Shelter Me Home Read Online Free

angle to limit the frothy head on top. “What’ll you have?” she asked a man with two missing front teeth who grinned at the show. “On me.”
    He crossed his arms and smiled wide. “I want a Doc Holliday, little lady.”
    She laughed and picked up Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey and spun the bottle before she tossed it in the air and caught it behind her back. With a crook of her eyebrow at Briney, she poured the shot into a clean glass and covered it with orange juice, Jagermeister herbal liqueur, and finished it off with a pour of Dr. Pepper. The bar wasn’t familiar, and she had to hunt a few moments for ingredients, but it went as smoothly as it could.
    “Hired!” the snaggle-toothed man yelled, slapping the counter when she put the drink on a napkin in front of him.
    “Pipe down, you old crusty sod,” Briney muttered. “All right, little lady, you have my interest. Where did you learn to tend a bar?”
    “New York.”
    “Oh, yeah? And how’d you end up here at the end of the world?”
    She narrowed her eyes, not about to share her life story to a bar top full of curious drinkers. “I like the fresh air.”
    “We’ll start you at three nights a week on our busy nights. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday work for you?” At a nod of her head, he continued, “I’ll give you two-fifteen an hour, and you can keep your tips. You’re on probation, which means if I don’t like the way you run my bar, you’re out. If you do well, we’ll talk about giving you more shifts in a few months.”
    She stood there grinning like an idiot.
    “Well,” he said. “Hand me that beer you poured, pay for Larry’s drink, and be gone before I change my mind.”
    With shaking fingers, she pulled out a couple of dollar bills and waved to Larry and Briney, then turned to leave. As she reached for the door, it flung open, almost crushing her hand. She gasped as a small herd of people filed in.
    “Hey, girl!” Briney shouted. “I changed my mind. You’re working your first shift now. I’m taking a break.”
    “Okay,” she said, stunned. Dropping her bag behind the counter and peeling off her jacket, scarf, and mittens, she shook out her long hair and ran a rag over the dirty bar top out of habit to calm her nerves. While the three men and two women settled onto the stools, Farrah looked over the labels on the bottles surrounding her, committing to memory where everything was.
    When she looked up, she had her bartender face on. Outgoing, chatty, friendly, she could charm even the surliest drinkers. She had the advantage of confidence and experience.
    “What can I do you for?” she asked the two ladies on the end. One of them looked familiar, but she couldn’t place her face. She was pretty, with auburn hair and light brown eyes.
    The woman frowned and cocked her head. “Do I know you?”
    The others in the group quieted, and one of the men said, “Yeah, you do look familiar. Are you new here? I’ve never seen anyone but old Briney behind the bar.”
    “Yes, I’m brand new. Just blew into town on these storm clouds,” she said with a wink. The man had sandy brown hair and friendly gray eyes. He smiled. “So you’re the one who brought this weather into town, huh?”
    Farrah chuckled. “Yes, it was all me. Definitely not the run of the mill October weather of Alaska.”
    “Hey, is that Aanon?” a blond-haired woman asked, pointing out Briney’s front window.
    Farrah’s stomach dipped to somewhere under her feet. Please don’t come in, please don’t come in . The blonde jogged to the door and called to Aanon, who was busy loading supplies from the general store into the back of his truck.
    His face was such a comedic study in disappointment, Farrah almost laughed. He didn’t want to be in here anymore than she’d wanted to spend two hours in the cab of his Chevy. Maybe he wouldn’t come in after all. She swung her attention back to the friendly man, Ben, he said his name was.
    “Nah, this weather will