Baby Love Lite (25 page)

“
Really?” I said. I found
myself excited now over the prospect that this was really going to
happen. I'd have something of my own.

“
So,” Gina continued, “We
need to get the funds together. Jesse says a cashier’s check will
do. I'll call you in the morning once he gets the partnership LLC
papers together.”

“
Sure, Gina, I’ll talk to
you then.”

“
What was that about?” Trey
asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Holy shit. . .

“
Oh, that was
Gina.”

“
I know it was Gina; that
much was evident. What’s going on?”

“
She's going to buy out
Ian’s share of the club. She has a partner."

“
She found a partner that
quickly?”

“
Yeah. It’s me.”

I soon learned that Trey could give as well
as he got when it came to the silent treatment. He hadn’t said a
word to me once he'd stopped yelling. He was furious when I told
him that I'd used my savings account money to buy out Ian’s share
of the club. He said that I had no business doing that without
discussing it with him first. I told him that I didn’t see it that
way.

He left for work the following morning
without so much as kissing me good-bye. Gina came by at 10:00 a.m.
to pick Preston and I up. We headed to the bank to get the
cashier’s check. We drove down to Trey’s office building thankful
that Jesse was on a different floor. He had received the signed
bill of sale from Ian’s attorney; he'd prepared the LLC partnership
agreement between Gina and me. It was fairly simple. The difficult
part was yet to come. I'd no clue as to how to run a business; or
in this case, help run a business.

Gina admitted that Ian had taken care of
booking the talent, advertising, payroll, hiring and firing. She
said she'd trained the bartenders and scheduled their shifts,
filling in when one of them called off. They had an outside
accountant who kept the books. An audit and full accounting had
been conducted prior to the drafting of the separation agreement
that would become Gina and Ian’s final divorce decree in about
thirty days.

Our LLC took possession of the club
immediately upon execution of transfer of title. Gina was ecstatic;
I was scared shitless. It didn’t help that Trey wasn't speaking to
me. I needed his support now more than ever.

Gina said our first order of business was to
fire the “skank” which she'd no reluctance in doing. She announced
that I'd be the upstairs bartender after terminating the skank. Of
course, I knew nothing about the science of mixology. My experience
entailed getting a beer from the fridge for Trey or pouring myself
a glass of wine. I hadn’t even operated a computerized cash
register. Gina didn’t see that as an obstacle.

She presented me with my work uniform, which
consisted of a short black skirt, tight white blouse with the first
three buttons unbuttoned, and a silky black vest. I was instructed
to wear dark hose and a minimum of 3” black heels.

She gave me a bartender’s guide for mixed
drinks and scheduled training time for me over the next two days at
the club for four hours a shot.

Jean had been released from rehab. She'd
called me her first day home letting me know that she was ready to
start back to work. The timing was perfect. She assured me that she
had no physical restrictions and felt as good as she had before the
accident. When I asked if she might possibly be interested in
babysitting while I started back to work she was thrilled at the
idea. She assured me that she was more than up to caring for “her
little angel.” That warmed my heart immediately. She watched her
the two afternoons while I underwent Gina’s training.

Tristan was coming to Atlanta to spend a long
weekend with Libby. I didn’t know exactly what Trey had planned as
far as entertaining or hanging out with them since this would by my
inaugural weekend as half-owner of the Sanctuary. Jean was going to
be at the apartment on Friday by 5:00 p.m. to stay with Preston
until Trey got home. I'd conveyed that to Trey verbally receiving
little more than a nod and a grunt in return.

Thursday night, I bathed Preston and got her
dressed in her pajamas. I sat with her in the rocking chair in her
bedroom and read from her favorite book, “Goodnight Moon.” She'd
try to turn the pages before I was finished reading. She soon
became distracted from the book and squirmed against me rooting for
my breast. She hadn’t done that for a while.

“
What’s the matter, baby?” I
asked softly, lifting my shirt and unfastening my nursing bra. She
immediately leaned over and latched on to my nipple. I watched as
she curled up against me sucking gently.

Trey had been working in his study and passed
by the nursery where we were. He poked his head in and asked if she
was ready to go to bed. “As soon as I finish nursing her,” I said.
“Why?”

“
I just wanted to kiss her
goodnight,” he replied.

“
Don’t let me stop you,
Trey.”

He came over to where she was safely
ensconced in my arms and leaned over; brushing her hair gently with
his hand he kissed the top of her head several times.

“
Good-night Preston, Daddy
loves you more than anything,” he said softly. He turned and left
the room without acknowledging my presence for all intents and
purposes. I'd never felt so disconnected and distant from him. A
single teardrop spilled from my eye, running down my cheek and
dropping onto Preston.

I continued to rock her, gently stroking her
hair and singing softly to her until she fell asleep in my arms. I
lowered her gently into her crib, tucking her in. I shrugged off my
shirt and jeans and crawled into the bed in the nursery finding
comfort in being close to the one person in this apartment that I
knew loved me unconditionally.

I awoke the next morning hearing Preston
chatting baby talk in her crib. She was sitting up and had arranged
her stuffed toys around her in a circle. She was pulling at her
diaper under her PJs.

Shit! What time is it?

I glanced at the clock on the dresser, seeing
that it was 8:27 a.m. I couldn’t believe that Preston had slept
this late. They had apparently left for work without saying
good-bye. My heart was heavy once again.

“
Does Preston need a fresh
diaper?” I asked. She immediately glanced over in the direction of
the bed not realizing that I'd been in her room all night. She
broke into a wide grin, crawling over to the crib rail, trying to
pull herself up.

After I fed her breakfast, I dressed her for
the day. Gina was over at the apartment promptly at 10:00 to quiz
me on my knowledge of mixing drinks. She'd turned it into a science
as far as her club was concerned.

She'd managed to go into the database on her
computer at the club and capture the most popular mixed drinks sold
aside from the usual ones such as rum and coke, gin and tonic,
vodka and orange juice - the very “generic” drinks as Gina liked to
refer to them. The drinks I'd been studying were the most popular
at the Sanctuary over the past year that required memorizing the
recipe.

“
Okay, girlfriend,” she said
very seriously. “Are you ready?”

I nodded my head nervously. I really wanted
to succeed at this. I knew that there was both an art and a science
to mixing drinks and tending bar in general. Gina had a stopwatch.
We'd arranged various containers of colored water to represent the
various liquors and liqueurs, along with an ice bucket, tongs, and
various sizes of glasses. I'd use an unattached hose nozzle when I
had to add the various sides such as soda, tonic, Coke and
Sprite.

“
Okay, now remember, when I
call out the drink you repeat out loud the ingredients as you're
making it so that I know you understand the
ingredients.”

“
Yes, Gina,” I replied
warily. She'd been a relentless taskmaster over the past couple of
days.

"Gimme a Grateful Dead,” she ordered,
clicking on her stopwatch.

I put myself in action with the array of
bottles that had various levels of food-colored water in them.

“
A Grateful Dead,” I
repeated, picking up a Collins glass and shoving ice into it. “One
part tequila, one part vodka, one part light rum, one part gin, one
part Chambord and raspberry liqueur.”

“
Very good,” Gina beamed
stopping the watch, allowing me time to empty the contents of the
drink into the sink and prepare for the next concoction. “I’m ready
for Sex on the Beach,” she purred.

“
Sex on the Beach; two parts
vodka, one-half part peach schnapps, top it off with equal amounts
of cranberry and orange juice.”

“
Great,” Gina said, smiling.
“Now gimme a Kiss on the Lips," she ordered.

“
Huh?” I asked,
puzzled.

“
Oh, for Chrissake, Tylar -
it’s a damn drink.”

I had to pause for a moment, trying to recall
that particular drink from the book she'd ordered me to memorize
two days ago.

“
Hint,” she hollered, “it
has frozen mango mix in it.”

“
Oh, yes, Kiss on the Lips,
one-and-a-half parts peach schnapps, one part frozen mango mix and
one tablespoon grenadine.”

“
Excellent,” Gina
cheered.

I beamed happily at her praise. I'd managed
to remember that particular drink from her hint. It sounded a
helluva lot better than that Grateful Dead. “Make me an Adios
Mother Fucker," she ordered.

“
Adios Mother Fucker,” I
repeated, “One part gin, one part light rum, one part tequila, one
part vodka, one part blue Curacao liqueur and one ounce of
Sprite.”

“
Ty,” she said grinning,
“I'm so fucking impressed with how well you absorbed the recipes
for those drinks in such a small window of time. I think you may
just be a natural at this!”

We went over a few other popular drinks like
Cosmopolitans, the various Martini families like apple-tini,
skini-tini, and fuckin-tini. It was the best I'd felt in a couple
of days. The distance between Trey and I'd left me feeling empty
and lonely. I hadn’t shared the extent of it with Gina. I didn’t
want to bum her out because she was clearly happier than I'd seen
her since all this shit had gone down with Ian.

“
Okay, girlfriend,” she
continued as if mentally confirming her checklist, “you have your
uniform, your name tag; you know to be at the club by 5:30 p.m.,
right?”

I nodded.

“
Because I need to show you
how to work the computerized register at the upstairs
bar.”

“
I know, Gina.”

“
Well, I just want to make
sure that all bases are covered. It's our first night as partners,
you know?”

“
I know, Gina,” I
reiterated.

“
How are you going to wear
your hair?” she asked me.

“
I hadn’t really thought
about it. Is there any certain requirement for hair?”

“
I'd prefer you wear it
either up in a ponytail or tied back or even in a French braid.
We're going for a classy look here.”

“
I can handle it, Gina.
Please calm down. It’s all good,” I reassured her.

“
I hope so, Ty,” she said,
looking unusually vulnerable.

I got it. This was Gina’s big opportunity to
shine and to do it all by herself. She needed to know that she
could do it without Ian. I'd be with her every step of the way. She
gave me a hug and told me she'd see me at 5:30 p.m. She kissed
Preston good-bye who had been playing in her playpen the whole time
like the good baby that she was. “It just dawned on me,” Gina said.
“Who will watch Preston for you?”

“
Not to worry,” I replied,
“Jean will be here by 5:00 p.m.”

“
I’m so glad,” she breathed
a sigh of relief. “I know Trey isn't on board with this, and well,
I just hoped you had a Plan B which it sounds as if you
do.”

She hugged me and was gone in a flurry. I
knew she was nervous. I knew she was anxious. This was going to be
Gina’s solo flight tonight and I was going to be there to spin the
props.

I got myself ready as Preston napped. I put
my make-up on very carefully so that my eyes stood out. Having
light brown or amber eyes made it difficult to find a good color
pallet with black. I opted to put my hair back in a French braid.
The short, tight skirt fit fine. I supposed the idea of the outfit
was to give a professional but form-fitting look. I put my dark
thigh high stockings on along with my heels.

As I passed Preston’s room I heard her
jabbering baby talk in her crib. She must've awakened as I was
getting ready. A pang of guilt hit me for having to leave her
tonight and in the nights to come. Had I really thought this out
thoroughly or was my decision based on Trey’s dismissive attitude
towards my idea of investing?

She was all smiles as I went into her room.
She held her arms up for me to pick her up. I changed her diaper
and then carried her out to the living room to wait for Jean to
arrive. Preston had remembered Jean from all of those months ago.
She'd taken to her immediately over the past few days. She didn’t
fuss a bit when Jean took her from my arms.

I gave Jean the information as to where I'd
be and how I could be reached. I explained that once Preston was
down for the night, she could go since Trey would be here. Jean had
gotten a funny look on her face. I considered that she might have a
clue that Trey wasn't pleased about my going back to work.