She desperately needed to talk to May about it all, but she didn't want to burden the woman. And she wasn't sure that May would even understand what she was trying to tell her. So, she'd been doing what she could on her own and trying to remember what she could about the business side of the bar, which she had helped with in her last years in town.
Something didn't sit right with her about Mark either. He'd been helpful in bringing her up to speed on the day to day ordering of supplies and schedules but when she asked about more detailed financial questions, he was cagey or just flat out said he didn't know. It didn't match up to what he'd obviously been handling for a while.
She threw up her hands when she'd come up with the same result and pushed away from the small desk, irritated.
Just then her phone rang, and she picked it up, letting a small smile play over her lips when she saw Jaycee's number.
"Hey," she breathed out into the phone.
"Catch you at a bad time?" Jaycee asked.
"No, just going over my aunt's financials and inventory and nothing adds up, so to speak," Lilly said.
"What are you going to do?" Jaycee asked, automatically going into professional mode.
Lilly appreciated that and sighed as she pulled herself back up to the desk. "Get power of attorney and suss it out, I guess," Lilly said.
"Want me to come out and give you a hand?" Jaycee asked after a few seconds.
It was on the tip of her tongue to say no, but she heard the quiet concern and hesitancy in her voice. Lilly knew she just wanted to be there for her.
"Could you manage a couple of days?" Lilly asked and smiled when Jaycee said yes immediately.
They talked for a few more minutes, Jaycee finding a flight out while on the phone and when they hung up, Lilly already felt a bit lighter. It was a big step, allowing Jaycee to come out and she gave herself a mental pat on the back.
Lilly had offered to pick Jaycee up at the airport, but Jaycee said she'd just get a ride share. It was a good forty-five-minute drive and Lilly would have been happy to make it, but she did have a lot to do.
She'd begun trying to put her aunt's financial mess to rights, but it was a daunting task. Every new thing she'd discovered and then tried to make sense of had her more and more convinced that it had less to do with Mark's incompetence and more to do with Mark taking liberties.
It angered and saddened her. She knew her aunt trusted the man implicitly, but it seemed that her aunt's trust was misplaced. She wasn't sure what she was going to do about it either. If she fired him, she'd be on her own entirely. But if he was embezzling money, she needed to get rid of him.
She'd been copying files and printing them when she heard Jaycee call from the bar. She smiled and pushed back her chair, pushing through the small office door that led her through the kitchen and then the bar.
It had only been a week since she last saw Jaycee, but it felt like much longer. She smiled wide and rushed over to her and pulled her into a tight hug.
"How was the flight?" she asked.
Jaycee gave her a quick peck before answering. "Good. Uneventful. Had to endure forty-five minutes of country music though on the ride up here," she said with a laugh.
"Yes, it's kind of popular in this part of California," Lilly said with a small commiserating frown as she took Jaycee's bag from her and motioned for her to follow. "Come on, I'll give you a tour."
"So, this is it, huh? The bar where little Miss Lilly did her growing up," Jaycee said with a teasing smile as she turned slowly, taking everything in.
"Yep. It hasn't changed much either," Lilly said as she really looked around for the first time since arriving a couple of weeks ago and saw just how little it really had changed. "Your tour awaits," she said as she started walking further into the bar.
They moved slowly, stopping every few feet as Lilly told Jaycee funny little stories about the times she'd run around the closed bar when she was little. She noted the same worn, dark green chairs and deeply scarred round tables set up around the interior of the bar and the large booths that took up the back wall and corners with cracked and frayed dark brown Naugahyde seats.
She took them around to where the small parquet dance floor butted up against the wall opposite the pool tables. It was both scuffed and smoothed from years of boots and heels pounding and gliding on its surface, idly wondering how many scuffs and dents she and Mitch had put into it. Not the time for those memories, she chastised herself silently.
In the adjacent corner was a 1987 Wurlitzer Jukebox she and her uncle had found at a flea market and Mitch had fixed and stocked with CDs they'd bought when Roman's Music House closed down.
She led Jaycee toward the short hall to the bathrooms where she saw the old Marlboro cigarette vending machine that had stood empty since the late 90's when smoking was banned in the state.
She looked down at the burgundy carpet, nearly worn through in spots and more russet than deep purple-red now. She continued to fight back the barrage of memories of her and Mitch threatening to overtake her thoughts.
With effort she focused on the bar itself, concentrating on what was in front of her, here and now. Wow, does this place need to be remodeled, she thought, trying not to feel overwhelmed at the growing list of things she had to consider.
"Well, I can certainly see how much this place means to you," Jaycee said warmly as they completed the slow circle, ending up at the bar near the small kitchen.
"Yes, it does," Lilly said, her voice cracking with emotion as she realized just how right her girlfriend was.
"And it certainly has that nostalgic look to it," Jaycee said with a bright smile.
Lilly knew Jaycee was just being nice, but she appreciated it all the same. Once again, a couple of memories came to her unbidden as she glanced at the spot at the end of the bar where she and Mitch had their first kiss. And then back over by the pool tables where they had their first fight. They had their last one here too, out back in the alley.
She shook her head, trying to clear it of the ghosts of her past with Mitch, and took Jaycee's hand. "Come on, I'll show you the kitchen and office."
Lilly led Jaycee up to the reception desk and signed them both in and then wrote their names on name tags, handing one to Jaycee. She gave Maria a warm smile and then headed down the hall to the palliative care area. Her aunt had been moved there a couple of days ago and it was yet another reality check that she didn't have long.
She had been reluctant to introduce Jaycee to her aunt because she didn't think her aunt would appreciate someone she didn't know visiting her in her condition. Jaycee wouldn't be seeing the vivacious, witty woman she'd grown up with. Her aunt was but a shadow of her former self and she felt it was unfair for both her girlfriend and her aunt to meet for the first time like this.
But Jaycee had insisted, saying that she wanted to be there for Lilly in every capacity. It led to a brief fight about Lilly's reluctance to let Jaycee in and Jaycee eventually relented, feeling guilty because she knew Jaycee was right. She also knew (and hated to admit) this would be the only time Jaycee would get to meet her aunt. She just hoped her aunt was having a good day.
"Let me go in first for a moment and see how she is," Lilly said quietly. Jaycee nodded with a small smile.