This is the first October in eleven years that I don’t have a single bartending gig all month. Not. One. A few years back I’d split my time between Elaine Bell Catering and the Dawn Ranch in Guerneville. Elaine retired a few years ago and shuttered her business. And Dawn Ranch just doesn’t have anything booked this month — at least nothing they can’t handle with their full-time staff. C’est la vie, of course, but it’s left a cocktail shaker-sized hole in my spirit.
Tessa stared at the route Google Maps had plotted and gaped at the estimated trip time. What the hell has Mara got me into this time? Tessa thought as she steered her Outback north onto 101. As she passed Healdsburg and then Asti, she also watched the outside temperature creep up into the mid 90’s and took an involuntary swig from her water bottle. She finally turned off the highway in Hopland and started east out of town, crossing over the dormant railroad tracks. As the road curved to the left, she spotted the sign for the winery she was looking for – Terravita.
She passed through the gates and drove cautiously along the olive-tree lined narrow road following the signs for the tasting room. She pulled her car into a gravel lot and parked a ways down next to a beat up orange Tacoma – Mara’s truck. Tessa opened the door and the triple-digit heat nearly took her breath away as the air-conditioned cocoon of her Subaru evaporated into the overheated ether.
Middle of nowhere? Check. Hot as hell? Check. Mara owes me one…
“Tessa! Thank god! I owe you one,” Mara said, as she spotted the shorter woman. Tessa was already sweating under her black monogrammed polo shirt as she forced a smile. She turned back to the group where the liftgate of a box truck whined as they lowered a pair of plastic-wrapped speed racks and a stack of crates filled with plates. “Damian, make sure Javier has the tarp down in the kitchen area before unloading the ovens,” she called. Turning back to Tessa she smiled and said in a regular voice, “Thanks for coming. You’re a lifesaver – I had both my bartenders call out this morning.”
“We’re, what halfway to the Oregon border and it’s so hot I forgot my own name – no wonder they called out.”
“We’re barely outside of Sonoma County. And at least it’s a dry heat…”
“Don’t ‘dry heat’ me, lady. And two bartenders called out? How many am I working with?”
Mara smiled innocently at Tessa.
“No… you’re shitting me. It’s just me?”
“I mentioned I owed you, right?”
Tessa closed her eyes and took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, and with the breath she let go of all her frustration at the heat and what her friend hadn’t included when she said she needed her to work today. She was a professional. She would be, well, professional. She opened her eyes and said calmly, “Okay, show me where I’m working.”
Mara smiled again. “Okay, follow me.” They followed a path that led between a wall of hedges that effectively separated the makeshift staging area from a grassy courtyard where a DJ was setting up his equipment on one end. Mara pointed at the rental bar at the edge of the grass, “Your dinner bar.” They kept walking through a dozen tables shaded beneath a wisteria-trellised arbor. Servers were already setting out tablecloths and chargers on the tables as Mara said, “dinner will be here…” They kept walking out of the courtyard area following a dirt path bordered by rows of fruit trees on one side and towering old oaks on the other. They couldn’t have walked more than a few hundred feet, but the foliage made the sounds disappear. Mara pointed to a concrete bar flanked by a steel sink, “This is where cocktail will be, so focus on this first,” She pointed further down the path, “Wedding is down there, under the oak tree.”
Tessa looked around at the enormous live oaks around them that offered dappled shade. “Like these oaks?”
“No… uh… well, yes… it’s, I don’t know, majestic or something. It’s down there in a meadow,” she gestured.
Tessa nodded as a black haired guy manhandled a hand truck laden with glass racks down a row of closely grouped apple trees towards them. “Guest count?”
“About eighty.”
“When’s cocktail hour start?”
“4:30, or thereabouts – you know how ceremony timing can be.”
Tessa nodded and looked at her watch. Three hours to set up two bars… by herself.
As if reading her mind, Mara added, “I’ve got a couple servers who can help you set up… at least for a bit.”
Tessa nodded and went through her mental checklist as she took off her backpack with her bar tools, realizing how sweaty her back had already gotten. “Specialty cocktails?”
“Hers: Aperol Spritz; his: Negroni.”
Tessa dropped her bag behind the bar and reached up to tie her long black hair back. “Okay, get me my product and I’ll be ready.”
“You’re a lifesaver.”
Tessa looked at the stack of crates and racks and sighed as Mara hurried back to the staging area. Truth be told, she was just this side of panicking internally – this was an impossible amount of setup for one person. But she knew from hard won experience that freaking out would only cost her time she didn’t have, so she started sorting glassware, getting the product that needed to be chilled into tubs ready for icing, and organizing liquor and mixers.
She set the bottles of vodka, whiskey, gin, and tequila roughly where she wanted her well in the forest bar as another guy showed up with hand truck stacked high with crates of various sodas and other non-alcoholic mixers.
“Do you know if they’re splitting up my stuff between the two bars?”
“Huh?” he said blankly as he heavily levered the crates off the hand truck.
“The other bar? Are there crates like this there, too?”
“Oh, yeah. Just dropped off a stack. Mara divided stuff as it came off the truck.”
Wasn’t that what I just asked? Tessa thought with frustration. What she said, though, was “Great, thanks.” She turned back to the bar and noticed the bottles she had placed were lined up in her well with speed pours in their necks, caps in a cup below the bar. She stared at the bottles and then looked around for who had set them up while she was talking to the kid… She turned back and watched him trundling the empty hand truck back down the row. She shook her head and took a long draw from her water bottle. Must be the heat…
Tessa had the cocktail bar in the gardens roughly set – she still had to finish stacking glassware and get the pass ready – but she wanted to get the other bar started. If I’m lucky, she thought, maybe I can pull a server to help set that bar while I come back and finish this one. Then she laughed thinking of the times she’d done just that only to have her instructions completely disregarded and finding the bar a complete unorganized mess.
She stopped dead as she came into the courtyard and stared at the bar already set up – the well neatly arranged, rows of glassware neatly stacked behind the bar. Even the white wine and champagne were already in the chill tubs just waiting for ice. Movement caught her eye and she spotted Mara walking past the opening to the staging area. “Mara!” she called.
“Hey, Tess, what’s up – hey, this looks great! How’s the other bar coming?”
“Uh, yeah… thank you for having your guys set this one up. I’m almost finished with the cocktail hour bar–” she stopped as Mara tilted her head.
“I couldn’t send anyone to help – I’m sorry about that. The planner changed a bunch of dinner details at the last minute and I didn’t have anyone to spare. But,” she said looking at the bar, “You clearly have everything under control. Thanks again!” she said squeezing Tessa’s arm before turning abruptly and hurrying back to the staging area.
Tessa stared after her, dumbstruck. She turned to the bar and again took in everything ready to go. What the fuck? She breathed out heavily and then hurried back to the garden bar to get that bar to one hundred percent.
Mara hurried down the path to the garden bar to find Tessa putting the last orange garnish on the rim of the rocks glasses filled with ice and glimmering garnet red liquid as a crowd of servers stood around watching. From down the path they heard cheering erupt.
Tessa smiled.
“Perfect timing,” Mara said.
“Would you expect anything else?” she smirked back and sauntered behind the garden bar as the servers picked up their trays of Aperol spritzes and negronis.
Mara grinned at her before directing the servers down the path to meet the guests who would shortly make their way here in the gardens for cocktail hour.
Two groomsmen arrived first. “Tequila and soda, lime,” he pointed at his friend who laughed and nodded as the first groomsmen inspected the beers on display. “… and I’ll have the, oh, perfect – the Russian River STS Pils.”
“Perfect,” Tessa said as she turned to get the beer first as the one groomsman adjusted his friend’s tie. She popped the cap on the beer and set it on the bar before starting to rotate to her right for a rocks glass when she noticed a tequila and soda with two crossed lime wheels sitting ready on the bar.
Tessa stared at the drink for a moment before the groomsmen looked back at her and reached for their beer and drink with a mumbled, “Thanks.” Tessa didn’t have time to think about where that tequila and soda had come from, though, because the rest of the guests had made their way up the garden path and despite the pass, a little line was already forming. That’s when time just blurred for Tessa. She was a whirling dervish of pouring wine, shaking margaritas, stirring martinis, and popping champagne corks all the while smiling and offering a quip whenever possible.
She wasn’t too preoccupied, however, to notice the occasional repeat of that initial tequila soda incident, though it happened differently each time. Once it was the reverse – she made the cocktail first only to find the beer the customer wanted next to her and open. She never seemed to grab a white wine glass herself, as by the time she turned to grab the Chardonnay from the chill tub a glass was already waiting – Tessa tried to brush that off as her just grabbing the glass through muscle memory and not thinking about it. But it was too consistent…
“Ten minutes, Tess,” Mara said quietly into Tessa’s ear as she placed an orange in an Aperol spritz. Tessa nodded as she could already see the planner threading through the crowd starting to get them moving towards the dinner bar.
“This is where I tell my other bartender to open the other bar while I finish cocktail hour,” Tessa said to Mara.
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” she said as she moved away.
Tessa set the bottle of pilsner down on the bar and thought about how it sure seemed she had another bartender helping her out after all.
As one of the planner’s minions shepherded the last couple to the dinner, Tessa gathered her tools and backpack and started after them towards the dinner bar. She looked back once at the garden bar regarding the nearly depleted glassware, full recycling bin, and mostly empty chill tubs, and made a mental reminder to figure out time to clean it up. I’ll add it to everything else… she thought as she hurried to the other bar.
After the adrenaline rush of cocktail hour, Tessa always found the dinner bar anticlimactic. Guests would trickle up one or two at a time during dinner, but it was never a wait at the bar. After dinner ended and speeches concluded, the couple had their first dance and the bar became a popular place again. Though now the DJ was blasting Wedding Playlist Greatest Hits and Tessa had to practically shout to communicate with the guests just a couple feet apart.
She did notice a few odd things – when she reached into the chill tub for a new bottle of Chardonnay to open, the foil had already been cut – but just on that bottle. Same for Champagne – the foil on one unopened bottle would be removed, though, whatever it was knew enough not to remove the cage over the cork ahead of time.
At one point during a lull, Tessa found Mara behind the bar with her. “Hey, Tess!” Mara yelled.
“Yeah?” Tessa yelled back rolling her eyes at the high-volume requirement of the blasting of Abba’s “Dancing Queen.”
“When did you start the double lime garnish?” she pointed at an empty rocks glass that had the same garnish as that first tequila soda – two lime wheels combined in an “X”.
Tessa went cold noticing at least the second drink she didn’t make. “I… uh, I’m trying something new. Why?”
Mara shook her head, “It’s all good – it just reminded me of a bartender I worked with back when I was here behind the bar. That had to be like… five years ago? …James… no, Jimmy. Jimmy Davis. Always did his lime garnish like that. I’d never seen anyone else do it.”
“Huh,” Tessa said, repressing the shiver. “Whatever happened to him?”
Mara shrugged. “No clue. He left the company around the same time I moved out of the bar.”
Just then the groom’s uncle came up for another pour of the Cab.
“Oh hey,” Mara said as Tessa set the wine bottle back on the bar. “When did you break down the other bar?”
“Wait, what?”
. . .
Seventy miles away in American Canyon, Jimmy Davis cut slits into two lime wheels before sliding them together and dropping the “X” lime garnish into the rocks glass. “There you go,” he handed the glass to the woman on the couch as he sipped from his own old fashioned.
“I love this,” she said, admiring the intertwined limes.
Jimmy smiled, “Something I used to do when I bartended.”
“Do you miss it?”
Jimmy stared off into the distance. “Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes I feel like I’m still there.”
