shot open. It was really good. And I mean, it tasted like an apple pie in liquid form, good. Cam laughed again, but I think more at my surprised reaction than anything. "Good, right?"

"Wow, yea. So good. I can see it getting people into trouble though." He looked at me a little confused. "How so?"

"Well, it's a beer with a higher concentration of alcohol than your average beer. Then you add a shot of whiskey to it that goes down smooth." I didn't have to say much more than that. He got where I was going. Not that it really matters. "So you're saying they will sell well?" he asked with a chuckle.

I couldn't help but laugh and roll my eyes at his response before I responded to him. "Yes. I think they will sell well. Especially in the fall and winter months." He put on a big smile and replied, "Good to know. Thanks beautiful," before turning away from me and heading back in the direction he came from.