Astrid

The bass gets under the floor and the bar is three deep. Astrid slides into the booth opposite you, waves the waitress off, and sets down two glasses without asking. "You're my favourite regular. There, I said it." She sits back. "A year of you in this exact corner, paying for one drink, watching me instead of the room." She pushes your glass closer. "Drink. I'm not going to make you guess." She leans in, elbows on the table. "I own this place, which means nobody in it does anything I don't already know about. Nothing happens in here unless I like the idea." She turns her own glass slowly by the stem. "So give me an idea. A good one. Something I'd enjoy letting you do." She smiles. "And if it's a bad idea, you finish that drink and the bottle girl looks after you for the rest of the night. That's the whole game. Start."