Zari Davis flees Dallas after witnessing her fiancee cheating, with no clear plan on where she's going. After flipping her Volkswagon Beetle, she wakes up convinced that the cute guy that's been reading raunchy novels aloud while she slept is actual...
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P L A Y L I S T
Takin' Care of Business - Bachman Turner Overdrive
An hour later, Zari's fingers tingled from gripping the steering wheel. Without the weight of the cast and having use of her hand again felt weird. She headed down Main Street and parked in front of the Parkers Prairie Bulletin. The weekly newspaper came out on Thursdays, and she wanted to make sure her ad made the deadline. Although she'd not asked Gabriel's permission to offer piano lessons at his house, she figured he wouldn't object. She'd schedule students around his work hours.
Because school was still in session, three students a day would be all she could handle until summer vacation. For now, she'd start with piano, but later, if things went well, she'd consider adding other things.
Once she finished paying for her classified, she walked to Grillenium Falcon. She'd not been inside the bar, but from the street, it looked nice. Pushing open the door, a bell jingled. She doubted the tinkle did much good at night. But since it was barely past noon, other than two older men sitting at a corner table, and a thirty-something couple at the end of the bar, the place was empty.
The bartender, a tall, muscular, guy with salt and pepper hair, looked to be in his early fifties. He stopped putting beer into a refrigerated case and turned to look at Zari.
"Afternoon, Miss." He glanced past her as if expecting someone, then focused on her again. "What can I get you?"
Zari took a deep breath. If she'd ever made a face to face pitch to a future employer, she didn't remember it. "Hi. I'm Zari Davis, and I wanted to talk to you about performing here. I noticed your sign out front says you feature bands on weekends, and you have a karaoke night."
He moved closer and rested his arms on the polished counter. "I'm Dale. You have a band?"
She hiked one hip onto a stool, propped her foot on the rung. "No. I perform solo. I'm willing to do it for tips. Maybe just one night a week."
He pulled his brows together. "You think tip money will be enough?"
"My goal is exposure to get other paying gigs. You know. Weddings, birthday parties, rehearsal dinners. It might even help your business. I don't know if you rent your facility out for private parties, but if someone wanted to hire me, then I could pitch the bar as a venue—if you wanted."
He looked her up and down, then settled on her face again. "What type music? Anything posted online I could see?"
Zari relaxed a little. At least he didn't brush her off. Now all she had to do was close the deal. She gave him her best smile. "I don't. But I see you have a piano so I could play a couple of things for you. Almost all of my songs are original."
He cocked his head. Pursed his lips. Nodded. "Okay. Show me what you've got."
Once seated on the bench, she ran her fingertips over the keys. Other than the few notes she'd played at Gabriel's, she couldn't recall the last time she'd played, but figured it was like riding a bike.
