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“Remi, Maya will be your new co-bartender for the summer,” Gabriella said.

Did she just brace herself?Gabriella was the toughest woman Remi had ever known. Came from Puerto Rico with a suitcase and a dream. Widowed at forty. Last month single-handedly broke up a bar fight between two longshoremen.

And she just braced herself.

“She’s got a ton of experience, is less of a pain in the ass than you, and I think you two are going to be amazing together,” Gabriella added.

Co?No, she must’ve misspoken. As a native Spanish speaker, Gabriella sometimes flipped words. Surely, she didn’t mean Remi had to roll with a partner now. Remi stared at Gabriella, completely ignoring the other woman. “You mean my second.”

Gabriella straightened her back and crossed her arms.

Oh God.The power stance.

“No, yourco.” Gabriella laid her palms flat on the desk. “I’m testing out a new model, having two senior bartenders on at the same time. Orders are taking take too long the usual way, and my profits are dipping.”

“Seniors?” Remi studied Maya. “You look like you’re two days over being legally able to drink.”

Maya lifted a delicate eyebrow. “I’m twenty-three.”

“Cool, so you’ve been bartending for what, two years?” Remi snapped.

“Five, actually.”

“How is that even possible?” Remi barely registered the harshness of her tone. A slow burn trickled from her gut and seeped into her cheeks, and she flipped her gaze back to Gabriella. “But what about lead? We’ve been talking about that for months.”

Gabriella dipped her chin and took a breath. “We can discuss that later, but right now, you two will be co-bartenders. Remi, you’ll train Maya.”

But the house!The listing said it was going on the market in thirty days. She needed this more than she needed anything in her life. Houses don’t leave—once you have one, it is there forever. Her dream, her life, was slipping through her fingertips. If Gabriella didn’t promote her, she wouldn’t get the house, and then everything would be ruined. She exhaled through her teeth. “Is that position still available?” She cursed her voice for cracking.

Gabriella sighed. “As of this moment, no.”

“What?No?” Four plus years of work for a promotion that no longer existed? Remi felt her cheeks flame. “If there’s no position available, what’s the incentive for working harder?”If she says a sense of personal accomplishment, I’m out.

“I’m glad you asked.” A grin spread on Gabriella. “I’m putting forth a onetime cash bonus for my top bar employee. If profits increase by twenty-five percent this month…” She scribbled on a piece of paper with a Sharpie, then turned the paper around. “You take home this.”

Remi swallowed at the amount—enough to tip her over the edge to qualify for the home loan. She glanced at Maya, who held an expression that could only be classified as “Oh. My. God.”

Gabriella set down the paper and folded her hands. “I think some friendly competition is just what the doctor ordered.” Her voice was calm and collected.

Remi was not. She opened her mouth to protest, and Gabriella held up one hand.

Beside her, Maya stood with her posture so firm that Remi was fully convinced she was either part royalty or trying her hardest to intimidate her.She thinks she can scare me? Puh-lease.Remi had eight years of foster care in five different homes under her thrift-store belt. She spent three summers picking grapes in Yakima with the sun, bugs, and field mice. A few summers back, she was part of the janitorial crew at Coachella.

Princess Snow Face had nothing on her.

“Remi.”

Gabriella gave her that stern mom look that Remi normally pretended to hate, while it secretly filled a hollowness. But today, Remi actually hated it.

“You’re gonna play nice, right?”

Gabriella added a sharp, annoying enunciation to “right.” Remi had a choice. Cooperate, show Gabriella she could be a professional, and secure her rightfully earned bonus. If she did this, she could qualify for the home, start living her life, and officially bury her past.

Or, she could tell them all to shove it, stomp out of Nueve’s jobless, and keep whatever shred of dignity she had left.

The bonus won.

She flashed her most forced smile and shook Maya’s hand with the strength of a pit bull ripping open a bacon package.