Tony took the cash out of the register and put it in a lockbox. “When I first opened this place, last call was at two a.m., and I always had to deal with some drunk or other who didn’t want to leave, and I got home at nearly four. It messed up my whole schedule. So I decided a year or so in that last call would be midnight. It made everything so much saner.” He locked the box with a key from the ring attached to his belt loop. “And honestly, the till wasn’t that different, once you factored in the staff I needed to pay to keep this place open. We do much better at happy hour, pre-dinner stuff.”

“Plus now you can go out after your night ends,” Rob said.

Tony shook his head. “Not anymore. I’ve got my dogs to walk in the morning, and then a personal training session at nine.”

Rob looked shocked. “You serious?” he asked.

Tony nodded. “Same reason I stopped drinking. I decided I hate feeling like shit in the morning.”

Rob nodded. “Respect,” he said, finally.

Then he looked over at Emily and Priya, who were talking quietly a little farther down the bar and pitched his voice so they could hear. “Can I interest you two ladies in a post-performance celebration? Because, to be honest—”

“You’re starving,” Emily said.

Rob laughed. “And predictable, it seems.”

Priya looked at her phone. “I can stay for maybe another twenty minutes,” she said. “But then I should get home. I promised Neel I’d spend tomorrow morning with Anika so he could go on a bike ride with some friends. And that girl gets up with the sun.”

“Queenie?” Rob asked.

Emily nodded. “I’ll go back with Priya, so you’ve got yourself twenty minutes of eating.”

“There’s a late-night pizza place down the street,” Tony said. “It’s on the way to my car. I can walk you.”

So the four of them left the bar, locking the door of the Snare behind them. A few Austin Roberts superfans had stuck around and Rob took selfies with them before setting off down the block.

“Are you used to that yet?” Tony asked Rob.

He shook his head. “Does anyone really get used to that?”

—

Priya and Emily were walking just behind Rob and Tony. “So are you considering it?” Priya said quietly, continuing the conversation they’d started in the bar about Rob’s invitation to tour with him.

Emily shrugged. “Not really,” she said. “A piece of me would love to be on the road, performing every night, but my life is here. At NYU, with Ezra. I made my choices, you know? Years ago, I chose this path.”

Priya looked at her critically.

“It’s okay, I haven’t paid you for a session,” Emily said, laughing, recognizing in Priya the same struggle that she had sometimes when talking to friends.