Chapter 45

“Like it? Oh, I’m Mark.” He held out his hand.

I shook it, saying, “Brant. Yeah, so far it seems okay.”

He grinned. “The bar or the city?”

“Both, actually. This place is busy. The bar, that is.”

“It gets that way with all the tourists checking it out. At least the dance floor is upstairs. They don’t seem to find it, although maybe it’s more they’re afraid of what they’ll see if they do. Anyway, it makes things minimally less crowded up there.” He took a drink of his beer then said, “Damn, I hope you’re not a tourist.”

I laughed. “Nope. I was transferred here by the company I work for. Found a nice place to live for a reasonable price and start work next Monday.”

“Doing what?”

“Sales. What do you do?”

“Tour guide during the day. Musician on the weekends.” Mark ran his fingers over the bar as if he was playing a piano.

“Oh? Where?”

“A club uptown.”

I nodded, flagging down the bartender to order another beer. “You want fresh one, too?”