The Bartender

6

The doorbell to my apartment rang relentlessly followed by a fist thumping against the door loudly. “Ronnie! Open up this instant!”

I jolt awake in an instant, my dream bubble of Judah doing a little strip tease at the foot of my bed shattered mercilessly. Man, I was just only getting to the good part! He was literally at his belt buckle! Whoever was at the door better be someone worth getting up for. 

“Ronnie!”

It took me a while to register who it was—Jackie. “Since when did you change the passcode? Geez!”

I pushed the duvet away from my body and swung my legs to the edge of the bed shuddering at the cold air greeted me, struggling to stand and almost tripping over the fur rug that ran along the wooden floorboards. “Whoa f**k!” I cussed, tripping over my one boot that laid lifelessly by the doorway.

The doorbell rang repeatedly in complete urgency and I knew Jackie would never do so unless she needed to desperately take a piss at my place or someone was holding her at gunpoint. I seriously do not hope it’s the latter. 

I swung open the door and growled at my best friend/colleague. She darted past me like I was invisible and scanned the surroundings as if searching for something. “Well top of the morning to you too.” I greeted sarcastically. 

“You’ve got yourself exactly 7 minutes before your older sister gets here to chew your head off whilst looking for her child because she’s just told that her little baby sister had taken over babysitting from your mother. Now go get change and maybe douse yourself in that Dior perfume I got you last Christmas, so you’ll smell less like death and more like the successful, opulent architect you are.”

“K-Kat is on her way here?” I choked, bounding for the stairs once again, grabbing the banister to hoist me up. Kat knows! My sister has a sixth sense unlike any other woman I’ve met. She could sniff out the sins you committed and tried to hide—in this case, taking her one and only child to a freaking bar and then get sent home by a stranger who got her panties soaked.

“Too many questions, chop chop! How about a little less talking and more moving? But to cut the story short, she asked me where we were and where did you take Max out to last night because when she tried your cell, you didn’t pick up. Now, where is Max?”

“s**t, I’m sure my phone’s dead. Max’s in the guest room I suppose, Judah put her there last night while I was throwing my…” a hand flew to my mouth, not sure if that was suppressing my secrets or my vomit. Her brows rose so high they look like they might take flight. “Judah?” she repeated, a slow smirk forming on her lips. “Oh ho ho, you are in so much trouble young lady, you sneaky little booger. Did you perhaps have a man in your life that I didn’t know about?”

“There’s nothing to tell!” I hissed, shooting my sweater Judah had put on me the night before into the laundry basket like a ball and took the quickest shower of my life. “Oh this sure is something alright! You never remember any of their names!”

“Jackie, zip your trap.” I said, grabbing my towel and bunned my hair up.

“5 minutes!” Jackie announced, “There you are Maxie, come on, Aunt Jackie shall tidy you up a little so that you’ll look like a normal human.” I heard Jackie say to my 3-year-old niece. “Jackie!”

“Sorry!”

After scrubbing hard on every stain of mistake from the night before, I threw on my bathrobe and washed my face, dabbing that s**t dry while slapping on some moisturizer, eye cream and sunscreen to let it soak.

“Two minutes!” Jackie announced. “Stop that! You sound like a ticking time bomb!”

“That’s the whole point! Where are the hair ties for the little one?”

“It’s in my dresser, first drawer to your left in a black box, second row for hair ties! Third for her little hair clips!” I called out, hastily slapping on some mascara and filling in my brows, cursing while I accidentally jabbed my eyeball while sticking contact lens in it. “f**k ow f**k what the f**k!” I squealed, holding my eye while I dabbed a bit of concealer under my eyes to hide the embarrassment from last night, wiping the tears that came from my injured eye.

“Language, damn it.” Jackie reprimanded.

“Speak for yourself.”

Just as I was pulling on some underwear, the doorbell rang. “Mommy!” Maxine cried. 

“Act normal.” She reminded. I nodded and took a deep breath. 

“I’m as normal as I can get.” I muttered under my breath, slipping past her as I made a beeline for the stairs. “Oh my darling Maxie, I’ve missed you.” Katherine, my older sister walked through the door after my niece had opened it for her. How did she get down so fast?

“Well, she doesn’t need to miss her kid if she was around more often.” Jackie whispered under her breath, earning herself a furtive glare from me. “Ronnie.” Katherine’s plump lips pressed in a thin line, opening her arms. “Hi sis.” I greeted half-heartedly, hugging her real quick and took a step back. “Glad I could catch you before work starts.” She chimes.

“Yours or mine?” I asked.

“Yours, of course.” She answered, “I figured you would leave early so I asked Jackie here to drop by to make sure you didn’t after I heard Max stayed the night at your place.” Her voice placated with just a hint of irritation at the tip of her tongue.

“I wanted to spend time with Aunt Ronnie.” Max pouted, looking guilty all of a sudden and I planted a gentle palm on Max’s head, ensuring her that it’s okay. Katherine glanced at her child, looking rather surprised.

“You make that sound like such a bad thing Kat.” I said, sounding unexpectedly rancorous, watching Max put out her arms wanting to be lifted off the ground by her mother but was duly ignored. I was nettled now.

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, I just think with your demanding job, you simply don’t have the time to babysit a growing child, instead you should have left her at moms. And not to mention, you’re always on your own, unwed and inexperienced with both men and kids. I simply don’t want to put that kind of pressure on you when your priority is at someplace else.” She said repressively and I scoffed, clearly offended.

Wow, Kat, do you honestly hear yourself? 

At the corner of my eye, Jackie looked like she was about to pounce on my sister but instead I sent her to the kitchen instead to make herself a cup of coffee.

“I believe experiences with men and children greatly differ under various circumstances. I’m sorry I’m not at where you want me to be at life. But if you’re concerned about me being single is going to affect the way I take care of Maxine, save it. Besides, aren’t you contradicting yourself since you’re hardly around as well for your child?” I said briskly, staying rooted at my spot.

Max once again tucked out her little arms, begging to be lifted only to be rejected once again. “Honey, please, not now okay. Mommy can’t crease this dress just yet, I have a breakfast appointment with the Director.” She said in a huff, clearly annoyed that I had been smart-mouthed with her in front of her child.

“Oh wow, the Director of?” I asked, a little irked that she chose to not crease a dress than to embrace a child that barely saw her mother.

“Never you mind little sis.” She said, as if my job and the people who I hang out with were least significant as compared to hers. She looked around her surroundings and her nose crinkled. Clearly my bachelorette pad screamed lonely rich woman with so much cash but no one to spend it on. 

But seeing that look, I knew she was about to ask a question to which I was already prepared to lie about. “Did you perhaps have a…big girl drink last night?”

Kat has made huge changes to her vocab ever since Max came around, hence ‘big girl drink’ in her mom dictionary meant alcohol. “Uhm yeah, just one.” I lied, stuffing my hands into the pockets of my bathrobe. “Really?” she smiled skeptically whilst looking at me disapprovingly as if I had just outrun a bunch of nuns…naked.

“Do you mind if I used your bathroom? I was holding it in on the way here.” She said, deciding that she would stop bombarding me with questions for now.

“Uh sure, you know the way.” I said, stepping aside for my sister as she walked past me, leaving Max behind. Max looked so upset her eyes were watery. “Maxie darling, that’s alright.” I coaxed gently. “Your mother has an important friend to meet, and she needs to look her best, come here.” I gestured to my niece and Max leaned her little forehead against my shoulder and I picked her small frame with ease.

“Veronica! Could you come upstairs for a sec?” 

“I’ll be right up.” I answered loudly and made my way upstairs. 

My worst nightmare was confirmed when Kat lifted the leather jacket Judah had left behind. I literally threw that in the laundry basket earlier when I had discovered it, intending to wash it clean later. Wait, did she go rummaging through my s**t just to prove that I was lying?

“This is a man’s jacket.” 

Yeah, no s**t was what I wanted to say but I knew better than to be rude to my sister.

“I didn’t know I needed my sister’s permission before I invited a man to my place.” I retorted. Ah, f**k it.

Katherine Kidman clearly did not appreciate my snarky retort. “Not when a child is here, no.” her eyes flared, looking disgusted. “There’s only one side of your boot at the entrance to your room and your clothes from last night smell like cigarette smoke. So, I’m going to ask you once more, did you or did you not go to a place where you were not supposed to bring a child along?”

“Okay fine, I went to a bar last night but hear me out, there was a back house that was free off— “I didn’t even finish my sentence before Kat lost her temper like a wrongly sparked firework. “Veronica Kidman! Do you not know how irresponsible that is? Maxine’s a minor! A toddler! Do you know you’re not supposed to bring a child to one of those places where low-lives and good for nothing-s waste their night!”

“If you would only let me explain, this wouldn’t sound as bad as you think it was!” I raised my voice and Max began to cry. “I can’t believe you! You’re such an irresponsible adult who does not understand a single thing about parenting just because you’ve got zero commitments living that carefree life doing whatever you please. How do you live with yourself, seriously?”

“Oh you are such a hypocrite Katherine!” I snarled, finally snapping. “You come barging into my place unannounced and now you want to preach to me about responsibility and parenting when you only held Max three times this month! I know I’m not the expert when it comes to parenting but at least I try because that’s how much I care about being present for a kid that’s not even mine! You don’t get to play the role of the big sister as well since you’re never around for me too!” 

“What do you mean I’m never around for you? Ha! You have no idea just how much you and mom depended on me, taking away my freedom along with it because I always had to worry about mom spiraling back into depression because of the divorce and you bumming around, slacking off during college! I sacrificed so much for the both of you! You have no idea!”

“No one asked you, Katherine! You could have gone out there and lived your life, but you stayed. So now you’re bitter and you’re taking it out on me? How’s that even fair?”

“Fair? You want to talk about being fair? “Katherine looked like she was about to explode, and Jackie bounded into my room, picking a sobbing Max out of my arms. “Katherine, I know this isn’t my place to say but I think you need to leave. You have a meet up to be at, Ronnie and I need to get to work. Do you perhaps need us to drop Max at your mother’s?” she asked calmly although her voice shook distinctly, as if almost pissed.

“There’s no need.” She snapped. “I’ll take Max along with me today. Thank you.” Katherine sent me one last glare before peeling Max out of Jackie’s arms. “I’m sorry baby, let’s go.”

The door slammed and I let out a cry of frustration. “How dare she!” I clenched both my fists, wanting to smash something but everything in my room was so delicate it was almost painful to break any. I glared hard at the picture of Kat and I when we were much younger. The picture was taken at a burger joint many years ago when our parents took us out for a little trip.

Dad left mom shortly after when she caught him cheating on her with his PA and things didn’t go too well for the Kidman’s after.

“She was right, I’m a terrible sister.” I covered my face in my palms, hot tears spilled through the slits of my fingers and I stood in the center of my room. “Ronnie.” Jackie patted my back soothingly. “Things that are said out of anger and clouded judgment don’t mean a thing. As much as I don’t like Kat for how she’s been behaving for the last 3 years, you have to admit that Kat was always there for you when you needed her.”

“Jackie, I don’t want to hear any of this please, at least not now. Please, just let me vent it out a little before we get to breakfast.”

“I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready.”

**

I didn’t feel any better even after crying at the argument with my older sister. I was angry and I resented the hypocrisy she had placed on me. What was she on? Really? 

I didn’t ask her to hang around, she could have gone and lived her life. And that’s exactly what’s she doing now, isn’t she?

I’ll admit last night wasn’t the best aunt-niece night out I had in mind but at least Max was home safe right? Wrong. Max was only safe because she was in the care of another stranger while I drank my guts out.

Kat was right. I was the worst option she had to leave her child with that’s why Max was always left in the care of my mother and not me.

“Veronica! This is entirely unacceptable, renegotiate with those sub-contractors and tell them I want the interconnecting bridge built this way and not what they think is best! The Wellingtons hired us to because of our expertise and the fact we don’t give in to unnecessary alterations by those incompetent t***s!” 

“Sir, with all due respect, those people who you’re calling incompetent t***s are the building council association where safety is number one on their priority list; with the height of this particular architecture, the width and breadth of the bridge you want will simply not hold.” I said composedly although my hands were itching to smack my boss square in the face. 

“You will do as I say and that’s final. Do as I say, and this project will be yours to handle and not to Pitkowski, that t**t that you hate so much.”

I sucked in a deep breath and bit on my tongue before I told my boss his head resembled a monkey’s ball sack. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“As always.” 

As soon I was out of the door, I made a noncommittal grunt of displeasure while cursing every word I could possibly think of. Jabbing my finger against the elevator button, I sighed and recalled the events of today. 

Strangely, there was only one person I can think of could possibly take my mind out of it. The one person I didn’t want to offer any sort of kind words whatsoever. Was I sadistic? A little. But it was something I needed. 

Reverse psychology works.

I took a deep breath and pushed open the family door to Barney’s and the face I had wanted to see all day stood across me, unsmiling. 

“What’s got your panties in a twist once again?”

“You’re rather concerned with the shape of my panties, aren’t you Judah?” I said wryly, dropping my Bottega on the other stool. “Doesn’t take a genius to notice that sour grape you call your face.”

“Strangely, your uncalled insults have made me feel a tonne better.”

“I don’t want to take credit for something so menial.”

“I didn’t ask you to, you arrogant twit.” I pressed my lips into a thin line while he slid a glass of water towards me. “Starter.” He said. I thanked him and took a big gulp of water. 

“I just want to thank you for bringing me home last night.” I said, “Although you didn’t have to, you could’ve just called a cab for me.”

“I was worried about the kid, you? Not so much.” He said as he polished the clean glasses, but I swear I could spot just the corner of his lips lifting the disappeared almost too quickly.

“Don’t you worry about that, I assure you I can handle myself pretty well, thank you.” I said proudly.

“Ah that, I’m sure. And you’d do a good job handling you.” He said with a knowing smirk. I, on the other hand, narrowed my eyes at him. If I guessed right…

“Ohh you sick, sick bastard.” I shook my head disapprovingly. 

“Hey, if your mind got there so fast, I can’t tell which one of us has it dirtier up here.” He pointed to his own temple, turning towards the shelf of alcohol behind him. “And for tonight’s special—the soaking kitty.”