Free Brand New Me by Meg Benjamin Page A

it ever did before.”
    Deirdre glanced around the room, curiously. She hadn’t really had time to take a good look at it until now, plus at night it was mostly too dark to see details. She didn’t have a lot of experience with bars, but the Faro looked better than some she’d been in. Like a lot of Konigsburg, it had an old-timey feel. Limestone block walls, pegged pine floors, a carved mahogany bar that looked like it was part of the original fixtures. The pictures on the walls seemed to be antique too, sepia-tinted photographs and engravings, along with some mounted deer horns and a huge buffalo head at the end of the room.
    Deirdre blinked. The buffalo was wearing hoop earrings.
    Clem grinned. “That’s Bruno. Part of the original fixtures. Tom added the earrings.”
    “Interesting sense of style.”
    Clem nodded. “He’s got a feel for the place—that’s what made me sign on with him. I had a catering business that wasn’t going anywhere since I had to compete with people like Allie Maldonado and Brenner’s restaurant. He hired me to make bar snacks for a while, and then he took me on full-time when he decided to try serving meals. Now we’ve got enough business to support you and Bobby Sue and Sylvia, with Marilyn on the weekends, along with Leon and Harry and Chico. Hell, he could probably use some more help. My guess is we’ll be doing dinners within a month. Tom’s making it work. It’s his bar, and he cares about it.”
    Deirdre considered the unexpected phenomenon of Tom Ames as a successful entrepreneur. Well why not? Nobody ever expected her to have any business sense either. And yet she’d managed to keep a couple of her father’s smaller divisions from going under.
    Clem raised her eyebrows again. “You’ve never told me exactly how you ended up waiting tables here, you know. And don’t tell me you’re earning money for your coffee shop. We both know you won’t earn enough here to open it, even with the good tips you could start pulling down eventually.”
    “I can always apply for a loan when the time comes.” Deirdre took another bite of her sandwich and concentrated on chewing.
    “Come on, give. Everything about you screams Smart Kid From the City, and if you’re related to Docia, you’re probably rich, too. What’s going on, Deirdre? Where’s the money?”
    She sighed. “I have some money. I just can’t get to it right now. My father and I had a…disagreement, and he’s put a block on my funds. But that should be straightened out soon.” At least she sincerely hoped it would. On the other hand, she wasn’t too optimistic about it. “I’ll use whatever I earn here to clean the place up, then I’ll order equipment when I get access to my own money again.”
    “No offense, honey, but you need to use some of that money you’re earning to fix yourself up, too.”
    Deirdre glanced down at her khakis. Okay, the knit shirt was looking a little wilted. She’d washed it out in her kitchen sink at night, so at least it was clean. It wasn’t like she had a lot of choices in her closet, unless she started wearing her business suits. “What’s wrong with what I’ve got on?”
    “Nothing if you want to disappear into the woodwork, which, by the way, won’t get you much in the way of tips. Plus you’re beginning to look a little like a bag lady from River Oaks.”
    Deirdre frowned. “I can’t afford a new wardrobe right now.”
    “Sure you can. Take tomorrow afternoon off from cleaning. We’ll go over to Too Good To Be Threw, on Spicewood. They’ll have stuff you can afford, I guarantee it.”
    “Shopping?” Deirdre felt like sighing. She really hated shopping. “I haven’t done that for a while. I mean, I used to use a shopping service.”
    “You mean like a personal shopper? How does that work, anyway?”
    “You tell them what you want, and they find it for you. Saves a lot of time. Besides, I’m no good at shopping.”
    Clem grinned. “Then it’s a good thing