31. Oliver

I knew we needed the help because holy fuck, those Bloody Marys were popular and I had no doubt when Lucy had her infusion just right, it would be just as popular. We had a lot of people who came in to apply for the job posting, but not all of them were right for the job.

Some of them came because they were under the impression that working in a tavern was going to be easier than what they were currently doing. It wasn't working under the sun and getting filthy, but it was still strenuous work. We had several drinks and food. You had to keep track of who wanted what and then you had to carry it out without spilling it on yourself or customers.

And it wasn't just all of that. We needed a certain kind of disposition. The tavern and the brothel were completely different businesses, but we had a few things in common. I had to pretend to like and flirt with people I couldn't stand. My friends talked about me and my secrets, but that was just part of being a bartender.

I was an uninterested party to get advice from, someone who helped mend relationships, I flirted if I thought someone was feeling down and needed a pick me up, and I pretended not to be uncomfortable when people took flirting with me a little too far.

That was just part of working in the tavern. Ronan wasn't just our friend. He was good at all of that, so we happily let him work when he needed money. What we needed was the full package, and I didn't get anyone for front of house who had that.

I had plenty of people who knew their way around a kitchen, but they weren't right, either. We were offering generous wages, but they wanted free drinks. Which I might have negotiated when they weren't working, but they wanted all the free alcohol while they were running the kitchen.

Which was a no for me even without talking to Lucy or Caitrin. That was one of Caitrin's hard rules when she started training Lucy and me to eventually run the tavern. We could either be drinking or working, but we couldn't do both. If she caught us drinking when we were supposed to be working, she would kick us out of the tavern without pay until we were sober and agreed to the rules. Lucy and I never broke that one because we agreed with it.

Lance had always taken the business seriously, and I finally found out it was because Lance was Lucy and never wanted to meet her father. I took it seriously because the tavern used to be my parents'. It was my legacy.

I didn't have a single person come in that I'd actually trust with our baby. Lucy came back in and told me she made a job offer to someone she hadn't even met. Honestly, it sounded like a good fit. Basselt would be motivated to make this work and maybe he could teach us some Theran recipes and we could just pretend they weren't when we served them.

"We didn't have a single man or woman come in that would make a good tavern wench."

"I hate that term," Lucy said.

"That's why I reclaimed it. A man can be a tavern wench, too, if he plays it right."

"Isn't the male version a swain?"

"Not if they want to work in this tavern. We're all wenches, even me."

" I'm not a wench, Ollie."

"When you're slinging drinks instead of working in the basement, you sometimes channel your inner wench. Own it."

"Don't make me hit you."

"Only a wench would say that."

Before Lucy could assault me and I knew she was about to, an absolutely stunning girl breezed into the tavern. She was squeezed into a corset and walked straight up to us. She struck a sassy, little pose and glared at us. If Autar was here, he already would have asked her to marry him and from the looks of her, gotten a swift kick to the nuts. She had tavern wench potential, but I needed to know more.

"So, you know my sister, Lethia."

Yes, we did. As soon as she could, she happily walked into the brothel and demanded a job. Lethia was one of the girls who did it because she chose to and she always had entertaining stories about her work. That meant this was her younger sister, Sabina, who I hadn't realized was all grown up now.

"Is Lethia in trouble?" Lucy asked.

"Fuck no. She's legendary. She's my reference. I'm here for a job. I know how things work. She taught me how to get anything I wanted with a little smile and flirt. I don't like fucking guys, so I won't fuck you for this job. I much prefer women. But you'd be stupid not to hire me. Lethia taught me everything she knows about managing drunk men just in case."

Ah, fuck. Sabina might actually be perfect for this if she could keep orders straight, not spill anything, and could stay sober. I liked poking Lucy because I secretly liked it when she hit me. We were different in a ton of ways, but we were always on the same page when it came to the tavern. We didn't need to go have some secret meeting in the basement over this.

"We don't want you to fuck us for the job. We're actually fucking each other," Lucy said.

That was the first time she'd said to anyone we were together like that. I wasn't sure if she wanted anyone to know, but I got it. Sabina was used to Lethia's stories where men just wanted sex. Everyone thought Lucy was Lance. Lucy was letting her know we didn't just want sex from her.

"Thoroughly," I said. "How are you at keeping orders straight and carrying drinks out?"

"I've never done it before, but I think I'd be good at it. I was at the top of my class in school. I know it doesn't say much since it was Guttertown school, but I was."

"Sabina, I know Lethia told you what drunk men are like, but have you actually been around them? They will grope you and you can definitely put them in their place. I'd never tell you that you can't, but it has to be done a certain way," Lucy said.

Yeah, because some arseholes got violent if they didn't like how women asked them not to grab them without their permission.

"Oh, I know. I've been dealing with that since I was fourteen. It was why Lethia helped me."

I was guessing some of the men who groped Sabina got their throats slit in the middle of the night by a one-eyed assassin, but no one in this room could know that.

"I think it's a good fit. We can start training you tonight. We're going to be hiring someone for the kitchen, but I don't know if the person I've picked has accepted the job yet," Lucy said.

"We've got food and bread every night. It's generally stew. There are three drinks available and we're working on four. People can buy ale, whiskey, or our new Bloody Mary. It's not really complicated, but when you've got a tavern full of drunk people and a large table yelling their orders, it can be difficult to keep up with because it gets loud in here."

"I can do it. And I'll keep doing it, but I hope one day, you'll let me sing in the tavern. It's what I've always wanted to do and I'm good at it. There's just no place to perform in Guttertown."

I looked over at Lucy and she gave me a brief nod. The Whispering Raven was expanding. We were bringing new drinks to Guttertown, but all of us wanted Guttertown to be more than it was. In the Trulos District, you could pay money just to watch someone perform and performing was their job. We didn't have that in Guttertown and we should. We had plenty of talented people.

"Sing for us now," I said.

"Without my girlfriends? One plays the lute and the other bangs on a pan because we don't have real drums. But we're good, I promise."

I looked at Lucy again. Lucy and Catrin handled the bookkeeping. I knew we were doing well, but if we hired Sabina and her girlfriends to play the tavern, we'd still need to pay someone to take orders and run them out. We still needed to get Caitrin healed. Lucy had a plan for that, but it was anyone's guess if Basselt would come live in Guttertown. There was also the issue of Lucy squirreling enough money away to never need to go to her father.

"Bring them and play tonight. If you're a hit, you can continue to sing at the tavern. If not, you can work here slinging drinks. Happy people drink more and Guttertown needs some joy. You'd honestly be perfect for slinging drinks, too, so if you know someone who would be a good fit, send them our way."

"I actually do. She's one of my school friends and her mom forced her into an apprenticeship at the dressmaker. She hates it, but her mom was just thinking about her future. I think her mom would accept it if she had another job lined up that wasn't the brothel. Mira's mom absolutely didn't want her working there."

"Send her and we'll interview her," I said. "We'll see you tonight."

After she left, I turned to Lucy.

"Can we afford all that and still keep you away from your father?"

"I'm pretty sure we can, but Sabina is gorgeous. She's sassy and I can just tell she knows how to work a crowd. If she's a talented singer, too, that'll bring more business. We get overflow from the brothel when men outside of Guttertown visit. Some of them have never set foot in here because they think we're serving swill. If we can get them through the doors because they hear Sabina and her girlfriends performing, they'll eventually realize we're not. We may get repeat customers and some private orders like Leodos and his whiskey."

"Those men are insufferable," I moaned.

"Their money isn't. We can lie and charged them more like the Madame does unless we like them like Leodos."

I grabbed Lucy and kissed her.

"That's why you're the brains of the tavern."