The Bartender

11

“Aunt Ronnie! I want my green hair tie!” 

“Honey, the dress code for your rehearsal is purple, green will just mess up the color scheme and that would just upset your dance teacher.” I took a quick sip of my coffee and spun to the sink and spat it out instantly. “Fish sticks!” I cussed, “Why is this still piping hot?”

The house phone rang and I hastily dropped my ceramic mug on the kitchen island, rolling up the last few floor plans that I had been busy marking up the night before I head to my big meeting and first day of work since, you know…my sister.

“Does no one have common courtesy anymore? It’s 7 for crying out loud.” I groaned and turned around, making a beeline for the house phone but not realizing there were a bunch of pink Legos of all sizes scattered on the ground. I stepped on a couple and immediately saw the whole galaxy altogether. “MOTHERFUC—”

“Aunt Ronnie, it’s grandma calling.” Max turned around with the phone in hand, still clad in my sweater she insisted on wearing the night before she climbed into bed with me. “Grandma?” I repeated. “I believe that’s what I said.” She grinned. 

“Oh honey, don’t you get smart mouthed with me. You ought to stop picking up everything Uncle Judah says.” I warned. 

“Uncle Judah!” Max shrieked as the main door opened and in came Judah wearing a coat and holding a large bag of groceries in one hand while the other held Max’s soft toy rabbit she probably left in his car the night before. “Speak of the devil, you’re early…hello, yes mom? It’s nice to finally hear from you.”

“Max, you’re supposed to get ready for your first day back at school.” Judah said, dropping the bag of groceries on the kitchen island just as Max pounced on him for a hug. “But I wanted to wait for you until you got here!” the little one said indignantly, wrapping her tiny arms around the man’s large frame, clearly enjoying the one adult who was willing to give her his undivided attention.

“Ronnie.” Judah greeted.

“Bacon hater.” I answered, still narrowing my eyes at him. Why? Okay so last night we had a little spat in the car when Max was sleeping. What about? Well, we were deciding that there were certain shows Max should not watch. He said no more Peppa pig for Max but I argued why not? Because it was an animal’s show, he told me that I clearly do not pay close attention to the dialogues exchanged between the piglet and her mother.

‘The pig’s impertinent, stubborn and selfish!’ I remember Judah arguing. ‘She thinks she can get what she wants by being smart-mouthed’

He told me I was very much like Peppa the Pig and I sulked the whole way home.

“Yes mother, it’s her first day back at school and no I do not have time to chat, I need to get to work and Judah here will be taking Max to school so you need not to worry.” I reassured her, eager to get off the phone to get myself ready for the day.

“Max, you haven't brushed your teeth yet, have you?” I heard Judah say, jogging up the stairs with a toddler giggling her head off. “Everything’s going great mom.” I finally said, sighing quietly. I was telling the truth, everything was going surprisingly smooth and it got me a little unsettled. “I hope things will turn out well for you too. I really have to go, I’ll call soon.” 

The call ended, and that was the first time I heard from my mother in a month. Jackie has done an excellent job watching over my mother and I was forever grateful to her because I knew I was not in the best position to take care of a grieving elderly person and a 3-year-old who’s constantly vying for my attention, not to mention, following up on the project I was tasked to lead. It was all too much for two hands. 

But then, there was Judah who stayed through it all, even when he didn’t need to. He was just as busy as I was, he worked long hours into the night and his sleep schedule was all messed up yet he still had the time for Max and I.

Lately, I even get started earlier on dinners just so he could join us before he got to work before the night life in the city began. There would be a day or two when he’d close the bar and opted for movie night with popcorn and milkshake. And then there were the grocery runs, errands to the bank, loan settlements and insurance transfers…

I owed him far too much and I wasn’t so sure just how I could repay him for everything he’s done for the both of us. And I doubt a simple thank you would even suffice.

Pouring a hot cup of coffee into the mug he always used when Judah was over, I brought it upstairs with me. On my way up, I heard the two conversing by Max’s wardrobe after making a quick stop at my sister’s, (well, now it’s my room) to grab something real quick. “I was told by Aunt Ronnie that your dance teacher asked for a purple dress code and not green.” Judah said patiently. 

“But I want my green hair tie.”

“Sweetheart, do you know the only other person that looks good in purple and green?”

“Who?”

“Barney the dinosaur.” Judah said flatly and I rolled my eyes on instinct and smiled. So that was his way of coaxing a child to obey the request asked by her teacher for a dance rehearsal? What child could be possibly fooled by that? And clearly, Judah needs to lay off on the cartoon watching with Max.

“But I don’t want to look like a dinosaur! I want to be a princess.” Max whimpered, slightly horrified while turning away now from the sight of the green hair tie in Judah’s open palm. “Oh but you are. Hence, today is your lucky day because the ones dressed in full purple today will look like princesses. How does that sound for you?”

“Um, okay Uncle Judah.” Max turned around slowly. “So this is what we’re going to do. You’re going to brush your teeth and when you come out of the bathroom, I’m going to do your hair with these purple bands and take you to school so Aunt Ronnie can get to work, alright?”

She nodded obediently and disappeared into the en-suite while I pushed open the room door. “You should really consider being in child therapy or even a daycare helper. You do a much better job than most.”

“Oh, so we’re back on talking terms now?”

“Yes, because you solved my seven a.m. crisis. How was work last night?” I asked, handing him the mug. He inhaled the scent gratefully and thanked me. “Business has been flourishing, thank you for asking. How was your night?” 

“Pretty hectic, but rest assured I got all my work done last night and shall ace my first day back at work.” I said smugly.

“I’m glad to hear that.” he smiled encouragingly, sipping on the coffee. 

“Listen, thank you for offering to drop Max at school on her first day. But you need not come over here this early when you should be in bed after working all night. I’m sure you need all the rest you can get.”

“Don’t you worry. I’m very well rested and I’ll be heading to the gym after dropping off the little one. And after a few errands, I’ll pick Max up from school and grab lunch so you need not to worry since her school is pretty close by.”

“I should really reconsider daycare for her.”

“Ronnie, the last time we tried sending her there…” Judah trailed, lines formed as he frowned disconcertedly.

“I know, she cried her eyes off.” I sighed, pressing my fingers on the side of my temple recalling the memory where Max burst into tears where Judah and I had attempted to leave her there on a weekday when we needed to drop by the lawyer’s office. 

“She used to be fine with it when my sister had her dropped off. Does she not get along with the new kids or…” I said, feeling mildly distressed. “Max has to understand that the both of us have got our fair share of things to do as well. We can’t be watching over her all the time.” I reasoned. “At least not with a full-time job, I just don’t see how all of this is going to work out.”

“I hope you don’t mind me saying this but the recent change of events did not only affect you and your mom. Have you given it some thought that your sister’s passing may have affected Max negatively as well? Kids are just as capable of feelings as adults are, though they may not be able to process it thoroughly like grown ups do thus they let it out in different ways. It’s important to acknowledge their feelings as well, Ronnie. Max is now a growing child, she’s beginning to be more aware of what’s happening.”

I went silent for a bit as I allowed his words to sink in, looking at the box of hair ties that were strewn untidily all over her small dresser. “I understand where you’re coming from and I acknowledge that I have been caught up with my own feelings and may have disregarded the child’s in the process. But how do we work our way around this? I can’t think of an alternative right now.” 

“Hey.” Judah sat his mug down on the dresser and squeezed my arms, the pressure from them made my shoulders sag in response and I felt comforted instantaneously. “Don’t overthink it, you’re doing the best you can and I’m always here to support you and Max from the side. Besides, I think we’d make a pretty good team.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I raised a brow. He smiled.

“Uncle Judah! I’ve brushed my teeth and cleaned up!” She beamed, flashing her pearly whites to prove her point. “Now can you please do my hair?”

“Of course, come here.”

“Before you do, Max, here you go.”  I dug into the pocket of my sweats and opened my palm. “A green hair tie? I thought you said…” Max’s eyes lit up as she searched mine to see if I was toying with her. “I know what I said earlier darling, but you know what I think?” I knelt so I could look at her from an eye level. “Aside from Barney the dinosaur, princesses do look good in green too.”

“Princess Jasmine wore green.” Judah piped in. “And the little mermaid too!” Max chimed along. “Great, I guess I got to keep the cartoon channel password protected from you too.” I looked up at Judah who gave me a boyish grin in response.

Max took the hair tie from me and frowned at it. “This isn’t mine.” She said after observing the green and purple polka dots on the fabric sewed over the elastic.  “It’s your mother’s favorite scrunchie. I’m sure she would like you to have it.” 

The child bit on her lip and blinked at me. “It’s mommy’s?” she asked, eyeing the piece.

“Mmhmm.” I hummed. “Could you please put it on for me then?” she blinked.

“I’d love to.”

It took me at least 15 minutes to get ready that morning, with a child running around the house, you don’t have an option to even sit and curl your hair without worrying whether she has done all her summer homework or even have her lunch packed, for Max’s case, making sure she didn’t wear my clothes out of the house (don’t ask me why).

“Okay sweetheart, be good and have fun at your dance recital. I’ll see you at 6 for dinner, be good to Uncle Judah alright?” I grabbed my Celine tote and blueprint tube from the kitchen island while Judah handed me my set of keys as I was racing out of the main door with my heels clacking against the driveway where my car was parked.

“Aunt Ronnie, you forgot my kiss on the forehead!” Max bounced in Judah’s arm while he held her tightly. Racing back in again, I gave her a quick peck on the forehead and while I was about to turn around once more, Judah grabbed my wrist. “Are you forgetting mine as well?”

I was already running late and I wasn’t thinking straight at what he said so I pecked him square on the lips which took us both by surprise. “Ooh!” Max grinned and giggled. Well, at least she was the only one out of the three of us that had a response to what just happened. 

“I uh—” I pointed to my car. “I’m l-late.” I stuttered. Judah smirked grew wider at each passing second which only made me want to slap it off his perfectly handsome face except I could not even look him in the eye after what happened nor did I want to leave a handprint on such a handsome…alright, I need to stop.

“Have a great day at work Ronnie!”

“Love you Aunt Ronnie!”

“Enjoy the rest of your day, you two!” I gave them one last wave and pulled out of the driveway. 

**

“With all due respect, Mr. Pearson, I’m telling you this cannot be done. What the Wellingtons’ are demanding for the layout of the building’s centerpiece is absolutely precarious. The weight of this revolving piece simply cannot be supported by the material they had requested to build it. Environmentally friendly or not, the material that will hold the centerpiece of this floor weighs like two herds of elephants.” I said indignantly, summoning every ounce of patience I had left in me not to shake my boss by his shoulders violently.

It was almost in the evening and I was tired, and so was everyone else in this meeting. I breathed slowly in effort to calm my raging nerves. The long silence from my boss was nauseating, nevertheless, I continued.  “Not unless we change the material build, redesign the whole layout and structure and decide how the two buildings shall hold the center piece.”

“But that will take ages. To redesign the centerpiece? Are you out of your mind?” Pitkowski blurted and at once, everyone else at the table had something to offer after 60 minutes of long silence. "I'm sure it is where it's supposed to be, but thank you for your input, Pits." I smiled. Red faced, Pitkowski shut up. Jackie shook her head discreetly at me and I sighed quietly. It was her way of offering some sort of comfort to me.

First day back at work and it was a disaster. I, for one, have come up with at least 5 different layouts for the bloody centerpiece that the Wellington couple and they have not been spared a glance yet. The building was supposed to be state-of-the-art, the eye candy of the city square. It was going to be the one building people would point at and their jaws would drop and I was in charge of raising it from ground zero.

The centerpiece was meant to revolve in slow motion, but fret not, the ‘outer casing’ of it was only meant to move whereas the interior structure stayed put. Trust me, you really don’t want to be spinning in slow circles more than 50 feet in the air.  

“Pitkowski, who was it that asked for your input again?” Don Pearson rose from his seat after being silent for the last hour. Suddenly, everyone around the oval table fell eerily silent and Pitkowski’s face was as red as the sunset that was happening beyond the horizon. 

Don Pearson then turned to me and I felt the color drain from my face. Please don’t yell at me, please don’t yell at me I chanted in my head. “Fine. Veronica, if this is as dangerous as you claimed it was, then have the new designs on my table first thing in the morning. Jackie, I’ll need you to get the Wellingtons on the phone tomorrow, get them to come in and we’ll re-discuss the layout once more and hopefully a bloody conclusion will be the product of it all. Meeting adjourned. All of you may leave.”

Distinct chatters circled the table once more and some of them stood up, grabbed their things and left in a hurry. It was, after all, time to clock out and retire for the day. “Wow, I guess Pearson had finally cracked. I’m surprised he was that calm and collected when you vehemently refused to start work for one of our biggest clients.” Jackie muttered at the corner of her mouth, not wanting anyone (especially Pitkowski who was seated nearest to us) eavesdropping.

“I’m surprised but I feel there’s so much more to this. Pearson almost never agrees to anything this easy.” I said, frowning as I gathered my floor plans, rolling them up once more. “Pearson is definitely up to something.”

“Or maybe he’s had a change of heart and decided he’s too old to be a jerk anymore.”

“Jackie, no one rolls out of bed and decides they should start behaving like a saint.” I clicked my tongue impatiently, making a beeline for the door but was startled when a loud voice boomed in the center of the board room. 

“Hey guys, I’d love to treat all of you for drinks tonight, after all, it’s the big three-oh for me and maybe it’s time I learned to socialize with the people from work.” Sam from the building safety department announced. The rest of the group cheered and I rolled my eyes, huffing discreetly. “Thirty huh, why do I feel like I’m much older than I really am?”

“Ever since you got a kid overnight with a house with a white picket fence to your name, that’s when.” Jackie patted my back comfortingly. I narrowed my eyes at her remark.

“Drinks are at Barneys, it’s a stone’s throw from this very building so I do not want to hear any excuses as to who can’t make it.”

“Wait, Barneys’, isn’t that—”Jackie whispered.

“Veronica, Jackie, I’d expect you both to show up. You both missed my birthday two years in a row.”

“Shall we tell him we don’t even know when his birthday is…” I asked under my breath. “Unless you have a  death wish.” she retorted silently. “Sure, we’ll be there.” Jackie said nervously, waving at the leaving party. “Oh god, it’s like my worst nightmare has come true. Hanging out with your colleagues and socializing with them talking about everything else after work is not the most ideal way to spend a bloody Monday.”  

“Oh look on the bright side, you’d get to see your man behind the bar. I’m sure that makes up for almost everything that went wrong today.”

“For the last time Jackie, he’s not my man.” I rolled my eyes as we walked towards the elevators. “Ronnie, that man has stuck around longer than those cheap adhesive glue the Inventory Department gets for us. He’s watching you and Max like a hawk and cares so much for you, heck, remember that one time you got really sick, and he came over in the middle of the night just to make you some…”

“How’d you even know about that?” I’m sure it was only a party of two.” I interrupted. “Max told me. She likes him.”

“Max?”

“Yeah, the kid sometimes can’t fall asleep but pretends to do so because she doesn’t want you worrying too much about her.” And then I remembered what Judah had said about Max becoming more aware of her surroundings. She was growing faster than I thought. 

“And she told you all these? When?” I asked, looking at my best friend curiously as if trying to make out if she was kidding. 

“Last weekend when I popped over with that chocolate cake your mom made you three. You were busy with work and Aunt Jackie took over babysitting, remember?” 

The bell of the elevator went off and the doors slid open automatically. “By the way, that cake tasted nothing like chocolate.” I admitted. “Why’d you think I brought you two of it? I simply gave you my share.”