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“Cory helped me close a new account,” Vi said cheerily.

“Now I’m really confused. Why would you help her?” Talia asked with a bite to her tone.

“It’s a good account with nice people and too far for me to deliver. I knew Violet would give them a good deal.”

“Violet, huh,” Talia said, narrowing her eyes. “What’ll you have?”

Cory watched Vi give Talia a sarcastic smile. Oh shit, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

“As you can imagine, I’ve had a lot of beer in a lot of bars, but you have the coldest beer on tap. I noticed when I was here before that you have Day Break on tap,” Vi said.

“So you like a blonde ale?”

“I do and I’d love one of those,” Vi replied.

Cory watched as Talia’s stance became less rigid and the corners of her mouth curled into a pleased smile. She began to fill a chilled glass with beer and looked at Cory. “And for you, sugar?”

“I’ll have the same. Thanks,” Cory replied, trying not to laugh at both of these fiery women. She could feel the tension ebbing and flowing since they’d walked into the bar.

Vi clinked her glass to Cory’s and smiled. “To good people.”

Cory took a sip and nodded. “Mmm, this is a perfect choice on this hot day.”

Talia went to wait on another customer and Cory could feel the air calm. She turned to Vi. “Why haven’t you told me about the youth center?”

Vi shrugged and took another drink of her beer. “I don’t know. I guess it didn’t come up.”

Cory raised her eyebrows and waited.

Vi sighed. “I didn’t want you to think I did things like that to make Spec’s look good. I do it for me. I do it for the kids.”

“I imagine the LGBTQ kids flock to you. Having someone like you to talk to and to see how successful you are—you’re a role model.”

“I guess. I think one reason I loved sports was because it gave me something to do after school. My parents were always at the store, and my brothers were doing their own thing.”

“At the store?”

Vi took a long drink of her beer then looked at Cory and smiled. “My parents have a convenience store in a small town outside of San Antonio. They both worked there, most of the time together. You’ve seen those stores where you walk in and someone is behind the register to take your money and that’s it, right?”

Cory nodded and listened. Vi didn’t share things about herself and Cory found she was hungry for any tidbit of information.

“That’s not the way it is in my parents’ store. It seems like Dad is always working on something and Mom is cleaning or stocking the shelves. You will not find a cleaner convenience store. I got my work ethic from them,” Vi explained.

“Did you work in the store?” Cory asked as she took a sip of her beer.

“Oh, yeah. We all did. I have two brothers. We spent a lot of time there growing up,” Vi said. “There were times I’d be so mad because someone wouldn't show up for work and one of my parents would have to take that shift. They were rarely at my games together.” Vi smiled over at Cory. “I loved your cheering section the other night. My cheerleader was usually just my dad or my mom. My brothers would be goofing around the gym or outside while the game was being played.”

“They don’t usually come to my games now. I told CeCe she was going to have to fill in and where she goes, Alexis will be nearby. Cat decided to join us and told Mom about it. Having them all there was a nice surprise.”

They sat in silence for a few moments and drank their beer.

“What are you thinking?” Vi asked. “I can feel the wheels turning in your head.”

“I am picturing a young Violet selling people something extra at the register when they were paying for their purchases.”

Vi laughed. “Don’t you need a lighter with those cigarettes? This is the best candy bar I’ve ever eaten. I love this new flavor of breath mints.”

Cory threw her head back and laughed.