Hooked on You: An Annapolis Harbor Series Prequel, Lea Coll [love letters to the dead .txt] 📗

my GED, paid my bills on time, and showed up to work. I was reliable and responsible. I was unsure if I was capable of more but how would I ever know if I didn’t try? If I continued to let other people’s expectations of me keep me down? No more. I opened the door to find Isaac stocking liquor behind the bar.

“Hey. What are you doing here so early?”

Taking a deep breath, I said, “I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

He stopped then, putting the box on the counter, and faced me fully as I sat on the bar stool. “Is Zach okay?”

“His mom pressured him to quit school again last night. She found out that he’s trying to get a job at Omar’s and wants his paychecks.”

“What a piece of work.”

“Exactly, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about.” I drew in a shaky breath. If he said no, I didn’t know what I’d do. I hated putting myself out there to be judged.

“No?”

I know he was surprised because other than Zach I didn’t come to him for much. “I’d like to see about taking on more responsibility around here.”

“Really?” He studied me carefully and it was hard not to fidget under his perusal.

“Yeah, it’s past time I stepped up.” I thought so, but would Isaac agree? He’d never pushed me to do more.

“Are you sure you’re ready for it?”

His question could mean several things. That he didn’t believe in me. That he didn’t think I could handle it. But I took his question as a challenge. “I’m ready for more responsibility. I work my hours and then some. I come in early. I stay late. I’m responsible. I’m hardworking.”

He studied my face and then smiled. “I’ve been waiting a long time to hear you say that.”

“If you can’t appreciate that, then—wait, what did you say?” I was so sure he was going to say no that I hadn’t even processed what he’d said.

He chuckled. “I’ve been waiting a long time for you to realize that you’re worth more than the life of a bartender.”

That was it. I hadn’t thought I deserved more. I felt lucky that I had this job. “Why haven’t you said anything before now?”

“You needed to realize it for yourself.” He got to work breaking down one of the empty boxes. “You’ve been doing the work of a manager.”

Not really. I always deferred decision-making things to him as the owner. “Not the billing, ordering, and stocking. I don’t make any decisions.”

“No, but I trust you to do it. You make suggestions all of the time, but you don’t follow through.”

Was he being difficult on purpose? “I make the suggestions to the owner who makes the decisions.”

“I was hoping you’d take it upon yourself to do more.”

My stomach sank. Had this been some test that I didn’t know I was taking? I was supposed to naturally take on more responsibility? “I didn’t think you trusted me. Did you forget?” I cringed as soon as the words were out of my mouth. Why was I reminding him?

“Forget what?” he asked, opening another box.

“I have a theft conviction on my record. I spent time in jail.” I hated saying it out loud but I couldn’t believe he’d forgotten.

He gave me a pointed look. “The only person who cares about that is you.”

I was afraid to trust what he was saying. I couldn’t fill out an application without marking the box “yes” next to convictions.

Isaac stood, leaning back against the counter. “It’s about time. I wanted to work less, travel more, and I can’t do that if I’m tied to this bar.”

“So, you want me to be a manager?” In all the time I’d wanted to ask for a promotion at my job, I never imagined Isaac would say yes so quickly. That he’d been waiting for me to ask for one.

“Yes, but I want more than that. I want you to take over the bar so I can sit on a beach somewhere drinking out of glasses with umbrellas.”

A thrill shot through me at his words. He trusted me to run this place on my own? “You’re not serious.” I couldn’t believe it because when it came down to it, I didn’t trust myself.

“I’m dead serious. I’ve been waiting for you to grow some balls for years now. I almost had to hire someone else.”

“Watch it,” I growled.

He slapped me on my shoulder ignoring my warning. “I’m proud of you. I’m proud of how you handle Zach too. I wish you could see that you deserve all of the things you want for him.”

I was almost afraid to believe him. My natural inclination was to argue, to deny it, but then I remembered that Taylor had been saying similar things. “I do now.”

“And why is that?” His lips tilted up in a smile.

A weird feeling washed over me. “Taylor.”

“I like her for you.”

“She’s different.” I hoped. In the back of my mind, I still worried that she’d go back to her real life and leave me behind.

“I hope so because if she got your hard head to believe in yourself then you need to keep her around.”

I was dead set against moving forward in my life, I’d placed useless limits on myself. I held myself back because of people who’d said things to me when I was a teen. “Why didn’t you just talk to me years ago?”

“You don’t talk about it. You don’t talk about anything but Zach. When you started hanging out with him I thought you’d realize that you’re no different than him. You deserve an education, a better job, a better apartment. I know that shit hole you live in. You can afford to leave.”

“I can’t now that Zach’s there.”

“And that’s a good reason but you still need to do something for yourself. It’s like you’ve been stuck in high school, in jail. Like you were nothing and that’s all you could be. Don’t let other people define your life