Helping Diana.

I really can’t stress enough how useful it is to be able to directly feel the girls’ emotions and general thoughts. Outright mind readings felt like taking it too far, so I avoided it, but the ability to immediately know when one of them was feeling down was worth more than our house’s weight in gold.

Thankfully, while Diana seemed troubled, she wasn’t outright depressed or angry. The cocktail helped cheer her up a bit, and that in itself was worth all the practice over these last few months. It was the only type of magical concoction I could consistently make at the moment, but I was now sure it was a good one to have in my pocket.

I stayed with Diana until she finished her drink, then we parted when she went back to her room to get changed. I went back to the kitchen to finish making a very simple pasta with bolognese sauce. Making a lot of pasta, I would later turn what was left into a pasta salad for our lunch tomorrow.

When we were all gathered at the table with full plates in front of us, I asked Diana how her day went again, and now she was finally ready to tell us.

“I’m… having trouble deciding what to do. Rather, I know what I have to do. I just don’t know how to best approach it.” She sighed heavily and shook her head. “The day shift is not working to provide the kind of atmosphere that Luke wants for the place. It’s not that big of a deal since there aren’t many customers during the day, but a part of me worries that’s part of the reason there aren’t.”

Alice nodded. “I can see it, but not many people would go for a drink in the middle of the day, right? Especially not on a weekday.”

“Yes. It’s my job to tell the guys in the day shift to not treat the bar as a regular pub, but…” Diana grimaced.

“You’re worried they’ll see you as the asshole boss who came out of nowhere to kill the vibe?” Sarah asked.

Diana chuckled softly. “Pretty much. Forcing them to change their attitude would be easy, but I like this job. I don’t want to dread having to go there and deal with people who hate me. Besides, telling them to do their job properly is difficult when there’s very little work to be done. I’m starting to worry Luke might get rid of the day shift and I’ll permanently go back to the night shift. That’d mean I’d keep missing you again.”

Mila grumbled. “We can’t have that.”

“It’s only been two days, so it’s hard to tell, but I know I have to do something.” Diana turned to me with a small smile. “I’m taking ideas.”

I pursed my lips and set my fork down for a moment. “For the matter of customers… How about having the restaurant advertise the non-alcoholic cocktails more? It might sound obvious to us, but maybe they haven’t even thought about it.”

“You’re right… We rarely even get orders for those at night, but we kind of expect that then.”

“Natural fruit juices are really popular,” Mila said. “You know how lots of people love mint and ginger lemonade? What if you did something like that for other fruit juice?”

“If anything else, it would keep the other bartenders busier,” Grace said.

“It’s worth trying,” Diana said.

“Now, as for the other guys…” I continued. “You know… I don’t think it’s a bad idea to use Luke himself as an excuse to get them in line.”

“Use him as an excuse?” Noelle asked, tilting her head.

I nodded. “As in telling them that the boss won’t like it if he happens to find them doing things a certain way.” I crossed my arms and grumbled. “Or… maybe approach it in the opposite way. Remember how we got a raise since the bar was doing so well?”

Diana smiled. “So try to motivate them by telling them there might be another raise if we can get the day shift’s profits to increase?”

“Wouldn’t that be lying to them, though?” Noelle asked.

“No, Luke would do it,” I said. “So long as the increase in profits was considerable, at least. If that doesn’t work, then… I don’t think it’s wrong to put your foot down, even if they don’t like it.”

“I agree,” Alice said. “Like the saying goes. Give them an inch, they’ll take a mile, right?”

Diana nodded slowly.

I don’t think I really needed our connection to understand why she felt so conflicted and troubled. Telling them to get in line would be easy for her. She had the authority and the character to do it. She just didn’t want that to be her default option because that was what led others to find her unapproachable.

Contrary to the image she gave off, Diana didn’t want to push people away.

“Honestly, if I were in your shoes I’d just tell them to start doing their work properly or risk getting kicked out,” Grace said, sighing. “But of course, that would get you to where you don’t want to be, so don’t listen to me.”

Diana smiled. “I think I have a better idea of what to do. Thank you, everyone.”

As we finished eating, Noelle and Sarah were quick to take on dish washing duty. Not that they were particularly eager to do the task, but they did it to keep Diana from beating them to it.

I helped them get the plates from the table to the sink, then went back to the bar, remembering that I hadn’t washed the glass we’d used before. I caught Diana already putting it back in its place.

“You sure you don’t want another one?” I teased.

“Don’t tempt me. There’s a fine line between loving alcohol and becoming an alcoholic,” she said. We chuckled.

“So you’re feeling better?” I asked her.

“Yes. I’m not looking forward to it, but I can’t run from it and I think I’ll manage. If not, well… I’ll just be the bitchy boss who ruined their vibes. That’s nothing new to me.”

“I’m not gonna tell you not to overthink it because I have no room to talk. I’m the least qualified person to be giving that sort of advice. Just… remember that you’re not in that position out of luck or anything. You’re there because Luke knows how good you are. I know it, too, and so everyone else at the hotel. Keep an open mind, but have confidence in your vision.”

Diana smiled and let out a soft sigh. She walked around the counter and over to me. She grabbed both my hands and kissed them. “You really are the best thing to have ever happened to me, you know? You and these girls. I… convinced myself I was fine with who I was before, but I was just lying to myself. I don’t need to be a ball of sunshine like Mila and Noelle, but… I doubt I would’ve started thinking about changing if not for you.”

“Don’t give me so much credit,” I told her. “Growing always starts from oneself, after all.”

She chuckled. “I’m supposed to be the old and wise one, here. You’re making me feel like a child.”

“I’ve always been a 70-year-old grandpa at heart,” I said, shrugging.

She snickered. “You know, I can see that.”

I leaned in and pecked her lips. “I need to go practice guitar a bit more. Are you going to bed early?”

“In an hour or two. Say… Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Are you sure? You risk not getting any sleep tonight,” I teased, releasing her hands and giving her butt the lightest of pinches.

“I’m stressed, not tired. Sleep is not exactly what I need tonight,” she said, leaning forward and whispering in my ear. “I’m really craving that monstrous thing of yours pounding my pussy hard and deep.”

I felt the familiar tingle of arousal, particularly between my legs.

I groaned. “Now I’m gonna be distracted while I practice…”

Diana smirked and kissed my cheek. “See you in bed later.”

Well… At least she did seem in a far better mood now.

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