After hearing that, Johnny sets the vodka bottle down on the floor; he can pour more later, but this isn’t going to be a lunch of getting weepy drunk. A good bartender knows to monitor the mood in the room, and he is a very good bartender.

“I’d just bought the pub. The Blue Horseshoe. Within five years, I’d own the entire building, from the basement up through the apartments for rent to the champagne lounge and the penthouse suite. But it all started there, that night. Building my name, my reputation, myself.”