Page 20 of Blizzards and Brews
Dustin
The snow was already falling as I trudged back into the bar, stomping the snow from my boots before hanging my coat on the back hook.
“Snow still coming down?” Ollie asked as he came in to grab a new container of pretzels for the bar.
“Yup, they’re saying it’s going to get worse. We better take it easy going home tonight,” I admitted.
“Maybe we should close up early. Go talk to Adam,” Ollie said, frowning. “I don’t like the idea of Lindsay being in that little house by herself.”
“I had the same thought,” I admitted. “Where is he?”
“He’s fixing the back booth, the table was wobbling again.”
Nodding, I headed to the bar and wound through the tables to find him lying under one, his tool box next to his hip.
“Hey, it’s getting worse out there, we should close up early tonight so Lindsay isn’t navigating back roads,” I said, not bothering to start with pleasantries. She’d ended up fallingasleep at ours last night, but I knew she probably wanted time to process on her own tonight.
“I’ve already got flyers on the printer that say as much,” he said as he grunted as he forced the bolts to turn. These tables had been refurbished and were a pain in the ass. They also had character, so we didn’t want to part with them.
“She should stay with us,” I added. He laughed but didn’t argue. We’d have to spend the entire shift convincing her.
“We’ve got that meeting with Spencer. Good luck convincing her to stay two nights in a row,” he teased.
Grumbling, I ran to the printer so I could snag the signs and put a few up in the front and on the bar. A few minutes later Lindsay came out of the back, heading straight for me and looking at the flier I was hanging up.
“What’s all this?” Lindsay’s voice was off and she had a tight smile on her face.
Everyone was a bit tense today after our chat last night. We all were waiting to see how she’d take it the next day and she was definitely in her own head.
“The weather reports are saying it might get bad. We’re putting up signs to close early in case it does,” I said.
“We don’t get snow like this often,” she said. “I’m kind of excited for a bit of snow.”
“A bit might be an understatement,” Ollie laughed as he came out. “Leander is already out for today, his car is too old to handle snow this heavy. He’d be stranded. I’ll manage appetizers but we’ll have to send people to the diner for other food.”
The front door slammed open as a gust of wind tore it from Spencer’s hand. His muscles flexed as he forced it closed. It blew open again and I rushed to his side, flipping the lock to keep it from blowing open and breaking. The last thing we needed was to have to fix it in a snowstorm.
“It’s wild out there,” Spencer huffed. “I’m not exactly light and I almost got blown off my feet. Thanks for the assist, man.”
He chuckled and made his way to the bar, dropping his coat on a stool before leaning in to brush a lingering kiss on Lindsay’s cheek and giving Ollie’s arm a squeeze as he passed.
“I have good news, though,” he grinned. “Where’s Adam?”
“Over here,” Adam grunted. “Someone give me a hand.”
To my shock it was Spencer that moved first, crouching down and waiting for instruction. We didn’t say a word as we watched Spencer hold the table steady as Adam fought the stubborn hardware. Together, they had it done in minutes.
“That was unexpected,” Ollie huffed out a laugh. Lindsay and I nodded in agreement.
“I'm going to clean up and I’ll be ready,” Adam said once they’d finished. “I wouldn’t say no to a cup of coffee. That floor is fucking cold.” He shuddered as he disappeared into the storage room.
“Anyone else want some?” Lindsay asked.
“I do,” Spencer and I both said.
“I’ll help,” Ollie offered, grabbing out cream and sugar and putting it on the bar where Spencer was sitting.
Adam was back by the time the coffee was done brewing and we all took a seat.